AUSTIN, Texas — City leaders voted unanimously Thursday to hire T.C. Broadnax as Austin's next city manager.
According to his employment agreement, Broadnax will begin working for Austin on May 6 and will have an initial annual salary of just over $470,000. In Dallas, Broadnax’s annual salary was $423,247.
"It was to keep the salary competitive to what he was making in Dallas," Councilmember Zo Qadri said.
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.
"I am deeply honored and grateful for the trust placed in me by the City Council. Austin is a vibrant city with immense potential, and I am committed to working tirelessly alongside our dedicated team to ensure its continued growth and prosperity," Broadnax said. "Together, we will navigate challenges, seize opportunities, and build a resilient and inclusive future for all residents. I look forward to serving the people of Austin with a collaborative, transparent, inclusive and equitable approach."
"My colleagues and I look forward to having T.C. join us as our City Manager," Mayor Kirk Watson said. "I’m pleased that he can get to work quickly as we move into Budget Planning for FY 2024-25. He brings a wealth of experience in city management."
For longtime resident Karen Zeidan, Broadnax has some high expectations to live up to.
"I think that salary is just a tad bit high, considering what's going on in Austin right now, " Zeidan said. "I think that's a little bit outrageous, especially because somebody hasn't proven themselves."
Zeidan said she's looking for a leader that listens and speaks directly to the community members.
"We need somebody to come in here and figure out exactly what's going on in Austin [so] that the developers don't reign," Zeidan said.
Qadri hopes that Broadnax will be leading Austin long after leaders like himself are out of office.
"The stakes are too high, and there's too many things on the line," Qadri said.
Broadnax announced in February that he would step down from the Dallas City Manager position in June, but it hasn’t been a smooth transition from North Texas.
Senior Political Reporter Jason Whitely with KVUE’s sister station, WFAA, reported that Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson and Broadnax have had a dysfunctional relationship for years. That's said to be the reason Broadnax is stepping away from his role.
“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.
Broadnax said his focus is on Austin. Some of his main priorities as Austin’s city manager will 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.”
Prior to his time in Dallas, Broadnax served as the city manager of Tacoma, Washington, and as an assistant city manager in San Antonio.