Austin has fired three senior information technology leaders after discovering they held undisclosed second jobs, including two who the City of Dallas simultaneously employed, officials confirmed.
The terminations, which occurred last month, involved Chief Information Security Officer Brian Gardner and Senior IT Enterprise Architects Hawre Sulaiman and William Snead.
City officials described the moves as the result of “an ongoing review” and said they were unrelated to cybersecurity threats or information security issues.
According to city employees familiar with the firings, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared retaliation, Sulaiman and Snead worked full-time for both Austin and Dallas for about six months after being hired in Austin last fall.
Snead was on family leave from his Dallas position while collecting a salary from Austin. Gardner was let go after officials learned he operated an undisclosed limited liability company.
All three men had previously worked in Dallas’ IT department during the tenure of Austin City Manager T.C. Broadnax, who held the same post in Dallas before moving to Austin in 2024.
Broadnax declined to be interviewed.
The dual-employment allegations surfaced in November when the Dallas Office of Inspector General received an anonymous tip through its confidential whistleblower hotline. Interim Inspector General Baron Eliason opened an investigation and notified the Dallas Police Department’s Public Integrity Unit, City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert, and Austin officials.
“Interim Inspector General Baron Eliason opened an investigation and notified the Dallas Police Department’s Public Integrity Unit and City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert,” the Dallas office said in a statement, per The Austin American-Statesman. “The inspector general also alerted the city of Austin, and City Manager Tolbert directed the IT department to take appropriate action.”
Austin spokeswoman Jenny LaCoste-Caputo said in a statement, “This is an ongoing investigation, and so we will not be sharing any further information,” The Statesman reported.
In a follow-up comment, she added that Broadnax “was not aware of the dual employment until it was revealed by the investigation.”
City of Austin employees are required to disclose outside employment and potential conflicts of interest.
In a prepared statement on Thursday, Mayor Kirk Watson said he supported the decision but emphasized that personnel matters fall under the city manager’s authority.
“The City Manager is responsible for the day-to-day administrative operations of the City, including the hiring and firing of personnel, a responsibility independent from the Mayor and Council’s input,” Watson said, noting that Broadnax had informed him of the firings. “I fully support his decision.”
The situation has raised questions about hiring practices and professional standards. Cal Jillson, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University, said the firings reflect on Broadnax’s judgment, given his prior working relationship with the three men in Dallas.
“Presumably from Broadnax’s perspective, you would bring the people that you know and trust,” Jillson said, according to The Statesman. “He really does have to expect to be judged on this. It’s not all going to fall on these malefactors here. This is a question of judgment and insight into character because these folks had worked together before.”
Ethics attorney Andrew Cates said the case highlights basic expectations for full-time public employees.
“In terms of the ethical implications, generally speaking, when you’re full-time, you’re full-time. You don’t have a side gig,” he said, The Statesman reported. “Failure to disclose that – I’m not at all surprised resulted in termination.”
Cates added that the employees’ roles in IT made the violations especially troubling.
“We put a lot of trust in them to find vulnerabilities and patch them up and not exploit them,” he said. “If we can’t trust you to not have two jobs, then what else are you betraying our trust about, and what else are you doing with all this sensitive information?”
Gardner and Sulaiman declined to comment, citing advice of counsel, but Sulaiman provided a statement purportedly from his lawyer, claiming that the allegations against his client were “simply false.” Snead could not be reached for comment.
The investigation remains ongoing, and both cities have declined to release additional details.