Tarrant County Commissioners Name Chandler Merritt As New County Administrator

Today, the Tarrant County Commissioners Court named Assistant County Administrator and Tarrant County native, Chandler Merritt as the new County Administrator.

Merritt, 41, will succeed G.K. Maenius, who is retiring at the end of September. He will be the second County Administrator in Tarrant County history and will assume his duties on October 1st.

As an Assistant County Administrator, Merritt worked directly for Maenius and has overseen approximately 400 employees and a $300 million budget.

Mr. Merritt has worked at Tarrant County for seven years, previously serving as Chief of Staff to the County Judge before his role as Assistant County Administrator.  Prior to Tarrant County, Merritt served as Director of Strategic Services for the City of McKinney and Business Operations Manager for the City of Irving.

Before entering public service, Merritt worked for the Hicks Sports Group in a variety of roles, including Assistant Vice President of Business Operations for the Cedar Park Center and various roles for the Dallas Stars and Texas Rangers.

Merritt is a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin and earned a Master of Public Administration from The University of Texas at Arlington.

He is a Credentialed Manager through the International City/County Management Association Executive Board.

Merritt and his wife, Nikki, have three children and reside in Tarrant County.

“I’m excited to see Chandler Merritt take the helm as County Administrator. I know that he has learned from an amazing mentor, but he also has ideas of his own about process improvement and efficiency,” remarked County Judge Tim O’Hare.  “He is the right person for the job, and we are expecting great things from Mr. Merritt,” stated Judge O’Hare.



News release date: September 19, 2023