The executive team for Amarillo consists of the City Manager’s Office, the City Secretary’s Office, and the Office of Engagement and Innovation. The City of Amarillo City Manager’s Office consists of a city manager, a deputy city manager, and four assistant city managers.
- CONTACT INFORMATION
- 806-378-3014
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623 S Johnson St
3rd Floor - Suite 3500
P.O. Box 1971
Amarillo, TX 79105
City Manager's Office HISTORY
The City of Amarillo operates under the Council-Manager form of government, adopted in 1913 as the first in Texas. This model, part of early 20th-century reforms, aimed to eliminate patronage and corruption by appointing a professional City Manager to oversee daily operations without political interference. For over a century, it has provided responsive and responsible local governance.
The Amarillo City Charter, established in 1913, defines three branches of government: Legislative (elected City Council), Administrative (appointed City Manager), and Judicial (appointed Municipal Court Judge). The City Manager, as Chief Administrative Officer, appoints all City employees except the Municipal Court Judge, who is appointed by the City Council.
City Management Team
Grayson Path - City Manager
Email: Grayson.Path@amarillo.gov
Grayson Path Bio
Grayson Path serves as City Manager, where he oversees a budget of approximately $531 million and over 2,300 employees.
Greetings! My name is Grayson Path and I have the honor and privilege of serving you as the Amarillo City Manager. As the Chief Executive Officer in service to the City Council, it is my responsibility to provide efficient administration of all municipal departments.
Since receiving a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2009 and a Master of Public Administration degree from Arkansas State University in 2012, I’ve had the wonderful fortune of working for the City of Jetmore, KS (2013-2015) as City Administrator, City of Nebraska City, NE (2015-2020) as City Administrator, and City of Paris, TX (2020-2024) as City Manager. It has been a very exciting and busy career, filled with a wide variety of challenges and tasks that have given me the skills and experience I know will serve the City of Amarillo well.
During my career, I’ve had the pleasure of working on hundreds of millions of dollars in capital improvement projects, including roadways, facilities, treatment plants, and utilities. The communities I served were awarded tens of millions of dollars in federal and state funds, grants and donations, while in turn were able to offer funding through incentive programs to attract and maintain industry, businesses, and housing. I have been responsible for the development and implementation of significantly sized budgets and have overseen a wide array of departments such as emergency-based Police, Fire, and EMS, to infrastructure-based Public Works, Utilities, and Engineering, to operation and community-based Finance, Library, Parks and Community Development. Using a team approach, we tackled important community-advancement projects such as Comprehensive Development Plans, Revitalization Plans, Housing Assessments, Economic Development Programs and City Council Strategic Plans. But I’m particularly proud of the partnerships we formed among many entities within the communities I served; as well as the outstanding teams of City workers that I’ve been privileged to oversee. I understand the importance of empowering staff, thorough communication at all levels, and giving my employer (the city council) the information they need to make informed decisions as they lead the community, and it is my wish to serve the citizens of Amarillo, the city council and the team at the City of Amarillo, with the same vigor.
Public service continues to be my passion. While my position is one of leadership and management, I know the importance of putting those I serve first and foremost in all the decisions we make. To accomplish this, I rely heavily upon the community, the city council, and the staff because only through teamwork can we truly do great things. My role in this has been and will continue to be, one who stands in the gap and brings all these groups together to accomplish our goals. It is a challenging, yet rewarding, calling in life.
I have greatly enjoyed building coalitions and working with caring and industrious people within the communities I have served. Under God’s guiding hand, these individuals, as well as the mentors in my life, have helped mold me into the honest, hardworking, open-minded, quick-learning, determined, experienced, and strong-willed man I have become. These are the skills, as well as the experience I’ve gained along the way, that I bring in service to the people of Amarillo.
Andrew Freeman - Deputy City Manager & Public Safety Director
Email: Andrew.Freeman@amarillo.gov
Andrew Freeman Bio
Andrew Freeman serves as Deputy City Manager and Public Safety Director. He leads Police, Fire, Emergency Management, Municipal Court, Animal Management & Welfare, and Planning.
Andrew has been involved in local government since 2008 previously serving in Plainview, TX as Assistant City Manager/Civil Service Director, Tulia, TX as City Manager/EDC Director, and starting his career with San Marcos, TX serving in various roles. He joined the City of Amarillo in April 2017 and was promoted to Deputy City Manager in May 2023. He also served as Interim City Manager from September 2023 to March 2024. Having graduated from Texas State University with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in public administration, Andrew’s career has focused on city management, planning, and economic development. He holds the Economic Development Finance Professional certification through the National Development Council and is a 2019 graduate of Oklahoma University’s Economic Development Institute. Andrew is actively involved in the Texas City Management Association and International City/County Management Association, serving on various committees. Locally, he serves on the Panhandle Regional Planning Commission’s Economic Development Advisory Committee, as an ex-officio board member of the St. Anthony’s Legacy Redevelopment Corporation, and he is also a member of Elevate Amarillo.
Laura Storrs - Assistant City Manager & Chief Financial Officer
Email: Laura.Storrs@amarillo.gov
Laura Storrs Bio
Laura Storrs serves as Assistant City Manager and Chief Financial Officer for the City of Amarillo. She leads the Human Resources, Finance, Library, Public Health, Women Infants and Children (WIC), and Parks and Recreation teams, as well as the preparation of a $531 million annual budget.
