Austin is getting close to hiring a new city manager. Here's everything you need to know.

The Austin City Council is getting close to selecting the next city manager, the chief executive charged to work with the city's elected leaders to implement policy changes and oversee the operations of the 10th largest city in the country.

Under Austin's council-manager form of government, the city manager functions like a CEO, tasked with hiring dozens of the city's department leaders, overseeing the drafting of the city's multi-billion dollar budget and managing day-to-day city affairs, including the city-run Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, the police department and Austin Energy, the city's utility.

Austin has been without a permanent city manager since February 2023, after the City Council voted to oust former City Manager Spencer Cronk in part over the city's response to the 2023 winter storm that left tens of thousands without power.

More: Read more: Austin City Manager Spencer Cronk out, will get $463,000 in severance

Jesús Garza has been serving as Austin's interim city manager since Cronk was fired.

Austin's next city manager will be at the forefront of addressing and attempting to fix key issues the city is facing: police staffing shortages and on-going contract negotiations, a growing homeless population coupled with a lack of available shelter beds and growing fiscal concerns with the looming end of federal funding granted during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Watson announced three finalists out of a total 39 applicants last week: the city managers of Dallas, Denton and Kansas City, Mo. One candidate, Brian Platt of Kansas City, has already dropped out of the running.

More: Read more: Kansas City's city manager, Brian Platt, withdraws from Austin top job consideration

T.C. Broadnax, the exiting city manager of Dallas, and Sara Hensley, the city manager of Denton, will proceed with interview process that will include meeting with department directors and city employees and a public forum on March 25, and a closed interviews with the City Council the following day.

The American-Statesman reached out to the finalists for interviews. Hensley spoke with the Statesman and T.C. Broadnax declined to be interviewed.

The plan is to have a candidate selected by early April, according to Austin Mayor Kirk Watson.

What do Austinities want in the next city manager?

A city-published survey, conducted by Mosaic Public Partners, the search firm tasked with helping the city find a new city manager, asked residents, city employees and board and commission members what they wanted to see in the next city manager and what topics were of highest interest to be addressed.

Among city employees, the largest internal challenge identified for the next city manager would be managing the growth and scaling of services, the largest external challenge would be homelessness and the largest political challenge would be the City Council. Only 10% of city employees responded to the survey.

City employees who responded to the survey said they wanted to see the city manager prioritize addressing housing affordability externally, and police and public safety internally.

Of the nearly 1,600 residents who responded to the survey, the top external issues identified were homelessness and public safety and the top internal issue to address was police staffing. The top two characteristics residents who responded to the survey said they want in a city manager is effective communication and integrity.

Who applied for the position in Austin?

A Statesman analysis of all 39 applications for the city manager position in Austin, which were obtained through the Texas Public Information Act, found that current and former city managers and top level municipal employees from cities across the country applied for the job.

In addition to Broadnax, Platt and Hensley the open position drew interest from the current city managers of Gilbert, Arizona, and Stockton, California.

The position also garnered attention from those not employed as a city-level executive, like Julie Oliver, a former candidate for Texas's 25th congressional district and founder of Ground Game Texas, a nonprofit that led the marijuana ballot initiative in Austin and other Texas cities.

The original deadline for applications was supposed to be Feb. 12, but it was pushed back to Feb. 26, according to a March 1 post from Watson on the city council message board. The rationale behind extending this deadline, Watson said in his post, was to allow potential candidates more time to evaluate the opportunity.

The initial three finalist all applied within days of that window closing. Broadnax applied on Feb. 25, shortly after news of his resignation in Dallas, according to records obtained by the statesman. Platt and Hensley applied Feb. 26.

City manager salary in Austin

The former city manager, Spencer Cronk, had an annual salary of nearly $388,000, which was raised from $350,001 the December before his firing. He was also set to receive a one-year severance of $463,001.50, including a year's salary and 240 hours of vacation payout upon his firing.

More: Read more: Austin City Manager Spencer Cronk out, will get $463,000 in severance

Garza's 2023 annual salary was listed around $350,000, according to city employment records obtained by the American-Statesman.

Broadnax is currently making over $420,000 in Dallas, the Dallas Morning News reported, and Hensley is making $305,000 in base annual salary, according to Denton spokesperson Dustin Sternbeck.

The pay for the next city manager could be much higher, however. In a leaked video, the Bozeman, Montana, city manager who claimed he was contacted by the firm conducting the search to apply for the position in Austin, said the base salary was around $475,000.

More: Read more: Bozeman city manager slams Austin job, calls city 'a (expletive) show' in leaked video

Whether or not that is the case remains to be seen, as salary and other benefits will likely be negotiated during the hiring process.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin to hire a new city manager. Here's what you need to know.