Media Contact: Cecilia Jacobs Chief Communications Officer 817-392-6744 (office) 682-432-4789 (cell)

NEWS RELEASE For Immediate Release Jan. 31, 2008

 

Joe Paniagua Named First Assistant City Manager

FORT WORTH — City Manager Dale Fisseler has named Joe Paniagua first assistant city manager. In addition to overseeing the City Manager’s Office, Paniagua will be responsible for Fire, Housing, Municipal Court, Police and Public Health departments.

Paniagua also is responsible for Emergency Management and Governmental Relations, both divisions of the City Manager’s Office. Additionally, he is the City Manager’s liaison to the Crime Control District, the Fort Worth Afterschool Program, the Ambulance Authority and the 911 District as well as to the City Council’s Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs Committee.

Paniagua joined the city in 1986 as a Municipal Court customer service representative. He spent two years as a Housing and Human Services Department specialist managing the Neighborhood Resources Development at the Worth Heights Center and directing the Northside Center before moving up as the city’s chief state and federal legislative program coordinator and grant manager in 1989.  In that capacity, he represented the city through six Texas Legislative sessions from 1991 to 2001 as well as coordinated legislative efforts in Washington D.C.  He was promoted to assistant city manager in 2001.

In other changes, Fisseler named Fernando Costa acting assistant city manager responsible for infrastructure services. Costa previously served as director of the Planning and Development Department. Susan Alanis, assistant director of Planning and Development, will serve as the department’s acting director.

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