Highland Haven picks first-ever city administrator
Andy Adams was chosen as Highland Haven’s first-ever city administrator. Courtesy/file photos
The Highland Haven Board of Alderman unanimously selected Andy Adams as the Burnet County municipality’s first-ever city administrator during its regular meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 6.
Adams previously served as Recreation Division manager for Little Elm, a city of roughly 51,000 people in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
“We think he’s going to be a good fit for our community,” Mayor Olan Kelley told DailyTrib.com.
Kelley is currently working on a contract to bring Adams to Highland Haven.
“The board gave me permission to start working on it (Feb. 6),” he said. “I’ll be getting in touch with Andy soon in order to move forward with the negotiation.”
Adams was one of many candidates to apply for the new position.
“I couldn’t even tell you how many (applicants),” Kelley said. “There were quite a few.”
Highland Haven aldermen and city officials have considered adding a city administrator to the staff for about five years.
“It’s not something we’ve taken lightly,” Kelley said. “We’ve been slowly looking for a good point to bring somebody on board.”
Duties in the newly created role include overseeing the daily operation of city services, acting as the city’s public information officer, promoting the economic well-being of the city, and carrying out directives approved by the mayor and Board of Alderman.
“We wanted someone with some institutional knowledge that can stay with our community for a long period of time and move our programs forward,” Kelley said.
The bulk of those responsibilities were previously handled by the mayor’s office.
“Frankly, the mayor has been running everything,” Kelley said. “Our community has gotten to a point where they need someone other than just a mayor to manage the day-to-day operations.”
No timeline exists for when Adams will transition into the role.