Laura has worked for the City over 17 years with almost three years as Assistant City Manager and CFO. She was born and raised in Amarillo and is proud to serve her community through her role at the City. She has a Master of Professional Accounting degree from WTAMU and is a CPA. Laura is married and is a mother of two boys. In her spare time, she enjoys supporting the local sales tax here in Amarillo.
Rich Gagnon Assistant City Manager & Chief Information Officer
Email: Rich.Gagnon@amarillo.gov
Rich Gagnon Bio
Rich Gagnon serves as Assistant City Manager and Chief Information Officer. Rich leads the Information Technology, Office of Engagement and Innovation, Public Health, Civic Center, Women Infants and Children, Transit teams, as well as, the 3-1-1 and Broadband initiatives.
Rich is a highly experienced technologist and executive leader. Prior to filling his role at the city of Amarillo six years ago, Rich led a worldwide engineering team responsible for over a billion dollars of annual revenue as the Global Vice-President of Systems Engineering for F5 Networks. He also led as the Theater Vice-President of the Americas for Palo Alto Networks and the Director of Global Infrastructure for GameStop. Rich now applies his experience and proven track record of bringing transformative technical and business initiatives to market in the private sector to his work for the citizens of Amarillo. “It is an honor, a privilege, and a joy to work every day serving the community we call home,” Rich Gagnon.
Donny Hooper - Assistant City Manager & Public Infrastructure Director
Email: Donny.Hooper@amarillo.gov
Donny Hooper Bio
Donny Hooper serves as Assistant City Manager. Donny leads the Building Safety, Capital Projects & Development Engineering, Environmental Health, Facilities, City Marshal Office, and Facilities Departments.
Donny has over 28 years of experience in municipal governance, with a deep commitment to public service and community collaboration. His career began in 1996 at the City of Pampa as an engineering technician, setting the foundation for a trajectory marked by leadership and innovation in public administration. Most recently Donny served as the Managing Director of Public Works for the City of Amarillo. During his time in Amarillo, he has been instrumental in enhancing operational efficiencies and integrating technological advancements that streamline city services. His focus is to foster collaboration among city departments, forming a more user-friendly approach to service delivery, significantly enhancing the quality of customer service provided to the community. Throughout his career, Donny has demonstrated a keen ability to manage diverse teams and multiple departments, ensuring cohesive and effective operations. His expertise in change management, culture change and team building has been pivotal in his success.
Born and raised in the Texas Panhandle, Donny’s roots have grounded his understanding of the community’s needs. Alongside his wife, Gail, and their family, Donny is deeply involved in local life, contributing his time at church as a praise and worship drummer and involved in many community activities. He also enjoys his part time “job/hobby” as a play-by-play sportscaster, calling over 2,000 football, baseball, and basketball games for various radio stations over the past 30 years.
Floyd Hartman - Assistant City Manager
Email: Floyd.Hartman@amarillo.gov
Floyd Hartman Bio
Floyd Hartman serves as Assistant City Manager. Floyd leads the Water &Sewer Utilities team.
Floyd has enjoyed serving the public for the past 27 years in local government in the area, and the last 17 years serving the citizens of Amarillo directly. Floyd has an extensive background in water utilities and is proud to be part of a team that provides drinking water to more than 200,000 people. More recently in his career, Floyd has added oversight of Public Works, Capital Projects and Engineering, Development Services Customer Service, and special projects such as work in the creation of the Convention and Visitors Bureau. He serves as a Municipal representative on the Region A Water Planning Group and as Water Utilities representative and Chairman of the newly created Region 1 Canadian-Upper Red Region 1 Flood Planning Group.
CITY MANAGER'S OFFICE Principles
Every day presents new challenges and opportunities to serve the citizens of Amarillo. With over 2,500 City employees, we are dedicated to:
Fostering inclusion: We aim for every citizen to feel this is their government, here to serve all in our community.
Open and honest governance: We operate with transparency and integrity.
Responsiveness: We strive to meet citizens’ needs, balancing limited resources with critical decisions.
Citizen-focused: Our primary purpose is to serve the community, providing essential services that support daily life in Amarillo.
Professional management: We handle all City affairs with balance, best practices, and a commitment to the community’s best interests.
LEGISLATIVE INFORMATION
| Prior City Managers of Amarillo | |
| M. H. Hardin | 1913-1916 |
| A.D. Armstrong | 1917-1918 |
| Jeff D. Bartlett | 1919-1920 |
| J.G. Colby | 1921-1922 |
| Jeff D. Bartlett | 1923-1928 |
| J. B. Patterson | 1929-1930 |
| W. N. Durham | 1929-1941 |
| H. R. Smith | 1932-1941 |
| A. P. Hancock | 1941-1947 |
| N. V. Moss | 1947-1963 |
| John S. Stiff | 1963-1983 |
| John Q. Ward | 1983-2005 |
| Alan M. Taylor | 2005-2011 |
| W. Jarrett Atkinson | 2011-2015 |
| Terry L. Childers (interim) | 2015-2016 |
| Bob Cowell Jr. (Interim) | 2016–2017 |
| Jared Miller | 2017-2023 |
| Andrew Freeman (Interim) | 2023-2024 |
| Floyd Hartman (Interim) | 2024-2024 |
| Grayson Path | 2024- |