Baltimore’s former mayor says she put herself forward to join the Scott administration as City Administrator when Christopher Shorter left the job at the end of 2022.

“I said I would love to be part of your administration… and really get these agencies running properly,” she told WYPR’s Tom Hall on a Wednesday episode of Midday.

But, the job did not go to her. Instead, Mayor Brandon Scott tapped Faith Leach (who Dixon called a “wonderful person”) for the role. Leach, after a bit of drama with the city council, was fully confirmed to the role in March.

The city administrator is in many ways the mayor’s second-in-command. Leach often represents Scott at city council hearings and the Board of Estimates. She even hosted the New Year’s Eve countdown at the Inner Harbor on Sunday while the mayor was occupied with the birth of his newborn baby who had been delivered just days before.

Dixon previously said she would not be running for mayor but repeated on Midday what she has been saying since she ultimately began her 2024 campaign: that she is running because people have continuously approached her to solve their problems in city government.

Dixon, a Democrat, is currently on her third consecutive run for Baltimore mayor. In 2020, she narrowly lost the Democratic primary to Scott. She was serving as Baltimore City Council President in 2007 when she became mayor to replace Martin O’ Malley when he won his campaign for state governor. Later that year she was elected into the office but was forced to resign in 2010 as part of a plea deal in a corruption case. Dixon, who was the city’s first Black female mayor, announced her 2024 campaign with an apology for her past crimes in a Baltimore Sun op-ed.

“I know people want their own people in place and it’s understandable,” she said of being passed over for the city administrator role. “I think I could have helped to get the recycling out quickly, to deal with the roads, and really identify good, talented people.”

Dixon noted that she thinks there are “very talented people” working in the city. The Department of Public Works switched to bi-weekly recycling. Leaders at DPW have repeatedly mentioned staffing and equipment shortages, most especially recycling trucks. The department says it is currently on track to resume weekly recycling services in February.

Dixon was not initially in favor of the city administrator role, which was enshrined into the city’s law with a ballot vote in 2020.

Dixon promised to look at the efficacy of the role if she is elected to office.

“The mayor’s office right now is top heavy. You have the deputy mayor system and the city administrator. The question is: do you need all of that?” Dixon wondered, saying that with such a top-heavy system, residents should be getting faster responses from city government.

Mayor Scott’s administration did not return WYPR’s request for confirmation or comment on Dixon’s claims before this story was published.