Austin City Council subcommittee recommends T.C. Broadnax be Austin's next city manager

A subcommittee of Austin City Council members who were initially charged with picking the search firm for Austin's next city manager are recommending T.C. Broadnax, the departing city manager of Dallas, for the city manager position in Austin.

After nearly a full day of interviews and deliberation in a closed-door meeting, Austin Mayor Kirk Watson shared the recommendation and said they will post for a City Council vote April 4 to authorize the negotiation of an employment agreement or the execution of an employment agreement with Broadnax to be the next city manager.

Though the recommendation is a major step in the process, nothing is final until voted on by the City Council.

Broadnax has worked as Dallas' city manager for seven years. Before that, he worked as the city manager of Tacoma, Wash., and the assistant city manager of San Antonio and Pompano Beach, Fla.

In February, The Dallas Morning News reported that a majority of the Dallas City Council recommended he resign from the position after ongoing disputes with Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson.

He applied for the position in Austin a few days after that news was made public.

Read More: Who is T.C. Broadnax? Here's what we know about the Austin city manager finalist.

Broadnax did not immediately respond to the American-Statesman's request for comment.

In a statement sent from the city of Austin, Broadnax was quoted as saying, "I am honored and I look forward to the City Council’s vote to allow me to serve as Austin’s next City Manager. With the continued growth of our state’s capital city, I am mindful of the critical needs we must urgently address and I am committed to doing so with a collaborative, transparent, inclusive and equitable approach. I also want to thank the Dallas City Council, city staff, and residents for the opportunity to serve as their City Manager for the last seven years."

His last day as Dallas's city manager is in early June.

Earlier Tuesday, while speaking with media after his interview with the City Council, Broadnax said, "I think the job and the task at hand fit my background and experiences."

Austin has been without a permanent city manager since Spencer Cronk was fired by the City Council in February 2023 in part due to the city's response to that year's winter storm that left many without power.

Broadnax and Denton City Manager Sarah Hensley were among three finalists initially selected from a group of 39 applicants for the top position in Austin. The third finalist, the city manager of Kansas City, Mo., dropped out of the running.

While in some cities the mayor oversees the daily operations of a city, under Austin's council-manager form of government the city manager oversees daily operations and the implementations of policy decisions passed by the City Council. Both finalists currently work in cities with a council-manager form of government like Austin has.

For Austin's city manager, that means overseeing dozens of departments, more than 16,000 employees and a multibillion-dollar budget.

Plans to run the city of Austin

The decision to move forward with Broadnax follows a public event Monday evening where candidates shared their visions for the city, how they would address several key issues like homelessness and why they wanted to be Austin's next top executive.

At that event, Broadnax spoke of his successes in addressing homelessness in Dallas, sharing several statistics about city initiatives like Dallas' rapid rehousing program, which Broadnax said has helped thousands of people into housing over the past few years.

These statistics drew interest from several council members who spoke with the Statesman on Monday evening after the discussion.

Broadnax also spoke Monday about policing and public safety.

"For me, I think it's really how I lead and work with my police chief," Broadnax said. "I think the chief has to have a perspective that policing is better done when you are working and engaging with the public."

On Tuesday, while answering questions from media, Broadnax said one of his top priorities coming into Austin would be to find a permanent police chief.

Some of his other priorities are police contract negotiations, housing and homelessness, he said.

On Tuesday afternoon, several local labor unions including the Austin Police, Fire and EMS Associations sent an email, which was obtained by the Statesman, to the mayor and City Council voicing their support for hiring Hensley.

Read More: Here's who Austin Police, Fire and EMS Associations want as the next city manager

"We have heard reports of poor communication and accessibility with TC Broadnax, and our concerns were only magnified during his interview as he relayed a hostile and combative nature with labor union representatives and members of his own City Council," the email said. "If the Council chooses to support him, we hope that collaboration and communication with his labor unions is a clear expectation for him."

Salary, compensation and next steps

Contract negotiations will likely include things like salary, benefits and a start date.

Broadnax has a base salary of around $423,000 with a $700 per month car allowance, according to records obtained by the American-Statesman through the Texas Public Information Act.

Former Austin City Manager Spencer Cronk's base salary was nearly $388,000, which was raised from $350,001 the December before his ousting by the City Council. Austin's interim City Manager Jesús Garza's 2023 annual salary was listed around $350,000, according to city employment records obtained by the Statesman.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin City Council makes recommendation city manager contract