By Noi Mahoney
Staff Writer

The Olmos Park City Council approved the hire of Amy Buckert as the new city manager, and she is slated to begin on March 1. Outgoing City Manager Barbara Joseph, who has held the position since 1999, is retiring. Her last day will be around Feb 28.

“I’ve always wanted to help people,” said Buckert, 29, who is currently the assistant to the city manager for the city of Hurst. Buckert has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Texas at San Antonio and a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Texas at Arlington.

“In psychology, you are working one-on-one,” Buckert said. “I realized I can have more of an impact if I can work in a system like public administration to help save people’s lives.”

Buckert was born and raised in San Antonio. She is a 1995 graduate of Tom C. Clark High School on the city’s North Side. Buckert said she wanted to come home to be closer to her family who live in San Antonio and Boerne.

“I have been looking to go back home for about a year,” Buckert said. “It is beautiful down there and I missed my family.”

Buckert said she has been keeping up with issues in Olmos Park and said Hurst is facing similar issues.

Hurst is small community located in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. According to the 2000 U.S. census, Hurst’s population was 36,273. Hurst’s median income for a household in the city was $50,369, and the median income for a family was $57,955.

“Hurst is dealing with revitalization issues,” Buckert said. “There are three key areas in the city that we want to revitalize. In those areas we want to add retail on the bottom floor and residential on the second story. We also want to make Hurst a more pedestrian-friendly city.”

After Joseph announced her retirement in January, Olmos Park received about 21 applications for the city manager position. City Council whittled down the candidates to five, then picked Buckert from that group. Her salary will be $63,000 a year. Even though Joseph’s last official day is Feb. 28, she will stay on for a time to help Buckert transition into the job. Joseph will also continue to serve the city council on a consulting basis.