A unanimous 15-0 vote of the City Council Wednesday will bring Tacoma, Washington City Manager T.C. Broadnax to Dallas February 1.
Broadnax worked other jobs in municipal government in Pompano Beach, Florida and San Antonio prior to Washington State.
In Tacoma this week, he told NBC 5 that he has dreamed of a job with the City of Dallas ever since receiving a Masters in Public Administration degree from the University of North Texas at Denton in the early 1990s.
"I am just excited to get there," Broadnax said. "This is my opportunity."
His starting salary will be $375,000, just under the $400,000 retiring City Manager A.C. Gonzalez is paid.
Gonzalez steps down in late January.
The new manager will also receive up to $35,000 for relocation expenses, a $700 monthly car allowance, a city laptop computer and cell phone and other city employee benefits.
Broadnax will oversee more than 13,000 Dallas employees and an annual budget of $3.1 billion. He will face a huge public safety pension crisis and big expectations for improving Dallas streets and neighborhoods.
He received praise in Tacoma this week from community leaders for his accomplishments there, but declined to state personal expectations for achievements Dallas.
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“I will not be making any promises at this point,” Broadnax said. “I want to get on the ground in Dallas. I want to sit with the mayor and the city council, as well as the broader community, the various stakeholders to really get my arms around what some of those pent up needs are.”
On his Dallas job interview visit last week, Broadnax visited several neighborhoods on his own, including Joppa, once inhabited by former slaves.
"It kind of gave me some hope that we are on the map like we have anticipated for years," said Joppa Community activist Claudia Fowler. "We have gotten some things done, but for him to take a personal interest, take a tour of the Joppa community, that really lightens my heart. It really does."
T.C. Broadnax's Contract:
