Dallas has paid former City Manager T.C. Broadnax tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars for his unused vacation time.

“The rest of the country is watching what we’re doing and how we are treating our personnel,” Council Member Chad West (District 1) recently told The Dallas Morning News. “And if we want to be able to recruit top talent from across the country, we need to put forth a good image and do what’s right and treat our people correctly, ethically and properly.”

On May 14, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson wrote City Attorney Tammy Palomino to determine whether Broadnax is entitled to severance, The Dallas Express previously reported.

“While Mr. Broadnax’s Agreement of Employment stipulated that he would receive a severance payment if a majority of the Dallas City Council suggested he resign, the background and timeline of these events raise serious questions about the legitimacy of this alleged ‘involuntary separation,” Johnson alleges in the memo to Palomino. “… As the City of Dallas’ chief legal counsel, whose job it is to defend the residents and taxpayers of Dallas, could you please clarify the following: Considering the highly questionable nature and background of Mr. Broadnax’s resignation, should Mr. Broadnax be paid severance pay from the City of Dallas?”

The City of Dallas paid Broadnax $43,789 for the pay period between May 15 and May 28, according to DMN, resulting in $28,963 after tax withholdings and pension contributions.

Members of the Ad Hoc Committee on Administrative Affairs met on June 3 to discuss Broadnax’s severance payment in executive session. DX asked Palomino’s office to clarify whether a decision had been made regarding the payout, but a public information officer told the news outlet that “we cannot comment on closed session matters.”

The employment agreement Broadnax signed in February 2017 stipulates that he’s “entitled to receive a lump sum payment equal to (12) months of his then-current base salary” because of “involuntary separation,” the criteria of which includes “the City Manager’s resignation following a suggestion, whether formal or informal, by a majority of the City Council that he resign.”

In the mayor’s memo to Palomino, Johnson argues that Broadnax’s separation was not involuntary but was crafted so he could “depart from the City of Dallas with severance pay shortly before pursuing and accepting a position with the City of Austin. … Therefore, the severance clause of Mr. Broadnax’s Agreement of Employment should not apply, and the City of Dallas should have no obligation to pay Mr. Broadnax nearly half a million dollars from Dallas’ taxpayers.”

Severance pay is a benefit commonly negotiated between prospective city managers and city councils. However, the mayor said in an interview with CBS News’ Eye on Politics in May that he would not support the next city manager of Dallas receiving this provision in his contract, as previously reported by DX.

Broadnax became Austin’s city manager on May 2 after overseeing increases in crime, tax collection, and taxpayer expenditures in Dallas for roughly seven years.