Austin Mayor Kirk Watson told the Austin City Council Tuesday evening that outgoing Dallas City Manager T.C. Broadnax is its search committee’s lone finalist for the same job in the capitol city.
The announcement comes one day after Broadnax and the other finalist, Denton City Manager Sara Hensley, traveled to Austin for a town hall to answer questions from residents. It also comes roughly 21 days after Austin named Broadnax a finalist. Early documents from the city’s search firm indicated that Broadnax was ranked as the most qualified of the applicants.
“I give great thanks to both of our excellent candidates,” Watson wrote on the city’s message board Tuesday night. “I know this has been a daunting process, but they’ve demonstrated their professionalism. Austin would do well with either person.”
Broadnax announced his resignation last month after running Dallas for seven years. His last day at 1500 Marilla is slated to be June 3. A majority of the City Council asked him to resign, arguing that the fractured relationship between Broadnax and Mayor Eric Johnson made doing city business more difficult than it should be.
Eight council members reportedly worked behind the scenes to formally request his resignation, which could trigger a clause in his contract that would require the city to pay a full year’s salary of $423,246 as severance. At Austin’s town hall, Broadnax said he applied for the job because the timing worked out.
“I believe this is the perfect place, the perfect time, and my perspective being new will help at least shed light on new things that the city could be doing,” he said.
Watson says the Austin City Council will vote to extend an offer to Broadnax and negotiate his employment contract at its April 4 meeting.
Author
