With 2023 drawing to a close, it’s time to look back on the local headlines that dominated the news before looking forward to the year ahead. Happy News Year! New city management This year saw a strange kind of sea change at City Hall led by newly reelected Mayor Kirk Watson. On the one hand, […]
City Manager Spencer Cronk
Posted inCity Hall
Austin starts search for next city manager
The search for Austin’s next city manager is underway. In a post to the City Council Message Board on Thursday, Mayor Kirk Watson outlined a process for the search. Watson has appointed a sub-quorum of Council to act as a search committee, which includes Mayor Pro Tem Paige Ellis and Council members Vanessa Fuentes, Chito […]
Posted inCity Council
Council fires City Manager Spencer Cronk in wake of winter storm response
Austin City Council members have fired City Manager Spencer Cronk, the city’s chief executive. The vote Wednesday followed criticism of his leadership during an ice storm that left hundreds of thousands without power earlier this month. “I ran (for mayor) saying I was going to shake things up at City Hall,” Mayor Kirk Watson, who […]
Posted inCity Council
Council members signal they could fire City Manager Spencer Cronk
Austin City Manager Spencer Cronk could be on his way out. City Council is slated to vote on the employment and a possible severance package for Cronk at its meeting on Feb. 15. Council initially planned the Wednesday meeting to discuss the city’s contract with the Austin police union, but over the weekend added two items to discuss Cronk’s […]
Posted inPolice
Council delays vote on one-year police contract extension, citing confusion
After nearly a year of negotiations, with just seven weeks to go until the current police labor contract expires, with city staff and the police union working to finalize a tentative four-year agreement and in the run-up to a local election with two competing ballot measures related to police oversight, Austin City Council is weighing […]
Posted inEnergy
Questions of the day: When will power be restored? Will Cronk keep his job?
Two questions hung over City Council’s abbreviated work session Tuesday, one arising frequently and one never mentioned. First of all, Council members wanted to know how many Austin Energy customers were still without power and when their power would be restored. The unspoken question was whether City Manager Spencer Cronk would retain his job after […]
Posted inCity Council
Ice storm communication sparks emergency performance review of city manager
The breakdown in the city’s communication to residents and employees during last week’s disastrous ice storm appears to be the main motivation behind City Council’s push to evaluate the performance of City Manager Spencer Cronk. Mayor Kirk Watson added the emergency discussion item regarding Cronk’s performance to the agenda for Thursday’s Council meeting, which will […]
Posted inCity Hall
Mobility, housing progress among the highlights of Cronk’s ‘most normal year’ in Austin
Spencer Cronk takes a measure of perspective when asked to look back on 2022 and a year that demanded constant attention to homelessness, ongoing labor negotiation, and persistent difficulties filling open positions within city government, among other issues. After a pandemic that has spanned more than two years and a winter storm that crippled utilities […]
Posted inCity Council
City Council approves 10% raise for city manager, Austin’s top executive
Citing a much-delayed cost-of-living adjustment, Council members on Thursday bumped Austin City Manager Spencer Cronk’s salary from $350,000 to just over $388,000. The move represents an 11 percent increase in pay and the first change to Cronk’s base salary since late 2018. Council members characterized this raise as in line with pay bumps city employees […]
Posted inPolice
Police union revisits city’s proposal to expand civilian oversight as clock ticks down
The Austin Police Association will respond later this month to the city’s repeated demands to remove civilian oversight of the police department from the labor contract. In exchange, the union has asked the city to reconsider some of its earlier requests, including those related to promotions, vacation time and sick pay. APA President Thomas Villarreal […]
Posted inBudget
Proposed $5B city budget leans on fees, less on property taxes, amid a boom in sales tax revenue
Austinites may not see as steep a hike in property taxes next year. Still, they could see an increase of 2.7% under a budget proposal released Friday. City Manager Spencer Cronk’s proposed $5 billion budget for 2023 leans more heavily on city fees for services like electricity and trash pickup – not on property taxes, as it […]
Posted inCity Hall
Staff proposes continuing security guard contracts
City Council has been urging city staff since at least 2012 to hire more security guards as city employees, while city management and financial officers have pointed out the difficulties of doing so. Once again this week, Council will be considering contracts with five security guard companies. The item authorizes negotiation and execution of five […]