Lawler to depart as Hudson Oaks City Administrator

The City of Hudson Oaks announced that longtime City Administrator Patrick Lawler will step down from that position early in 2020 to work fulltime for his own consulting firm.

“Hudson Oaks is an incredible community and my family and I are blessed to call it home,” Lawler said. “A number of years ago, my business partner and I started a development consulting and analytics firm that has grown considerably, so I will be moving into that role. I will still be an active Hudson Oaks resident and my family and I are excited about the direction of our community.” 

During his tenure as City Administrator, the city saw a sales tax revenue increase of more than 125 percent. Also during this time, the city secured the recruitment of some of the largest employers in Parker County, including HEB, John Deere, Freedom Powersports, the broadcasting headquarters for Superior Livestock, and Nextlink Internet.

“Hudson Oaks doesn’t measure success by population, but rather, by our ability to grow sales

tax revenue for the purpose of providing excellent services without taxing our residents” said Hudson Oaks Mayor Marc Povero. “Over the past 13 years, thanks to the vision and hard work of Patrick Lawler, we have set our community on a path to never need an ad-valorem property tax.

“We are extremely fortunate to have some of the best local government employees in the business working for Hudson Oaks, and our next city administrator will certainly be able to hit the ground running.”

The City will begin recruitment immediately for the next city administrator, and Lawler will stay on staff until the new administrator takes the reins. 

“Patrick will continue in a consulting role with the city in order to bring the new administrator up to speed on major projects and get him or her familiar with our economic development pipeline,”Povero said. “We knew that Patrick would eventually leave to run his businesses full time and council has been planning for this transition over the last couple of years.

“There’s no doubt that the job of City Administrator for Hudson Oaks is a premier city manager job in the DFW region. We have an engaged resident base and culture of political stability that will greatly assist our recruitment efforts.

“On a personal note, Patrick has become a close friend and will be sorely missed by our city council, staff, and employees. I wish him, his wife, Jennifer, and the boys only the very best in the future and they will always have a home here in Hudson Oaks, Texas.” Povero said.

The Hudson Oaks City Council accepted Patrick's resignation at their Jan 9 meeting.

Lawler served the City of Hudson Oaks for 13 years. His consulting company is called Eight20.