By Everton Bailey Jr.
https://www.dallasnews.com
Outgoing Dallas City Manager T.C. Broadnax says City Council members began suggesting he resign one week before it was officially announced, according to a city memo obtained by The Dallas Morning News.
In an April 8 memo to City Attorney Tammy Palomino, Broadnax identifies the names of the eight council members who suggested he resign as well as the dates and times, including three suggestions that came the day of the Feb. 21 announcement.
Also in the memo, Broadnax says his resignation is now effective as of the end of May 2. He was announced as Austin’s next city manager on Apr. 4 and starts on May 6.
“I notified the City Council of my resignation from my position as City Manager on February 21, 2024 following suggestions that I resign by a majority of the City Council, to allow for a reset, refocus and transition to a new city manager to move the city forward,” Broadnax wrote. “For your awareness and in the interest of transparency, please find below the City Council members referred to above and the dates that the suggestion to resign was made.”
According to Broadnax, council members Jaime Resendez and Jaynie Schultz first suggested he resign at 8:15 a.m. on Feb. 14. Council members Adam Bazaldua and Gay Donnell Willis suggested he resign two days later at 10:30 a.m. Council member Carolyn King Arnold, the city’s deputy mayor pro tem, suggested Broadnax resign on Feb. 20 at 6 p.m.
Council members Paula Blackmon, Zarin Gracey and Chad West suggested the city manager resign on Feb. 21. Blackmon at 9:15 a.m., Gracey at 12:15 p.m. and West at 2 p.m.
Broadnax’s resignation was first announced after a City Council meeting that same afternoon via a news release from Bazaldua, Gracey, Resendez, Schultz, Willis and Omar Narvaez, who isn’t listed among the names of council members who suggested he resign.
A key reason for the suggestion was that the working relationship between Johnson and Broadnax “has not been conducive to effective governance and the advancement of Dallas’ interests,” the February news release from the council members said.
Mayor Eric Johnson and Mayor Pro Tem Tennell Atkins are among City Council members who have said they weren’t aware Broadnax was going to resign until it was announced.
Johnson led a public attempt to fire Broadnax in 2022 that ended in the two declaring a truce and the council approving a raise for the city manager.
Broadnax has a clause in his city contract that says if he resigned at the formal or informal suggestion of a council majority that he be owed a single lump-sum payment equal to his annual salary when he leaves. Broadnax earns $423,246 a year and is the highest paid city employee. He could also be in line to receive even more money in payouts tied to health care benefits and unused vacation days.
The city has declined to say how much Broadnax will receive. Johnson in his weekly newsletter to residents on Sunday described the process in Broadnax’s resignation as “backroom maneuvering” and suggested state lawmakers ban cities from allowing similar payout clauses in contracts with top municipal government officials.
Blackmon, Gracey, Resendez, Schultz and Willis confirmed that the date and time they suggested Broadnax resign was accurate and that they happened verbally. Arnold, Bazaldua and West didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment Monday. Members of West’s staff told The Dallas Morning News he was traveling out of the country.
Schultz said Broadnax speaks with the district council members regularly and that it wasn’t uncommon for her to check in with him about how he was feeling about his future with the city.
“It came about most recently because ever since the bond discussions, I just began to see things disintegrate, and so I suggested to T.C., ‘is this the time?’” Schultz said.
She said she and Resendez had been speaking separately with Broadnax about his future with the city, but both approached him at the same time on Feb. 14 and suggested he resign.
“I don’t know about him (Resendez) but I certainly didn’t do it with any kind of contract or anything like that in mind,” Schultz said. “This was much more relational.”
Willis noted she was one of the council members who supported Broadnax leaving his role as city manager in 2022.
“My position never changed from a year and a half ago, but I reiterated it to T.C. on February 16 of this year,” Willis said.
Resendez told The News that while he valued Broadnax’s contributions as a city manager, “it became obvious that certain factors beyond his control would have hindered his effectiveness had he stayed.”
“After discussing this with T.C., I believed that it was in the city’s best interest for him to resign, and I communicated this to him,” Resendez said. He didn’t immediately respond to a follow-up message from The News asking if the resignation was a coordinated effort by Broadnax or council members.
Blackmon said she spoke with Broadnax at City Hall before the Feb. 21 council meeting and he told her, “it’s time for me to go” and that she agreed.
”It wasn’t any different than two years ago because we had to coordinate eight votes then,” Blackmon said. “I don’t see any difference. It was just as coordinated as it was two years ago but the spearhead was different.”
She said her understanding was that the effort was led by Schultz, Resendez and Bazaldua.
”To me, it was just a matter of who is leading the charge that is different,” Blackmon said. “And T.C. is leaving on his terms, which is what he wanted to do the last time.”
This story, originally published in The Dallas Morning News, is reprinted as part of a collaborative partnership between The Dallas Morning News and Texas Metro News. The partnership seeks to boost coverage of Dallas’ communities of color, particularly in southern Dallas.
