The Dallas City Council discharged Inspector General Timothy Menke, a longtime law enforcement executive, Wednesday after weeks of discussing how city officials bungled his hiring process.
Last November, voters approved a charter proposition that established an independent office of inspector general and called for its top officer to be “a competent practicing attorney of recognized ability.”
However, Menke, who began his job on June 30 and has decades of experience investigating governmental fraud and misconduct, is not an attorney.
During the meeting, council members did not publicly discuss the rationale behind the vote. They also didn’t get into what caused the error.
Political Points
“It’s an unfortunate setback but had to be done to have the IG’s qualifications align with those in the charter,” Deputy Mayor pro tem Gay Donnell Willis, who had long advocated for creating an independent office during the charter process, told The Dallas Morning News. “I am still very much a believer in the need for an independent inspector general to suss out fraud, waste and abuse.”
Willis said the council and staff will also explore ways to determine how the oversight occurred, as did council member Paula Blackmon, who noted that officials are now examining ways to improve internal processes.
Around the U.S., inspectors general can come from various backgrounds. They could be attorneys, auditors, law enforcement officials and prosecutors.
A job listing for the position didn’t specify that the applicant needs to be an attorney, although it does mention that a master’s degree or a doctorate in jurisprudence is preferred, and calls for the applicant to possess a skillset that demonstrates legal acumen.
Last year, council members had extensive discussions about picking a skilled firm to lead the recruitment. They wanted to avoid mistakes they had seen in the previous search for the new city manager, which had been riddled with issues.
The brochure for the position featured Houston’s skyline instead of Dallas’, and the management of the search, at the time carried out by former council member Tennell Atkins, former chair of the ad hoc administrative affairs committee, led to a behind-the-scenes fight in the City Council that erupted publicly.
The City Council then hired MGT Consulting Group.
For weeks, the City Council spent time in closed session interviewing candidates. The Dallas Morning News sought public records regarding the resumes of the candidates who applied for the job and the communication between council members, who held the final approval. The request was sent to the Attorney General’s office for review. The city withdrew its request for the attorney general’s ruling Wednesday and partially released documents that still provide no clarity about the oversight.