Town hall with Austin city manager candidates happening Monday

“What’s been really important to us is that we’ve had a very transparent process and we’ve seen that through and through with this city manager search,” Council Member Vanessa Fuentes said.

AUSTIN (KXAN) — After 39 people applied to be Austin’s next city manager, Austin City Council has identified its top candidates. The public had the opportunity to meet with them in a town hall Monday night.

T.C. Broadnax of Dallas and Sara Hensley of Denton, Texas are the two finalists for the position. You can read more about their backgrounds here.

The candidates were asked about what their relationship would be with the police department, work they have done on addressing homelessness and keeping the public informed on what's happening in City Hall.

“What’s been really important to us is that we’ve had a very transparent process and we’ve seen that through and through with this city manager search,” Council Member Vanessa Fuentes said.

How did we get here?

Interim City Manager Jesús Garza did not apply to continue in the position long-term, according to a full list of applicants KXAN received from sources close to the search. He was brought out of retirement by the council after it voted to fire former City Manager Spencer Cronk. 

Cronk faced increased scrutiny last year following prolonged power outages from an ice storm in early February and negotiation with the Austin Police Association on a four-year deal “in principle,” which ultimately fell through.

Austin City Council voted to remove him from the position shortly after.