Austin City Manager starts first day on job

For more than a year and a half, the City of Austin has been without a City Manager but that's all finally changed as Spencer Cronk starts his new position.

Cronk is going from overseeing a staff size of about 4,200 employees in Minneapolis to more than 13,000 in Austin.

There will be some tough decisions and issues as Cronk settles into the job. Those include selecting a permanent Austin Police Department Chief and finalizing a long lasting contract with APD.

Austin City Council spent more than 16 months searching for a city manager and they say Cronk is the best person for the job and can draw from his experience as City Coordinator in Minneapolis.

With Cronk's official start the current acting City Manager, Elaine Hart, will go back to her previous role as Chief Financial Officer. Hart held the acting city manager position since October 2016.