One hundred days ago, Fort Worth welcomed its first new city manager in more than a decade.
Jay Chapa, a former deputy city manager with more than 20 years of experience in Fort Worth government, entered the city’s top executive position at a significant turning point for Cowtown.
Fort Worth recently surpassed Austin in population size, and as it rapidly grows, the city faces many of the challenges big cities grapple with, such as aging infrastructure, housing affordability and a need for responsible economic development.
As Chapa handles those changes, he must also oversee several major city projects, including developing the city’s budget amid slow revenue growth due to the Tarrant Appraisal District’s decision to freeze property values for 2025; prioritizing projects to include in the city’s $800 million bond program for a 2026 election; facilitating the transition of MedStar, the city’s longtime emergency services provider, to an in-house EMS system this summer; and completing the creation of the 2050 comprehensive plan to map out the city’s growth.
Leading up to Chapa’s 100th day on the job May 7, city officials gave glowing reviews of his efforts to lead the city so far, telling the Fort Worth Report he “hit the ground running” thanks to previous experience and a deep knowledge of how Fort Worth works.
Community leaders largely praise his efforts to reach different sectors of Fort Worth’s community, although some add that they’re braced to see how long those efforts last. Others hope Chapa can communicate a clear vision for the city’s future as it prepares to reach 1 million residents.
Chapa said he doesn’t see the milestone of 100 days as significant. He declined an interview with the Report but provided a written statement via email through his spokesperson.
“I have never been focused on an arbitrary time frame like the first 100 days to decide what I would and would not try to accomplish, instead my focus has been to make decisions with the city manager’s office team that we felt would move the city forward and improve services delivered to our community and constituents,” Chapa said. “I am especially lucky to be leading this organization of hardworking and dedicated public servants, and my initial time here has been extremely rewarding. We have made great strides, but there is still plenty of that hard work ahead.”
‘Hit the ground running’
Chapa took over the city’s top post from his former boss and Fort Worth’s longest-tenured city manager, David Cooke, who held the position from June 2014 to February 2025. Chapa officially assumed the role at the end of January and made history as Fort Worth’s first Hispanic city manager.
The role of city manager stewards the city’s day-to-day management and administration, enforces municipal policies and oversees the city’s $2.79 billion budget and more than 8,100 employees. The position reports to the mayor and council and is responsible for implementing their priorities. Chapa’s annual salary is $435,000.
Shortly before his swearing-in ceremony, Chapa said he would spend his first 100 days working to understand his new staff’s responsibilities and goals, promising that, if needed, he would “maybe move some chess pieces around to make sure that people are in the best place, so that we’re successful.” Since then, he has overseen several top staffing changes, including the appointment of a new assistant city manager and the hire of a new park and recreation department director — both internal hires.
Chapa cites those hires, in addition to other leadership changes, as noteworthy accomplishments. He initiated nationwide searches for the city’s next police chief as Chief Neil Noakes steps down this month, and a new economic development director, after longtime Director Robert Sturns left to become the director of Workforce Solutions of Tarrant County. Chapa also reorganized which city departments his assistant city managers each oversee, launched a citywide classification study and initiated a strategic redevelopment plan for the consolidation of 911 services.
He completed a review and initiated a reorganization of the city’s communications and public engagement department. In late March, Reyne Telles, the city’s chief communications officer who oversaw that department, resigned without notice. Telles did not return a request for comment on Chapa’s 100-day tenure.
Mayor Mattie Parker, who championed Chapa’s hire and described him as “one of the most qualified and talented city managers in the entire country,” said Chapa’s leadership so far has resulted in “quality recommendations” for the 2026 bond program, a nationwide search to find Fort Worth’s next police chief, the continuance of the MedStar transition and participation in state legislative sessions on bills related to local governance.
“I’m proud of Jay’s work over the past several months and consider myself privileged to collaborate with him daily,” Parker said in an emailed statement. “He has hit the ground running on the issues that matter most to Fort Worth residents while underscoring the careful stewardship of the city’s funds and budget.”
‘Business-minded’ approach
Community leaders and council members commend Chapa’s business-minded approach to the various facets of city leadership, including his realignment of city staff, political relationships and conversations around budget and bond dollars.
Rosa Navejar, president of The Rios Group, a utility engineering corporation that’s often contracted for Fort Worth projects, said Chapa’s institutional knowledge of the city made him perfect for the role.
“When I heard (David Cooke) was stepping down, my first thought was Jay,” said Navejar, adding that she was often in communication with Chapa when she was president and CEO of the Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
Though his position as the city’s first Hispanic city manager is notable, Chapa wasn’t hired because of his ethnicity, Navejar said. She’s happy for what his hiring represents for the Hispanic community, but she stressed Chapa was hired for his qualifications and expertise in Fort Worth.
Council member Carlos Flores, who represents Fort Worth’s Northside neighborhood and the Stockyards, said Chapa’s systematic and strategic approach to leadership is apparent in his realignment of assistant city managers.
