Urban Management Assistants of Central Texas - UMACT’s Post

Meet our latest member spotlight, Dean Huard, LSSBB, DML – City Manager for the Village of the Hills! Learn more about Dean and the work he does for the Village of the Hills below. 🎧 What are you currently listening to? 💬 Favorite Song - Anything by U2, but One is my favorite song. I was able to see them play in Amsterdam in 2017 while stationed in Germany as an Army Officer. Podcast - A few of my favorites are: The Green Notebook, The Learning Leader, The Art of Manliness and the Daily Stoic Audiobook - Prior to moving recently to Lakeway, TX, I had a 1.5 hour commute so I went through many audible books to include: The Culture Code by Daniel Coyle, The Splendid and The Vile by Erik Larsen and The Second Mountain by David Brooks. 🌳 When you’re not working, how do you like to spend your free time? 💬 Family time- travel baseball, trying new foodie places to eat and drink, running, mountain biking and golf. 📣 What is one thing you wish more people knew about what you do? 💬 City Management is the art of balancing the desires of City Council with what you think is best for the city. Everyone has the same goal, to make their city better, but the road you take to get to that destination may be different depending on your experience and background. 💖 Tell us about a project you are proud of! 💬 I was appointed as The Hills City Manager recently and our biggest problem set to date has been coordinating the storm debris clean up from Storm Mara. I arrived after its aftermath but have been involved in how to recover from it quickly. Our public green belt areas needed to be addressed as downed trees were creating a fire hazard, so we were lucky to be able to contract with Lake Travis Fire and Rescue to assist us. The storm brought the three local cities of The Hills, Lakeway and Bee Cave together and it has been impressive to watch how staff and elected leaders worked together to find common solutions to public policy problems.