Austin City Manager Spencer Cronk reportedly out after massive outage
On Monday, February 6, Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said that the employment of City Manager Spencer Cronk would be evaluated by Austin City Council. On Thursday, February 9, they held a closed meeting for this emergency item.
By Friday afternoon, February 10, multiple outlets had reported that Cronk will resign or be fired, with anonymous attribution to numerous Austin City Council members.
Cronk, who has been City Manager since February 2018, came under fire last July, when, in approving the city’s budget, he raised minimum wage for city workers from $15 to $18. It was the largest increase in 20 years, but it was $4 per hour short of a recommendation from City Council via a working group hired to examine pay among city workers in Austin.
That decision was compounded by Cronk’s highly scrutinized 10% pay raise in December 2022 — $38,000 — which was not a unanimous decision among City Council.
Calls for his job came near the tail end of the massive Austin Energy outage that at one point left more than 160,000 without power. Some went an entire week without power, and both the utility company and Cronk were roundly criticized by Austin residents.
Watson’s justification for the emergency item came in the form of a tweet on Monday that read:
“I added the emergency item to the agenda this morning because the management of this situation and the lack of clear, timely, and accurate communication has left our community in the dark.”
Cronk made waves again Thursday night when he announced a new contract for Austin Police Department in advance of a City Council vote on that contract.
District 4’s Chito Vela said, in response: “These actions have caused me to lose my faith in your leadership of the city. I do believe it is time for a new city manager.”
The Austin Chronicle reached out to Cronk’s office, who told the publication that the City Manager was unaware of the recent developments. A statement read:
“The City Manager has not been made aware of that conversation during closed session and therefore has no comment.”
If Cronk is fired, per his contract, he is entitled to a year’s worth of compensation. His base pay is $388,000.
MySA has reached out to multiple Austin City Council Members and will update this story.
