OAK POINT — City leaders are poised to hire a new city manager today — their fourth in less than two years.

After just seven months on the job, Ashley Stathatos left the post Nov. 9 for a job in economic development with the city of Colleyville.

Mayor Duane Olson said Stathatos’ departure was a surprise, but the city moved quickly to fill the void.

“We weren’t expecting it, but in a couple of months, things should settle down,” Olson said.

He believed the council’s top candidate would be able to come to work in about two weeks, Olson said.

Because Stathatos lives in Southlake, Olson suspected the commute between the two cities ended up being more of a problem than Stathatos thought it would be when she took the job.

“The drive got to be too much — it was too much time away from her family,” Olson said.

Stathatos did not return a call for comment.

Stathatos started with Oak Point in April, after two other city managers were forced out. Former City Manager Richard Harold Martin resigned in April 2008 after the arrest of Jennifer Ashenhart-Hawkins on a charge of abuse of office. The city’s bookkeeper at that time, Ashenhart-Hawkins claimed she knew about money missing from the city’s petty cash and problems with a city credit card, but was covering for Martin.

Martin was indicted in May 2009 on felony charges of theft by a public servant. The case is pending in Denton’s 16th District Court.

After Martin’s resignation, then-City Secretary Tamara Null became acting city manager and was eventually promoted to city manager. But in December 2008, Null was fired after the city launched another investigation into tampering with government records. Null has neither been arrested nor charged with any crime.

Former Mayor David Klewicki said he was concerned that the City Council’s searches for a city manager haven’t panned out since a search firm helped them recruit and hire Julie Johnston. Johnston came from the city of Plano and served for four years. She left Oak Point in early 2007 to become the city manager in Dickinson.

Klewicki was also concerned that city leaders aren’t giving managers the resources they need to do a good job.

“Don’t get me wrong, we’ve got some talented people on the council, but we need to take a look at reality and see whether we can do all this,” Klewicki said, pointing to ongoing problems with some developers; road, drainage and parks projects; and the mold infestation in City Hall.

Olson said the City Council has put some new supports in place, including the hire of a new financial person and the approval to hire an assistant to the city manager.

In addition, two council members are heading up the City Hall construction project.

“We’re close to making a decision on that one,” Olson said. “It’s looking more and more like we’re going to go with a new building.”

PEGGY HEINKEL-WOLFE can be reached at 940-566-6881. Her e-mail address is pheinkel-wolfe@dentonrc.com .