MICHELLE WILLARD, Post Staff Writer
Posted: Thursday, May 14, 2009 8:42 pm

Assistant City Manger Rob Lyons smiled Thursday night as the Murfreesboro City Council decided to forego a national search and appoint him as the next City Manager. TMP/ Michelle Willard

Rob Lyons is Murfreesboro’s next City Manager.

Murfreesboro City Council unanimously approved promoting Lyons in the top post in the city’s administration when current City Manager Roger Haley retires in August.

In a surprise move during an update on the national search for Haley’s replacement, Councilman David Edwards moved to end the search in it’s beginning stages and appoint Lyons.

"The search was made in the days after the tornado," Edwards said.

Edwards said he has been reflecting on the months long Linebaugh Library Director search that finally settled on local Rita Shacklett.

“We hired an outstanding director, but it happened to be No. 2 person at Linebaugh,” he said.

Toby Gilley, an early proponent of a national search, said his mind was changed during the Good Friday Tornado aftermath, when Lyons led city services in Haley’s absence.

“Tragedies beget heroes and heroes become leaders,” he said, adding the city should hire Lyons that night.

After fellow Councilmen Shane McFarland and Ron Washington spoke out in favor of Lyons, the council did just that and approved him as Haley’s replacement in a unanimous vote.

“We ended up right where we were in the first place,” McFarland said.

When Haley took the city manger job, Murfreesboro only had a population of around 32,000 and the population has more than doubled in the past 10 years to more than 100,000, according to a recently completed special census.

Lyons was hired as assistant city manager in 1996. He was promoted to deputy city manager last year.

Michelle Willard can be contacted at 615-869-0816 or mwillard@murfreesboropost.com.