“(Chapa) is rotating them out of their current assignments into other assignments, so that they get a full rotation and experience over different matters,” Flores said. “That’s good, because it broadens their scope of experience.”
Chapa has also already shown a steady hand in steering Fort Worth’s relationships with state legislators in Austin, said outgoing council member Gyna Bivens, who has represented the majority of east Fort Worth since 2013.
Bivens said these relationships are more important now than ever, as lawmakers do “everything they can to usurp local authority,” referencing bills like House Bill 4078, which attempts to supplant locally run management of downtown public improvement districts.
Steve Montgomery, president and CEO of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, said he appreciates that Chapa “understands the complexities of a major city, but he also knows the uniqueness of Fort Worth.” He’s hopeful that Chapa can find ways to streamline the city’s permitting process and improve infrastructure.
“That, to me, requires a really steady hand, someone who really understands not just cities generically but how Fort Worth works. And that’s the benefit of Jay,” Montgomery said.
As the city plans its 2026 bond, Bivens feels Chapa has done well in listening to and balancing the many voices vying for city dollars. She said he hasn’t “closed the doors on reassessing” where funds should go, which is important as council members continue to bring constituents’ concerns to the dais.
Outgoing council member Jared Williams, who represents southwest Fort Worth and the historically Black neighborhood of Como, said Chapa has worked closely with him on District 6 projects to include in the proposed bond program. He pointed to Risinger Road, and the urgency of getting the road’s renovations completed after a multicar crash killed three people and injured five others earlier this year.
“He understood not only the gravity of that loss for our community, but also the urgency of why we have to make sure that Risinger Road is included in the bond program,” Williams said.
He said he’s “very, very pleased” at Chapa’s level of engagement in transportation and pedestrian safety challenges particular to his district, especially in Como.
Chapa taking up the city’s EMS transition — a job he inherited midway through the process — was a “big lift,” said council member Macy Hill, who represents the Cultural District and parts of northwest Fort Worth. Hill said Chapa has been intentional in listening to the EMS ad-hoc committee as he’s moved the transition closer to the finish line.
Hill also commended Chapa’s long-built understanding of how Fort Worth works.
“He didn’t have to go reintroduce himself to the stakeholders in the city,” Hill said. “He didn’t have to reintroduce himself to the city leadership — he already had those relationships built, and that goes a long way with building trust.”
Navigating aftermath
Chapa’s historic appointment as Fort Worth’s first Hispanic city manager was largely overshadowed by the controversy surrounding the process council members used to hire him. City manager is one of four staff positions — including city secretary, city attorney and city auditor — that council members are tasked with hiring.
Last year, the monthslong process to find Cooke’s successor culminated in a contentious week of accusations, heated arguments and closed-door meetings.
Council members named Chapa as the sole finalist for the city manager position five days before they formally voted to hire him. The council privately interviewed Chapa and four other semifinalists they declined to name and did not ask to participate in public forums.
Williams and Chris Nettles, the only two Black men on council, were outspoken critics of the hiring process, describing it as “baked and unfair,” and alleging that Chapa was handpicked for the role. The two, along with a group of Black faith and business leaders, urged the council to delay the vote to hire Chapa and restart the hiring process with opportunities for the community to weigh in. Several Hispanic leaders rallied around Chapa and supported his hire.
Williams, who declined to participate in the vote to hire Chapa, said the city manager showed no hurt feelings over his outspoken criticism of the process. Williams maintains that his concerns were not about Chapa’s qualifications for the job, but about what he saw as an unfair process that should have been inclusive of neighborhood voices.
“Jay understood why I took the position that I did. He recognized that it had nothing to do with him, but about being consistent and being a representative for my neighborhood,” Williams said.
Bivens, who said she’s always been a “strong advocate” for Chapa, feels he didn’t do anything to warrant the hostility he faced in his hiring. She feels he’s handled tension in City Hall well and “with nothing to prove.”
“Jay has maintained a cool, calm, professional demeanor — that has not changed,” Bivens said. “That’s just who he is. That’s the way he entered the job. That’s the way he does the job. I have no clue what people expected from him, but he has not changed.”
Michael Bell, senior pastor at Greater St. Stephen First Church-Baptist in southeast Fort Worth, was one of the Black faith leaders who urged council members to allow community input on the city manager hire. Looking back on the situation, he reiterated that his unease wasn’t about Chapa or his ability to do the job but “it was about the broken process, unacceptable process.”
“Jay has always been thoughtful, and I’ve never known him to be anything but,” Bell said. “The reason I pushed back against his hire was the process, and the insensitivity on the part of the mayor and the City Council to hear from the community, at least have some semblance of community input.”
Ty Stimpson, chairman of the Fort Worth Metropolitan Black Chamber of Commerce’s board of directors, said Chapa first met with the chamber the week before officially becoming city manager. Members of the chamber, including President and CEO Michelle Green-Ford, were critics of the hiring process.
