This Thursday, City Council will meet to work through more of the logistics of the city’s biggest policy priority over the last year: reimagining public safety. In a memo sent to Council on April 9, Rey Arellano, assistant city manager for public safety, detailed several agenda items that revolve around “budget amendments and decoupling activities.” […]
city manager
The city manager oversees the administrative segment of the City of Austin and is one of four Council direct reports.
Posted inBudget
Updated: Cronk proposes $4.2 billion budget, more help for homeless
“This year, our mission is to build on these successes while at the same time bracing our city’s budget against the future impacts of the state’s decision to lower the cap on local property tax revenue growth,” City Manager Spencer Cronk said, explaining the city’s plan to go to the 8 percent rollback rate for […]
Posted inCity Hall
Cronk reflects on first year in Austin
Less than a year after taking over as Austin’s city manager, Spencer Cronk calls himself “the luckiest person in the world.” He recognizes the many challenges Austin faces, but city administration is what he has chosen to do with his life, and he was expecting some challenges. Not that he hasn’t been surprised by some […]
Posted inReporters' Notebook
Reporters’ Notebook: On tacos and cities
Bullish on tacos… Anyone who’s heard Mayor Steve Adler invoke his civic pride at events over the past four years has undoubtedly heard him praise the availability and variety of breakfast tacos as a badge of honor for the city. Adler has also been pretty frank about Austin’s mobility and transit challenges, which means an […]
Posted inPolice
Casaday scolds Council over lack of contract
The president of the Austin Police Association lashed out at City Council during Thursday’s meeting over the city’s failure to reach an agreement with the union over police officers’ pay and benefits. “I want everybody on the Council to know that we’ve been waiting over 290 days to sit back down and work out our […]
Posted inCity Hall
Judge considers dismissing police union suit
Attorneys for the city sparred with attorneys for the Austin Police Association, its president Ken Casaday and police Sgt. Robert Miljenovich during a court hearing Monday over whether the police union’s suit against various city officials should be dismissed without a hearing on the merits. Judge Amy Clark Meachum took the matter under advisement. The […]
Posted inCity Hall
Cronk says he just wants to get to know us
In a brief meeting with reporters on Tuesday, Austin’s new city manager, Spencer Cronk, showed himself to be affable and articulate, but he resisted all efforts to pin him down on questions about several topics, including the contract with the Austin Police Association and the many interim executives he must choose to keep or replace. […]
Posted inCity Hall
Here’s what the new city manager’s salary and benefits could look like
When incoming City Manager Spencer Cronk moves to Austin next month, he’ll have some help. City Council members are scheduled to vote next week on a compensation package for Cronk, who comes to Austin from Minneapolis and starts on Feb. 12. When Council members announced their pick for the city’s highest executive position, Mayor Steve […]
Posted inCity Council
Memo outlines ‘downtown puzzle’ progress headed into 2018
Work on Mayor Steve Adler’s “downtown puzzle” policies package will be almost certainly put on hold until the spring when newly hired city manager Spencer Cronk will be able to study and work on how to execute the proposal. That was the word from Adler on Wednesday, following a Friday memo from Assistant City Manager […]
Posted inCity Hall
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 […]
Posted inCity Hall
Cronk, Lazarus vie for city manager job
Each of the two finalists for the job of Austin city manager, Howard Lazarus and Spencer Cronk, did his best to convince a small crowd gathered at the Austin Convention Center last night, as well as an unknown number of people watching on TV and Facebook, that he should be chosen for the job. Lazarus, […]
Posted inCity Council
Austin’s two city manager finalists: Howard Lazarus and Spencer Cronk
The seemingly interminable search for Austin’s next city manager has finally been winnowed down to two applicants for the job. On Thursday, Stephen Newton of consulting firm Russell Reynolds Associates, which City Council hired to lead the candidate search, recommended that Council choose either Howard Lazarus or Spencer Cronk to be Austin’s top civil servant. […]