Manvel, a fast-growing city just outside Houston, recently entered into a separation agreement with its city manager, joining other municipalities across the state.
As reported by The Dallas Express, cities such as Austin, Pearland, and El Paso have all terminated their city managers. In some cases, the city managers were terminated for failing to meet certain expectations.
Kyle Jung, who bills himself as a “local government professional,” worked as Manvel’s city manager for almost 12 years before being fired earlier in the summer. Before working in Manvel, he was the city manager in both Sour Lake and Flatonia. He also previously worked for the Texas Municipal League and the Texas City Management Association.
Stepping into the role, Daniel Johnson assumed the position of interim city manager as Manvel looks for a “highly collaborative, people-first leader to demonstrate high performance while being dedicated to serving our rural but rapidly changing community.”
Noting the wave of cities that have fired their city managers, Manvel Mayor Dan Davis spoke with The Dallas Express about the trend.
“There’s definitely a movement at the local level of more accountability and engagement, not just for the elected official, but also for the — and I don’t say this as a derogatory term — hired bureaucrats that are there as well,” he explained.
“Texas is the seventh-highest property tax state in the entire nation, and people see that at the local level. Certificate of obligation debt continues to be used time and time again for outrageous projects. … People are starting to get involved and hold people accountable and asking them to be transparent,” Davis said.
Referencing the situation in Dallas, Davis noted how City Manager T.C. Broadnax “was very, very close to losing his job, but yet the council decided to keep him on, but the issues still persist.”
Broadnax had a close call last year as momentum gathered at City Hall to fire him. Frustration over his handling of the City’s permitting process and mismanagement in other departments led Mayor Eric Johnson to suggest “it was time for a change at the top of our city government.”
However, “after some serious and frank discussions,” the mayor and Broadnax reached an agreement that allowed the city manager to stay on in the position.
At the time, Broadnax admitted, “I can be better. I understand that I am fully accountable to my 15 bosses. So today, I want to say to the mayor, to the members of the City Council, and to all the residents of this dynamic city: I accept the challenge.”
Broadnax not only retained his job but managed to get a pay raise as well, now raking in a salary of roughly $423,000 annually — more than the president’s salary.
Since then, however, Dallas has continued to struggle with permitting issues, staffing shortages, and IT problems.
Turning to the specifics in Manvel, Davis explained:
“What a lot of city managers will have built into their contracts are these additional benefits that allow them to have costs covered that they would usually pay out of their salary. Our city manager had a housing stipend paid out to him every year. He had his medical insurance for his kids covered. … He had a cell phone allowance, he had a vehicle allowance, and he had other things that were built into it that increased the total compensation package.”
Davis said Manvel decided to part ways with its city manager because there were needs in the community that were just not being met.
“Our community just wanted to see government be transparent and open. … There was this built-up frustration because time and time again the community and the people who you were there to serve felt as though government was working against them and not for them,” he said, noting that it was a hard decision to make but that Manvel is seeing the benefits of the shakeup.
“When people see that you’re being proactive and reaching out to them, then when times get tough, or when there are frustrations, there’s at least more ground to stand on when you communicate with each other because they don’t feel like you’re trying to keep things hidden,” Davis said.
