Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia is leaving the city to become an assistant city manager in Austin.
Austin City Manager T.C. Broadnax, the former city manager in Dallas, confirmed Garcia's appointment Thursday.
"I am excited to welcome Mr. Garcia as our new Assistant City Manager over public safety," Austin Broadnax said in a statement to KUT. "His extensive experience and deep commitment to the communities he serves makes him the ideal leader to join my executive team. I am confident that under his leadership, our public safety efforts will continue to thrive and evolve to meet the needs of our growing city."
Garcia will replace Bruce Mills, who retired last month. He will oversee public safety, including fire, police and Austin-Travis County EMS. Broadnax left Dallas in May and has already bought two other top officials with him.
The move comes just months after the city reached an agreement for Garcia to stay that included a $10,000 bonus every six months.
Garcia’s resignation also comes after Officer Darron Burks was killed by a gunman in his squad car in late August. Garcia told a gaggle of reporters after the event Burks was “executed” simply for being a police officer.
This is not the first time Garcia has considered leaving the city. In mid-May, Dallas officials added an addendum to Garcia’s contract to get him to stay with the department. Garcia’s salary remained the same, beginning in November 2024, he will receive a retention bonus of $10,000 every six months, according to a May press release.
The move came after speculation Garcia was considering a move to the city of Austin — just months after Broadnax announced his resignation to take the city manager role in Austin.
In turn, Garcia committed to stay in Dallas until at least May 2027 — and said he would assist the city in finding a new chief of police “when that time comes.”
The agreement was signed by Interim City Manager Kimberly Tolbert after speculation that Garcia could be lured away to a different city. Tolbert took over as the city’s top executive after Broadnax resigned.
“This was complicated, but we got it done,” Tolbert said in the release. “If this was NFL Football, we were able to keep Chief Garcia on the Dallas Team; he’s the right quarterback to lead our police department. We certainly didn’t want to lose him to free agency.”
The agreement also says if any city manager terminates Garcia’s contract he will get a year’s salary as severance.
But if he is terminated for his “work performance or is convicted of an offense of moral turpitude or a felony criminal act” he won’t get paid.
“To live and work in Dallas is to love Dallas,” Garcia was quoted in the May release. “This is the right place to complete my service, and I know your police officers are honored to serve Dallas residents. We will keep doing our jobs with excellence and results.”
The Dallas City Council just passed an almost $5 billion budget that includes an $80 million increase to the city’s public safety. Part of those funds will be spent on remedying billions in unfunded police and fire pension liabilities.
The city and the Dallas Police and Fire Pension System have been battling for months over who’s funding plan will be sent to state regulators in early November. The council recently voted to approve a plan that will increase the city’s pension contributions to fully fund the plan over 30 years.
That plan includes a stipend for public safety retirees — who won't see a benefits increase otherwise for decades — but if and when they’ll get it is up to the council.
“The way this has been structured is in a way that takes into account the fact we’ve been sued, by what is supposed to be one of our partners,” Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson said during a mid-September council meeting. “We want to make sure we are not getting out of line in terms of what we may, or may not be, required to do at some point.”
Dallas elected and police officials are also facing a campaign to get three petition-led charter amendments passed by voters in November. The proposals, if passed, could dictate how many officers the city needs on its police force, tie the city manager’s performance to a resident survey and mandate excess revenue be used for public safety needs.
Garcia has previously said the amendments could hurt the department’s recruitment and retention efforts.
“When it comes to hiring 900 officers in one fell swoop, that does come with several administrative challenges for us in one year,” Garcia said at a meeting in early August. “Recruiting is one part of this, but just as important…is retention.”
Members of the city council tried to essentially counteract those proposals by adding three amendments of their own on the day of the final vote. The Texas Supreme Court ordered the council’s amendments be taken off the November 5 ballot.
Got a tip? Email Nathan Collins at ncollins@kera.org. You can follow Nathan on Twitter @nathannotforyou.
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