'I ran [for mayor] saying I was going to shake things up at City Hall,' Mayor Kirk Watson, who was elected two months ago, told KUT. 'In order for us to get back to the basics of what citizens of this city deserve, we needed to make a change.'
Austin City Manager Spencer Cronk speaks at a press conference about winter storm recovery efforts on Feb. 6. Some Austin elected officials have placed the blame for botched communication surrounding the storm and its damage on Cronk.
Unlike many other major U.S. cities, Austin has what's called a council-manager form of government. This is where the city manager — instead of the mayor — oversees all municipal departments, including Austin Energy, which battled fallen tree branches to restore power to thousands of homes in the aftermath of the storm.
Council members agreed to a severance package totaling $463,000, which includes one year of the city manager's salary, plus health care and vacation payouts. Until they can hire a permanent replacement, Council has appointed Jesús Garza to be the city's interim city manager. Garza last served as Austin's city manager from 1994 to 2002, during which he worked under Watson in his first stint as mayor.
While it is unusual for a city manager to be fired, the vote didn't come as a surprise. Last week, Austin City Council members expressed in a closed-door meeting. While council members publicly expressed dissatisfaction with Cronk as early as 2020, the city's lackluster communication with residents during the ice storm appeared to galvanize council members to oust him.
Initially, Austin Energy told residents to expect power back within 24 hours — a timeline they later pushed back by several days and then again by more than a week.
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