Austin city manager applications to open soon
Austin looking for a new city manager in 2024
Next month will mark one year since Austin decided to fire the former city manager following his handling of the 2023 ice storm which left over 200,000 residents without power for days. It's believed the city should have a new, permanent city manager by the end of this year.
AUSTIN, Texas - The City of Austin is ready to welcome a new city manager in 2024. Applications for the city position will open next week.
It's a job Mayor Kirk Watson says he and the council are taking extremely seriously after the same council terminated the former city manager almost a year ago.
Former City Manager Spencer Cronk was terminated after how he handled the ice storm in 2023 that left over 200,000 Austinites without power for days.
Mayor Watson says the city has spent this time preparing for this moment.
"When we terminated the previous city manager, and we brought in an interim city manager, one of the things that was very important to me was that we stabilized our city government because I wanted to be in a position where when the new city manager comes in, they are not having to fix a whole bunch of stuff. They can look to the future," said the mayor.
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The city hired Mosaic Public Partners, a national search team, to lead the search and recruit qualified candidates for the council to review.
"Ultimately, this is a decision of the council, and I anticipate the council will make a final decision sometime in early to mid-April. Although, if we need to take more time, this is too big a deal to rush, we'll take whatever time we need," said Mayor Watson.
The application period will run from Jan. 8 through Feb. 12. Mayor Watson says interim city manager Jesus Garza will not be in the running as they already pulled him out of retirement to do the job in the first place.
The mayor says he is looking for a candidate who has experience in city management and knows about public finance. He also wants someone who is ready to take action on Austin's future as a city.
"We've got the convention center, we've got the airport, all the work that's going on in our community, and I want somebody that has worked with…single member districts and understands the role of single member districts in making sure that we have equity in our city," he said.