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DALLAS - The city of Dallas has officially hired a new city manager with a hefty salary to boot.
The new hire comes amid concerns from the Dallas Police Association about the new city manager’s record with public safety in Tacoma, Washington.
The Dallas City Council was in a generous mood while wearing tacky Christmas sweaters on Wednesday as they unanimously approved hiring T.C. Broadnax as the new city manager without any discussion.
Broadnax will instantly receive a hefty raise. His salary will be $375,000. And after one year, he is set to get a raise that will bring his salary to $395,000, one of the highest city manager salaries in the country. It’s just slightly below what A.C. Gonzalez earns now — $400,000.
In Tacoma, Broadnax has been earning $252,000, according to reports. His Dallas salary will be about a $122,000 increase. Broadnax also has a $700 a month car allowance.
Council Member Philip Kingston seemed pleased with the agreement.
“Mr. Mayor, you did a really good job on the negotiation. Thank you,” he said.
While multiple city council members gave him rave reviews, the president of the Dallas Police Association, Frederick Frazier, says he's concerned about some of Broadnax’s decisions when it came to public safety in Tacoma.
“It's concerning,” Frazier said. “But we have to meet him face to face."
Broadnax downsized the police department.
“It created chaos in the police department. It took a long time to backfill,” Frazier said. “When you go backwards in a police department, you have to remember it takes a long time to grow something."
The president of the Tacoma Police Union, Jim Barrett, said the downsizing caused crime to spike in the city.
“Our drive-by shootings are up over 147 percent,” he explained.
Broadnax will face two huge tasks when he takes up the reigns in Dallas. One will be hiring a police chief. The second will be solving the police and fire pension crisis and a potentially costly back pay class action lawsuit.
Barrett says Broadnax has not been a friend to police in Tacoma.
“He definitely did not have public safety at the forefront of his agenda,” Barrett said.
If, for some reason, a majority of the Dallas council wanted Broadnax to resign he would receive 12 months pay in a lump sum.
FOX 4 reached out to Broadnax for comment in Tacoma, but his staff said he was in meetings and unable to talk until later Wednesday. He is set to replace Gonzalez in February.