Dallas City Manager T.C. Broadnax’s Fate Delayed One Week as Scrutiny Around Permitting Issue Heightens

The Dallas City Council delayed action on City Manager T.C. Broadnax’s employment contract to next week, but concerns about the official’s role in the city’s money-wasting permitting debacle have not dissipated. 

Council members Paula Blackmon (District 9), Cara Mendelsohn (District 12), and Gay Donnell Willis (District 13) requested Broadnax’s employment contract be placed on Wednesday’s agenda. The special meeting at noon on June 15, which provided the council an opportunity to discipline or remove the city manager, was canceled and rescheduled to June 23.  

“After listening to our colleagues, we have requested the city secretary cancel Wednesday’s special-called meeting. We believe it is important for all colleagues to feel this process is fair and transparent and we are looking forward to a frank performance review discussion,” Mendelsohn posted on her District 12 Facebook page. 

Mayor Eric Johnson has publicly said he wants to fire Broadnax but wrote in an email that he does “not mind taking another week to ensure my Dallas City Council colleagues can get comfortable with the process. I look forward to discussing our city’s direction and future next week.”

The council met in closed session at the end of a regularly scheduled briefing Wednesday to discuss Broadnax’s performance but were not posted to take action on his employment. 

The city council has hiring and firing authority over the city manager, city attorney, city auditor, city secretary, and administrative judge. City Manager Broadnax earns $410,919 annually. Previous City Manager A.C. Gonzalez retired in January 2017 after serving the city for three years. Prior to that, Dallas’s second female city manager, Mary Suhm, faced termination and resigned in 2013 after eight years of running the city.

The Permitting Problem

The city manager oversees all the municipal departments and is ultimately responsible for 13,000 employees and a $3.8 billion budget. The finger is often pointed to the person at the top of the organizational chart when something goes wrong — and a few things have gone wrong since Broadnax was hired five years ago. 

Broadnax admitted to not taking action on early warnings that a city employee deleted millions of police files — a fumble that means vital evidence is now missing from criminal cases in the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office. The city manager also has been criticized for how city staff has handled homelessness, the 911 call center, and public safety matters. Residents criticized Dallas’s short-term rental properties during Wednesday’s council briefing, saying the sites are being used as hostels and sex-trafficking hubs.

But the issue that caught the eye of CandysDirt.com is permitting, because of its expensive and far-reaching effects on builders, real estate agents, homeowners, and businesses. 

More than 10,000 permits got backlogged during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and little has been done to repair the problem, which has delayed builders and contractors from finishing jobs in a timely manner. It also costs the city $31 million of tax revenue for every three months of permitting delays, according to Linda McMahon, head of The Real Estate Council. 

Phil Crone, executive officer of the Dallas Builders Association, has criticized the permitting crisis and issued a letter Tuesday calling for action from the Dallas City Council. 

“With your continued leadership, we can find a better way forward for our city and, finally, a path through this crippling crisis. It is our sincere hope that the transition process is dignified, respectful and results in a new city manager who values housing advocates as critical stakeholders,” states Crone’s letter, written on behalf of more than 1,100 companies who collectively represent the city’s residential housing industry.

“Over the past two years, residents, businesses and home builders have been crippled by incomprehensible permitting delays resulting from a foreseeably flawed transition to an online permitting system, poor customer service, as well as overburdened and poorly equipped staff,” Crone wrote in his letter. “The city manager’s sustained inattention to the severity of the problem, lack of empathy for those affected, and failure to consider, let alone implement, reasonable solutions have led us to the conclusion that Dallas needs a respectful yet decisive transition at that position in order to move forward. In early 2020, residential builders could obtain a permit in a matter of hours. For the past two years, most have waited several months. Each and every day that a home is delayed adds $200 to $300 to its cost. Every $1,000 increase in the price of a new home renders it unaffordable for 20,000 Texas families. This situation makes it impossible for us to build the affordable housing our city so desperately needs and has prevented countless working-class families from calling Dallas home.”

Crone took issue with Broadnax’s statements that the permitting crisis is a PR problem and something he is “tired of hearing about at parties.”

“The city manager’s inability to prioritize and proactively solve this problem has resulted in the loss of hundreds if not thousands of jobs not only from the permit applicant, but also the trades, suppliers and subcontractors they employ,” Crone said. “Others have simply left Dallas and gone to work in surrounding cities. Many professional service providers refuse to do work in Dallas due to the Development Services Department’s inefficient and inconsistent processes. It did not have to be this way. In 2018-19, we expressed concerns that the online permitting system (ProjectDox) was not ready for prime time. Our offers to provide user testing were refused. Even city staff were unsure how to use the program. Unsurprisingly, while every other city in our region transitioned to efficient and effective virtual permitting within weeks of the pandemic’s arrival and throughout the subsequent housing boom Dallas was (and is still) unable to do so.”

Dallas BA City Manager Lett… by April Towery

The Dallas Fire Fighters Association also brought up the permitting issue in a letter to the city council saying the association has lost confidence in the city manager. 

“Three years ago, Dallas Fire Station 19 collapsed in a storm on Father’s Day; in October 2019 Fire Station 41 was destroyed by a tornado; and Fire Station 30 was closed due to foundation issues,” states the letter, signed by DFFA president Jim McDade and posted to social media. “As of today, construction has just begun on the two destroyed stations and the foundation issues are finally almost repaired. Years of red tape, permitting issues, and delays from every city department who is involved in the process have caused the city of Dallas to lack fire and EMS coverage, endangering citizens and visitors.”

What’s Next

It’s unclear where some city council members stand on Broadnax’s employment. 

Broadnax reportedly was offered an opportunity to resign and did not take it. Council members Paul Ridley (District 14), Carolyn King Arnold (District 4), Jaime Resendez (District 5), and Omar Narvaez (District 6) have said they do not support removing Broadnax. District 11 Councilwoman Jaynie Schultz called him “an outstanding city manager.”

Eight votes from the panel of 15 representatives are needed to remove Broadnax as city manager. 

Mayor Johnson said if the matter comes to a vote, he will be in favor of terminating Broadnax’s contract, effective as soon as possible. 

“It’s time for accountability,” Johnson said in a newsletter email to residents. “That means change at the top of the city bureaucracy.” 

An agenda is not yet posted for the June 23 meeting. City council meetings are streamed live at dallascityhall.com.