Interim Leander city manager takes lead

LEANDER, Texas (KXAN) - Leander city officials appointed a fill-in for the city manager position left open by the sudden death of City Manager Anthony "Biff" Johnson.

Robert Powers' appointment came at a special-called meeting Monday night when the Leander City Council named the finance director as the city's interim city manager. He was previously Cedar Park's city manager.

Powers said he was pleased with the legacy Johnson, 49, left the city and the staff that is in place to carry through Leander's future plans. Johnson died of cardiac arrest at his home on Thursday.

"We will never fill his shoes. [But] we will honor his legacy," Powers said.

He took the dais with the council after accepting the appointment but opted to leave Johnson's seat vacant for the remainder of the meeting.

He said he hopes that when a new city manager is appointed, he can return to his finance director position.

Powers graduated from Notre Dame and has a graduate degree from Harvard.

He and his wife, Jeri, have three children: one son in college and two daughters in the Leander Independent School District.