During Wednesday’s special meeting of the Sealy City Council, the resignation of City Manager Warren Escovy was officially acknowledged and EDC Executive Director Kimbra Hill was announced as the incoming Interim City Manager.

Escovy started his third stint as the City of Sealy’s Interim City Manager after the departure of Lloyd Merrell Dec. 21, 2020, and was eventually hired for the full-time position during the April 20 regular meeting.

Hill started as the EDC’s Executive Director Jan. 1 after Robert Worley submitted his resignation at the end of 2020. She had previously served as the city’s Main Street Manager.

In a follow-up interview with The Sealy News Thursday, Dec. 16, Escovy explained that his resignation was in response to a job opportunity he received and had little to do with the City of Sealy.

“I have a great opportunity to be a city administrator in Blanco, Texas. It's a small community in the hill country and was nothing to do with Sealy in the sense that – I think Sealy is on the right path and there's a lot of things Sealy's working on. But it was just an opportunity I didn't really think I could pass and I wanted to give Sealy every opportunity to pass the torch to the next person. This was not a Sealy issue, this was me wanting to take an opportunity and go (on) the next journey. That was kind of my thought on that. It may seem abrupt but it really isn't because it was more than a 30-day notice,” explained Escovy. “That's this kind of Texas city manager life, people move on.”

Escovy submitted his resignation notice Dec. 9 and Hill will be appointed as Acting City Manager Monday, Dec. 20. Hill will then be appointed Interim City Manager on Escovy’s final day as a Sealy staff member, Jan. 7, 2022.

“Basically, between now and the seventh, Kimbra will be kind of trailing me and looking at what I'm doing and I'll put together some lists of things that we're working on. She's worked on a lot of those things already, some things she hasn't, but she'll kind of get information from me to start picking up everything that I've had,” said Escovy. “It's really a busy time from now (until) the seventh, her just kind of getting all that information and working on that. She'll do a great job, I have absolutely every confidence that she is going to do a great job. Just the council wanted to give her a few weeks to start getting her feet wet.”

After he expressed that he was confident Hill would perform well in her new position, Escovy explained that he believes Sealy has a promising future ahead.

“I came here in 2015 and the city has been very welcoming. There's a lot of really good things about Sealy. Growth is happening with I-10 being widened. I started out as a planning director, I always believed in growth and smart growth and making sure that you have all the public infrastructure needed to start developing cities, making the right choices to move forward and to accommodate that growth. The city has a very bright future,” Escovy said.