WEIMAR — Don Dixson became Weimar’s newest city manager on April 25 when the Weimar City Council moved quickly to fill the position of de parting city manager, Richard Whitten.
Dixson has taken over the operations of the city with an eye to the future as well as to the present, but first, he must deal with the past. Dixson was introduced to the citizens with a “get to know your new city manager” event this past week at the Weimar City Hall conference room. A steady stream of citizens came out to meet Dixson and his wife, Luann.
Born and raised in Fort Worth, he graduated from Tarrant County College with an Associate's in General Studies with an emphasis on business adminis- tration. Family and life slowed Dixson down until he obtained his bachelor’s at Madison University online in 2007. He has since worked at various city governments in various departments, where he eventually ended up back in Fort Worth in the Central City area working with the planning departments, historic boards, downtown design review boards and coordinated all the noncompliance of codes when buildings were revitalized.
He comes to Weimar with over 20 years in city government experience.
Although this is Dixson's first city manager’s job, he has worked in a broad
spectrum of services that are essential to a city's development. One of his ideas, such as the parking issue in Roanoke where he worked, has been implemented with great success. He has other ideas that he has passed by the Weimar council members and the mayor, which he will explore once he gets his feet planted and brought up to speed.
First, Dixson needs to address past issues that were not addressed by the last city manager and work through the administrative paperwork. Presently, he is busy with the day-to-day operations while he finishes putting down roots in Weimar. He and his wife, Luann, bought a home in the city limits of Weimar. He said, “ We have come into Weimar with the idea of, 'This is our home, now,' and we are going to plug into everything that we can do," as he reflects on their future.
Dixson is big on being involved in the community, not just for the sake of hav ing something to do, but to have an ear to the ground and hear what the public wants for their community.
Dixson's eye to the future of Wei - mar is to continue to bring forth the rural charm of the town, keep a check on infrastructure, bring in new busi nesses and bring visitor dollars into the city. One of his goals is to bring more festivals to Weimar. Gedenke, Rock the Block and other fun activities can be just the tip of the iceberg for bringing visitors and potential town citizens into Weimar.
Dixson believes he has found the ideal place to call home as he says, “We (he and Luann) are honored to have been given this job, this opportunity to
come in, purchase a home here, be fullfledged, fully emerged and immersed
Weimar citizens.”
