Community leadership led Bastrop’s new city manager to town

Paul Hofmann and his wife have been in Bastrop for a few days and quickly have fallen in love with the Colorado River, Lake Bastrop, the pine forest and many of the city’s eateries and shops and its people.

“I’m a native Texan, and my family lived in Austin for fifteen years while I was employed by the city of Austin, and so of course I’m familiar with the beauty and charm of the area,” Hofmann said. “While I’ve driven through Bastrop hundreds of times, I haven’t taken the time to visit the downtown and historic district until recently. Like a lot of Texans, I didn’t know what I was missing.”

But Hofmann won’t be missing out for long. On Monday, he’ll begin his new job as Bastrop’s city manager.

The City Council on June 23 voted unanimously to hire Hofmann. He’ll be paid a base salary of $185,000 plus benefits, according to his employment contract.

“I was very happy to learn of being the City Council’s choice to be the next city manager of Bastrop,” Hofmann said. “The City Council obviously took the process seriously, provided lots of great information, and asked insightful and important questions. It’s good to know their selection was the result of a complete and thorough process.”

The position became vacant Jan. 28 when the council unanimously accepted City Manager Lynda Humble’s abrupt resignation over fundamental differences regarding the council’s policy-making role and the manager’s administrative role.

The council in February hired Chris Hartung Consulting to facilitate the search for the city’s next manager. There were more than 40 applicants for the job and the council reviewed 23 candidates before selecting Hofmann, the city said.

Hofmann said he became interested in working in Bastrop because of the community leadership.

“The city of Bastrop has a solid plan for managing growth while protecting the unique community characteristics that make Bastrop special,” he said. “Plans like that don’t develop without strong leadership on city boards and commissions and the City Council.”

He said Bastrop’s strength lies largely on the city’s staff, some of who he’s met and noticed they’re hard working professionals who are devoted to carrying out the council’s directives and policies.

It is with those workers, he said, that he will face one of the city’s biggest challenges — ensuring that critical infrastructure needs are addressed, especially given the growth the area will continue to experience.

“The good news is the council has established a plan for accommodating that growth with an emphasis on ensuring the growth pays for itself to the extent possible,” he said.

In his first year on the job, Hofmann said he wants to strengthen residents’ trust in knowing the city is working for them.

“The only agenda city employees have, including the city manager, is to serve the public in accordance with council direction and priorities,” he said. “That’s what the community narrative about the city of Bastrop needs to be in a year.”

One of his first missions will be getting to know the culture of the city organization, and the way in which it makes decisions, communicates internally and with residents, and evaluates progress.

“A priority will be to learn how the city works to implement council priorities, find the gaps, and then fill those gaps,” he said. “I’ll spend a lot of time the first several weeks getting to know employees and their jobs.”

Over the past six and a half years, Hofmann has served as city manager in Bellaire. Among his most notable accomplishments at that Houston suburb are overseeing the development of that city’s commercial areas, including building a new city hall, police station and civic center; establishing a civic group that allowed residents to get involved with city matters; and leading the city’s recovery after Hurricane Harvey, according to the Houston Chronicle and essentialnews.com, a Bellaire and West University news magazine.

Most recently, however, dissatisfaction had grown over Hoffman’s inclination for large consulting contracts, rising city debt and favoring commerce over a hometown feel, the news magazine reported last month.

In a blog post, Bellaire Mayor Andrew Friedberg thanked and praised Hofmann for his service but said his departure allows for an opportunity for change.

Before serving as city manager in Bellaire, Hofmann served as city administrator in Castroville from 2010 to 2014, city manager in Kerrville from 2005 to 2008, assistant city manager in Sugar Land from 2002 to 2005, city manager of Alvin from 1998 to 2001, and as an administrative assistant in the city manager’s office and finance manager in the Public Works Department for the city of Austin from 1983 to 1998, according to his resume.

Hofmann has a master’s of public administration and bachelor’s degree from Texas A&M University.

He was born in San Antonio but grew up in Karnes City after his family moved there when he was a few months old.

He said he met his wife, Barbara, in the public administration program at Texas A&M. She also worked for the city of Austin, mostly with Austin Energy, and was a public affairs representative for the Lower Colorado River Authority. The couple has three sons and two daughters-in-law.

Hofmann said if there’s one thing he wants residents to know is that he will try to be a good listener and an effective problem solver. He said he’ll only be a phone call or email away from giving residents the attention they deserve.