MARFA — The Marfa City Council met in closed session last Thursday to review candidates for its long-unfilled city administrator position. With the exception of a small stint by a terminated administrator, the city has been without the key position for two years.
The prior couple of weeks, the city had a dozen candidates, but council members narrowed down the field to four by Thursday. City staff will now begin arranging council member interviews with the candidates. Cities typically do not release the names of candidates — sometimes to protect their current jobs — but often do when a lone finalist is named. In November 2025 the council named a lone finalist and held a public meeting for residents to ask questions, but the council declined to hire him
Council members terminated the previous city manager, Andrea Walter, in April 2025 — just a month and a half into her position — after conflicts with some council members. Councilmember Travis Acreman countered that narrative at the time by saying she was fired for focusing on and reporting mismanagement of key projects, like street repair and water meters. During the conflict, the council changed the position title to “city administrator” to reflect that Marfa actually was a “strong mayor” city with most oversight and some management done by the mayor.
Kelly Perez, the city secretary at the time, was named interim city administrator, but she resigned in September 2025.
The position originally became open when long-time City Manager Mandy Roane resigned in September 2024.