“When we had our initial sit-down meeting, he was very transparent. You know, we expressed some things to him, and they were heard,” Stimpson said.
As Chapa took the mantle of city manager from Cooke, community leaders watched attentively to see how he would differ or align with the city’s longest-tenured manager — and engage with the city’s diverse communities.
Current and former officials say Chapa has excelled in building community trust and forming relationships with underserved neighbors. Community leaders say Chapa has taken some good first steps, but not all feel included.
Former Mayor Betsy Price, who helped oversee Cooke’s hire and worked with Chapa during his previous tenure on city staff, applauded Chapa for being “very visible” at business meetings, neighborhood association meetings and social events.
“City managers need to be seen,” Price said. “My theory when I was mayor was, ‘you don’t govern well behind a desk,’ and that includes the city manager. They need to be out in public, and they also need to be out with their staff. Not just in their office, but out and about.”
During his first 100 days, Chapa has attended a variety of community events and public meetings, including ribbon-cutting ceremonies for new city facilities, community info sessions on city projects and weekly City Council meetings.
Bell said he feels reassured by the steps Chapa has taken to engage with the community. He feels particularly encouraged by Chapa’s commitment to a transparent hiring process for the next police chief, adding that Chapa met with him and other faith leaders at the end of April to get their early input on the hire.
Wesley Kirk, founder of the arts advocacy group Support Fort Worth Art and a leader of civic engagement group SteerFW, said he’s not impressed with Chapa’s outreach efforts so far. Although he has heard anecdotally that city employees admire and respect Chapa, he perceives Chapa as more focused on internal relationships in city government rather than external ones with the community.
“Trust needs to be built. (He’s) the most powerful, unelected person in the city, and I’m concerned that it feels like he might have thought he didn’t need to build trust, because he already had so much among city employees from previously working for the city,” Kirk said. “But a lot of community people are like, ‘I don’t know you. I don’t know if I can trust you.’”
He wishes that Chapa had publicly addressed the controversy surrounding his hire, even if just to stand up during the meeting where council members voted on his appointment to take a stance on the community’s concerns about transparency. He said Chapa could have built a lot of community trust by doing so, or by hosting a meet-and-greet for the community to come speak with him and hear his plans for the city.
“Just one single meeting would have calmed everyone’s nerves. That would have been really great,” Kirk said. “And then, yeah, just bringing a more proactive approach for informing people of, ‘Here are our priorities. Here’s what we’re working on.’ That would be really nice.”
Council member Michael Crain, who represents parts of west Fort Worth, described Chapa’s reentrance into city government as “seamless.” He doesn’t see eye-to-eye with the notion that Chapa’s role needs high public engagement, adding that council members should be more public-facing than the city manager.
“It’s a tough job in that (Chapa has) got to manage the external part of people having some faith in his leadership, and the internal part of the people he’s trying to lead having faith in his leadership,” Crain said. “In my viewpoint, we need him manning the ship and making sure those needs are being responded to by the 7,000-plus city staff.”
Vision for city’s future
As Chapa tackles his next 100 days and beyond, he said he will be putting a “very intentional focus” on completing the EMS transition, adopting a balanced budget for fiscal year 2026, and “keeping the work moving” on the 2026 bond and 2050 comprehensive plan. He plans to appoint the city’s next police chief in September.
“We will continue to be guided by the foundations that make a city successful: investing in innovation and infrastructure, supporting economic growth, maintaining sound fiscal management and engaging our residents in those processes all while maintaining quality basic city services and keeping our residents safe,” Chapa said via email.
Parker said collaboration on issues like public safety, infrastructure, green space and smart economic development are her top priorities for the city manager’s office as the city continues to grow.
Bell and Kirk both expressed a desire for Chapa to communicate his vision, with Bell emphasizing a need for equitable development across the city’s neighborhoods and Kirk wanting to see more funding for the arts community, as well as a clearly defined plan for the Fort Worth Community Arts Center, which closed at the end of 2024. The city-owned building is in need of more than $30 million in repairs, but city leaders have been unclear about its future.
“I’m anxious to see how he’s going to communicate the vision. Where are we going as a city?” Bell said. “I can’t make an accurate assessment of what he’s about without knowing what he’s thinking.”
Crain and other council members said they’re excited to see Chapa steward Fort Worth into a new era as it continues to grow. No one is more equipped for the challenge, they said.
“He wants what’s best for the entire city, and he understands the bureaucracy at the city, and he can help us maneuver through it. But for him, it’s not about politics. It’s about loving Fort Worth and about the people that call this place home,” Crain said. “So that’s why I’m very happy he’s our city manager and proud that he would want to spend this time ensuring that the city continues to grow in the right direction.”
Cecilia Lenzen and Drew Shaw are government accountability reporters for the Fort Worth Report. Contact them at [email protected] and [email protected].
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