LAKEWAY, Texas — Lakeway City Manager Julie Oakley announced her resignation on Wednesday afternoon, saying in a statement she already submitted her resignation to the city council.
Her last day will be Sept. 2.
In the letter, Oakley said she was offered a management opportunity to work for an accounting firm that will allow the flexibility of caring for her mother in West Texas.
She assured that the timing of her departure is "merely coincidental" and does not have to do with a lawsuit against the City challenging Oakley's residency. According to the lawsuit, Oakley has never lived in Lakeway which is a violation of the city charter.
"While the timing is merely coincidental, I want to be clear that this decision does not have to do with the frivolous, politically motivated lawsuit recently filed. I was already two months into the interview process when we were made aware of the lawsuit," she said in the statement.
According to the City's website, she was hired in 2010 as finance director and then stepped into the role of assistant city manager. In 2019, she was named interim city manager and was soon offered the position she's now leaving.
"I am proud of dedicating 12 years of my life to the City of Lakeway, serving as finance director, assistant city manager, and for the past three years as your city manager. In those years, this Lakeway team helped usher in some great new developments, enhanced communications for our residents, and even improved our city credit rating through conservative financial strategies, while keeping the tax rate low for our residents and maintaining the highest quality of service for our community," she continued. "I am truly proud of this Lakeway team. And while I am very excited for this next step in my professional journey, I also know it will be difficult to move on from this amazing team, having worked with many city staff members for more than a decade."
Lakeway Mayor Tom Kilgore said he was proud of Oakely's accomplishments over the years, but said he was "dismayed by the actions of certain individuals" in the City that have threatened the safety of Oakley and her family.
"In those months, our city manager and her family have been kept under constant surveillance, with one or more individuals often following her to her Lakeway residence from City Hall late at night, or already waiting for her at her Lakeway home," Kilgore said in a statement. "No city employee, male or female, should be exposed to a harassing environment. No Lakeway resident should condone or accept this kind of behavior in our community. I believe creating this hostile environment, and the recent litigation over her residency are purely politically motived and designed to harass city staff and our elected public officials."
He ended his statement by highlighting Oakley's work for the City through the COVID-19 pandemic and Winter Storm Uri.
"We, myself and my fellow councilmembers, thank Julie for making the City of Lakeway a better place for all of our residents," Kilgore said. "We appreciate her hard work and dedication, and wish her the best on this next step of her professional journey.”
PEOPLE ARE ALSO READING: