February 15, 2025

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Texarkana, Arkansas, finance director resigns

Texarkana, Arkansas, finance director resigns

TEXARKANA, Ark. — The finance director and past interim city manager is leaving the city’s administrative staff after a 13-year career with Texarkana.

TyRhonda Henderson submitted her resignation Tuesday. Her last day on the job is July 5.

“Sometimes you have to know when to hold them and when to fold them,” Henderson said Thursday to the Gazette about her decision to leave.

While she has no immediate employment plans, Henderson said she likely would pursue opportunities to reenter public service. It is something that has become dear to her since she joined the city staff from the private sector in 2011.

“It’s an area I never imagined myself going into,” the Ashdown resident said. “Being in public service, I completely love it.”

In her time with the city, Henderson has been the grants administrator, purchasing technician, staff accountant and controller. In 2021, she served as acting city manager until the hiring of Robert Thompson in 2023.

Thompson resigned earlier in June.

As the city’s finance director, Henderson managed an annual budget of $64 million. Her work gave her a direct connection to major municipal decisions, including the purchase of the former Union Elementary School for use by the Police Department and the allocating of $250,000 to help launch Big Dam Waterpark.

Henderson’s work has not gone unnoticed.

“She will be greatly missed,” acting City Manager Tyler Richards said, citing her years of service.

In 2022, Henderson received wider recognition by being named the Public Sector Chief Financial Officer of the Year by Arkansas Business.

Despite the accolades, Henderson said she tries to view her work with humility.

“Everything I have done, I feel it was all the things I was supposed to do,” she said.

However, there is one thing thing she will spotlight: her staff of seven women. She calls them a “legacy I can leave behind.”

“It wasn’t a one-woman show. If it wasn’t for them, then I could not have made any of it happen,” she said.

That appreciation has her hoping for something specific for Texarkana, Arkansas.

“I would love to see the city get to a certain level of stability,” she said.

Proper leadership, employee longevity and “getting good people in place” will be key to keeping the city moving forward, she said.

Since 2022, two police chiefs and two city managers have resigned from the city.

Henderson credits the city with providing her with opportunities for professional and personal growth, something for which she “will forever be grateful.”

“I would love to have retired, but it didn’t play out that way,” she said.

The city manager’s office will appoint an interim finance director once Henderson leaves.

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