Austin city manager decision down to two candidates

AUSTIN, Texas - What started as three final candidates for the role of Austin City Manager has boiled down to two after City Manager of Kansas City Brian Platt withdrew his name from consideration.

Now, only two finalists remain: T.C. Broadnax of Dallas and Sara Hensley of Denton.
     
Council member Mackenzie Kelly says this is one of the most important decisions the city will make.

"There's really little to no room for error when it comes to picking a city manager for the city," said Kelly.

T.C. Broadnax has been serving as Dallas City Manager for the last seven years and is set to officially resign on June 3. Prior to his work in Dallas, he served as city manager in Tacoma, Washington. 

Sara Hensley was officially appointed City Manager of Denton in 2022 after serving as Interim City Manager. She joined the City of Denton in 2019 and her bio on the website states she has more than 20 years of public service and leadership experience.

Council member Kelly is currently in Washington D.C. at the National League of Cities Conference and told FOX 7 Austin she is spending some of her time networking with those who have worked with both of the candidates.

"I spoke to the Mayor of Tacoma, Washington, who worked with our candidate out of Dallas, and she had great things to say about him and the future of our city. I spoke to the mayor of Denton, Texas, who worked with another one of our candidates. We had lunch together, and he had glowing things to say about our candidate from Denton," said Kelly.

City of Austin leaders have said multiple times they want the city manager search to be as transparent as possible and have been posting updates on how it is going regularly. 

On March 25, the community will have a chance to ask the candidates questions.

The plan is to have the new city manager start in September.