Council selects Minneapolis official Spencer Cronk as new city manager

City Council unanimously selected Spencer Cronk to be the next city manager.

Cronk has been the Minneapolis city administrator since 2014. Before that, he worked for New York City’s Department of Small Business Services.

“Austin is fortunate to have Spencer Cronk as our city’s next CEO,” Mayor Steve Adler said in a statement. He “excels at bringing people together to address tough community challenges. He’s a proven manager who gets Austin’s special spirit and soul because it’s within him, too.”

Cronk was up against Howard Lazarus, who ran Austin’s Public Works Department for nearly eight years. He left Austin last year to become the city administrator in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

The city manager position is the highest-ranking position at City Hall. The manager is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the government.

The city’s chief financial officer, Elaine Hart, has been serving in the role on an interim basis since Marc Ott left last year.

Last week, the top two candidates participated in a public town hall following a closed interview process. That town hall is available on the city’s website. KUT compiled their answers to three big questions asked at that town hall, and those videos are also available online. In addition, the candidates made themselves available to the media last week, following the town hall.

This story was produced as part of the Austin Monitor’s reporting partnership with KUT. Photo courtesy of the city of Austin.

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