Austin City Council votes to appoint T.C. Broadnax as next city manager at $470K salary

The Austin City Council on Thursday unanimously voted to appoint T.C. Broadnax as Austin's next city manager — the top most city official charged with overseeing dozens of city departments, over 16,000 employees and a multi-billion dollar budget.

Broadnax, the exiting city manager of Dallas, will begin as Austin's city manager on May 6, according to the the unsigned contract that was attached to the City Council agenda.

He will be be paid a base salary of $470,017.60, almost a $50,000 increase from his salary in Dallas. This is also a nearly $82,000 raise from Austin's former city manager Spencer Cronk's base salary.

The vote Thursday comes after more than a year of having an interim city manager after Cronk was fired in part due to the city's response to the winter 2023 storm.

This past week, the two finalists for the position in Austin spoke about their vision for the city at a meet-the-candidate style town hall, and the following day were interviewed by the City Council.

After nearly a full day of deliberations, Austin Mayor Kirk Watson announced a subcommittee of City Council members who was initially responsible for firm to find the next city manager recommended Broadnax for the role.

The other candidate interviewed for the top-job was Sara Hensley, the city manager of Denton and a former interim assistant city manager and director of parks and recreation in Austin.

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

Who is T.C. Broadnax?

Broadnax has served as Dallas city manager for seven years. Prior to Dallas, Broadnax was the city manager of Tacoma, Wash., and the assistant city manager of San Antonio and Pompano Beach, Fl.

Broadnax earned two bachelor of arts degrees in political science and communications from Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas, and has a masters degree in public administration from the University of North Texas in Denton, according to his resume, which was obtained by the Statesman through the Texas Public Information Act.

His leaving Dallas came at the recommendation of a majority of the Dallas City Council. A joint news release from several City Council members cited ongoing issues between Broadnax and Mayor Eric Johnson, stating, “It has become apparent that the relationship between the mayor and the city manager has not been conducive to effective governance and the advancement of Dallas’ interests," The Dallas Morning News reported.

During the meet the candidate's style event, Broadnax spoke to his achievements in Dallas's response to homelessness, which garnered positive feedback from some members of the City Council members who spoke with the Statesman directly following the event.

The following day, Broadnax, when speaking with media, said one of his priorities if he was selected would be to find a permanent police chief.

Austin has been without a permanent police chief since Joe Chacon resigned in August. Robin Henderson has been serving as the interim police chief since then.

Read More: Exclusive: Austin Police Chief Joe Chacon to resign from department. Here what we know.

Some of the other priorities, he said, are police contract negotiations with the Austin Police Associate, which are currently on-going, as well as addressing housing and homelessness.

That Tuesday, several local labor union leaders including the Austin Police, Fire and EMS Associations sent an email to the mayor and City Council saying they wanted Hensley to be selected as the next city manager, citing concerns with Broadnax over "reports of poor communication and accessibility."

Broadnax did not immediately respond to a request for interview after the Thursday City Council vote.

Salary and benefits comparison

In addition to the $470,000 base salary, the unsigned contract shows thousands of dollars of allowances including a $1,620.32 annual cell-phone allowance, a $5,000 housing allowance per month for the first six months to "offset costs of a temporary residence," a $7,000 annual executive allowance and more.

Broadnax is currently making $423,000 with a $700 per month car allowance, according to records obtained by the American-Statesman through the Texas Public Information Act.

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.

Broadnax's May 6 start date is around a month before his planned exit date from Dallas, which is currently June 3. However, the Dallas Morning News reported, the Dallas City Council's Ad Hoc Committee on Administrative Affairs met this week to discuss the date of an the appointment of the city's interim city manager.

How long has Austin been without a permanent city manager?

Austin has been without a permanent city manager since February 2023, when Cronk was fired.

Read More: Austin City Manager Spencer Cronk out, will get $463,000 in severance

Jesús Garza has been serving as the interim city manager since then.

Who was interviewed as part of this search process?

Three finalists were initially selected from a pool of 39 applicants for the position. Those three finalists were the Broadnax, Hensley and Brian Platt, the city manager of Kansas City, Missouri.

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

Platt withdrew his name from consideration shortly after the finalists were announced.

The City Council conducted closed-door interview with both Broadnax and Hensley last Tuesday before making the recommendation to move forward with Broadnax later that evening.

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

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin City Council votes T.C. Broadnax as Austin's next city manager