AUSTIN, Texas — Austin City Council members have decided who they want as the next city manager: T.C. Broadnax, the current city manager of Dallas.
Broadnax announced last month that he would be stepping down from his position in June. But it hasn’t exactly been a smooth transition from Dallas.
Senior Political Reporter Jason Whitely with KVUE’s Dallas sister station, WFAA, reported that Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson and T.C. Broadnax have had a dysfunctional relationship for years. That's said to be the reason Broadnax is stepping away from his role in Dallas.
“More than anything, Broadnax and Eric Johnson just seemingly didn’t like each other. But it wasn’t over how Broadnax did his job,” Whitely said.
In a memo from the city of Dallas announcing Broadnax’s resignation, the city said the relationship between Broadnax and Johnson hasn’t been conducive to governing and advancing the city’s interests.
“The dynamic between these key citywide figures has unfortunately hindered the realization of our city's full potential, and it is imperative that we address this issue head-on in order to move forward," the memo read.
One of the issues Johnson had was that Broadnax hired a police chief who didn’t turn out to be the best fit for the city. He then replaced that chief – but the pair's relationship didn’t improve.
That led Broadnax to privately get support from council members for his resignation. By going a more secretive route, he was able to set his last day in office and leave Dallas without any restrictions.
“If he couldn’t get a majority of council to agree with it, then it would be up to Eric Johnson and maybe others who might not have liked T.C. to say ... 'Ok, his time was up, we wanted to get rid of him' and may say some other disparaging things about him," Whitely said.
Johnson said he didn’t know about Broadnax's resignation until it was made public.
In response to a question about his separation from Dallas, Broadnax said city leaders wanted to go in a different direction for a new city manager.
“At any point in time, people make decisions. And I think, collectively, the decision [was] that they wanted to go and have a reset and go in a different direction with a new manager that could coalesce and work with them in a manner similar to when they hired me,” Broadnax said.
Now Broadnax said his focus is on Austin. Some of his main priorities as Austin’s city manager would be to hire a permanent police chief, address affordable housing and homelessness and come to a new contract agreement with the Austin Police Association.
"If that is done prior to me being here, then it's all about implementation and ensure we're standing out the issues and challenges that we have struggled to find ways to put in the agreement,” Broadnax said.
Broadnax also promised to be more transparent in this role, which is not always something leaders in this position have excelled at.
“More transparency is always better than not sharing,” Broadnax said. “Having the ability to hear and adjust and have some consensus on how we move forward is always important.”
The Austin City Council will formally vote on a contract for Broadnax next Thursday. That’s also when they could announce what his salary would be. In Dallas, Broadnax’s annual salary was $423,247.
When Austin’s previous city manager, Spencer Cronk, was fired, he was making $388,190, but he received a one-year severance pay of $463,001.50, per his contract. According to Broadnax’s 2016 Dallas contract, Broadnax will also receive a year of severance pay.