Austin City Manager finalists share visions for city as council nears vote on the position

The two finalists for Austin's next city manager made their first public pitches as to why they should be chosen as the city's next chief executive Monday evening.

As the Austin City Council gets closer to selecting the next city manager, the city held a meet-the-candidates style event — giving each finalist an allotted amount of time to respond to questions about how they would address key issues the city is facing and why they want to be the next city manager of Austin.

Sara Hensley, the city manager of Denton who previously worked in Austin as an interim assistant city manager and director of parks and recreation, said, "I feel like it's time for me to come home."

"This would be the highlight of my life to be coming back here and being city manager, and being a part of what we need to do working with Mayor and Council," Hensley said.

T.C. Broadnax, the outgoing city manager of Dallas, said he was excited about the opportunity to work with the mayor and City Council that are "committed to doing things to the benefit of this community."

"This is the capital city, and I would love to have an opportunity to lead that city so that we can be a beacon for any other city in this great nation," and Texas, Broadnax said.

Both candidates come from a city with a council-manager form of government like Austin has. While in some cities the mayor oversees the day-to-day operations of a city, under this form of government the city manager oversees daily operations and the implementations of policy decisions passed by the City Council.

Read More: Austin is getting close to hiring a new city manager. Here's everything you need to know.

In Austin, that means overseeing dozens of departments, over 16,000 employees and a multi-billion dollar budget.

Broadnax and Hensley were among the three finalists initially selected from a pool of 39 candidates. The third finalist, the city manager of Kansas City, Missouri, dropped out of the running for the position.

Here's how Broadnax and Hensley responded to questions about addressing some of the key issues the city is facing.

Addressing homelessness

Addressing and managing Austin's response to homelessness will be one of the largests tasks the next city manager in Austin is charged with.

Since 2022, the number of people experiencing homelessness in Austin has nearly doubled.

The city has spent hundreds of millions of dollars over the past decade to address the issue, and this past year allocated a record $80.9 million for homelessness in the annual budget.

The city continues to work to add more shelter beds and permanent supportive housing units, as the number is below the current need.

Read More: Austin increases bed capacity for individuals experiencing homelessness. See the new data.

Monday evening, Broadnax touted his successes in addressing homelessness in Dallas, sharing several statistics about city initiatives like Dallas' rapid re-housing program, which Broadnax said has helped thousands of people into housing over the past few years.

That initiative drew interest from several city council members that spoke with the American-Statesman following the event.

Council member José “Chito” Vela said something that stood out to him from Monday's discussion was what Broadnax said about Dallas's rapid rehousing initiative.

"That jumps out at me as something that I would like to hear more details about," Vela said.

Council member Vanessa Fuentes also said she was interested in learning more about the rapid rehousing initiative Broadnax spoke about.

"T.C.'s example of how he was able to get over 3,000 individuals into rapid rehousing, (and) permanent supportive housing was incredible, especially within two years," Fuentes said.

Broadnax said he is hopefully that he'd have the same level of success in address homelessness as he did in Dallas if selected as Austin's next city manager.

Hensley on Monday evening spoke of her experiences addressing homelessness in both her capacity as an interim assistant city manager in Austin and in her time at Denton.

Read More: Who is Sara Hensley? Here's why Denton's city manager is a finalist for the role in Austin

In Austin, as an assistant city manager, Hensley oversaw the city's response to homelessness. She said the first thing she did was bring together all the city departments, then began working with the faith community, nonprofits and other community agencies like Integral Care and Central Health.

In Denton, Hensley said she helped facilitate the redevelopment of a property to provide services for the homeless community, including shelter, transitional housing and mental health services.

She also spoke about the Ready to Work program, which, the Denton Record Chronicle reported, is a program run in conjunction with the city to help people experiencing homelessness with job training and coaching.

"It's been fairly successful," Hensley said.

Policing and Public Safety

Austin faces continued staffing shortages in the public safety sector and is currently in the midst of on-going contract negotiations with the Austin Police Association.

One question posed Monday evening was how the candidates would approach public safety if selected as the next city manager.

Broadnax said he thinks both policing and how you police is important.

"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."

He also touched on police oversight, something that has been a controversial issue in Austin.

In 2023, Austin voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot initiative to increase police oversight. Some community members say the city isn't moving fast enough to implement it and a few months ago the group Equity Action that helped get the item on the ballot filed a lawsuit against the city for not implementing aspects of the Austin Police Oversight Act, also known as Prop A.

"Support for law enforcement is important, but also holding them accountable for protecting and serving at the same time," Broadnax said.

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

When asked about public safety, Hensley first noted the acting capacity of Austin's current police chief. Robin Henderson has been serving as Austin's interim police chief since Joe Chacon resigned in August.

Unless done by Jesús Garza in his capacity as interim city manager, the next city manager will be tasked with appointing a new police chief. The appointment is also confirmed by the City Council.

Hensley said she would have one-on-ones with the City Council, department heads, the police officer association and conduct community engagement to "find the right police chief so that we're building trust back with the community."

"I'm a big proponent of making sure that you've got training for police officers under the right chief, so that you are actually effecting change in a positive way," Hensley said.

Council members weigh in on the candidates speeches

Council member Ryan Alter said both candidates bring a lot of strengths to the table.

Alter, like some other council members, said he was impressed with what Broadnax said about Dallas's response to homelessness. He also said he thought what Hensley said about treating climate as an "enterprise wide issue" was important.

"It was all positive," Alter said. "I think tomorrow (Tuesday) when we have a chance to get more specific with them, we can really get into management style and figure out who's the best fit for us."

Council member Zohaib "Zo" Qadri said he was excited to interview both candidates Tuesday in executive session and that he hopes to talk more about other issues that weren't touched on during Monday's event like transit and housing.

Fuentes said she is equally impressed with Broadnax's values-based leadership approach and Hensley's "hands-on, out in the community standard."

What happens next?

Tuesday morning, the Austin City Council will conduct interviews with both candidates in executive session.

Depending on the interviews, Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said in a March 12 post to the City Council message board, one or both of the candidates could be brought back on April 1 or 2 for additional interviews and activity.

"We will have posted Council action for the April 4th meeting," Watson said in the post. "The posted action will be to direct our search firm to negotiate a contract with the specific person."

However, the City Council does not necessarily have to vote that day, Watson said, but will be in a position to do so if they choose.

Contract negotiations will likely include things like salary and benefits, as well as a timeline for a start date.

Broadnax, whose last day in Dallas is in early June, 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. Hensley is making around $303,000 in base annual salary, according to a Sept. 13 memo sent from Denton Human Resources personnel to Hensley that was obtained by the Statesman.

In Austin, former City Manager Spencer Cronk's base salary was early $388,000, which was raised from $350,001 the December before his firing. 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 manager finalists shares visions for the city