Decision Day Arrives

Hello, friend,

Dallas City Council members spent nearly seven hours in closed session on Wednesday interviewing three city manager finalists and deliberating on who to hire for the top job at City Hall.

There has been no announcement yet on whether a majority of the City Council has settled on a candidate, but it would be a big surprise if the choice is anyone but Interim City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert.

Late Friday, Mayor Eric L. Johnson ordered this week’s City Council meeting agenda to include a vote on the appointment of a city manager. That suggests negotiations with the selected candidate are expected to be wrapped up in coming days, if they are not already.

Under the City Charter, the city manager reports to the mayor and his 14 City Council colleagues. He or she acts as the CEO of Dallas, implementing the City Council’s vision, proposing the annual budget, and overseeing the city’s programs, operations, and roughly 13,000 employees.

If Tolbert is selected, her hiring two days after Martin Luther King, Jr. Day would be historic for our city. She would be the first Black woman to hold the position in Dallas.

Regardless of who is chosen to lead City Hall, many are hopeful that the decision will prompt a much-needed reset. Politics at every level of government is characterized by chaos. Dallas City Hall has been no exception at times over the past few years.

Perhaps the coming months will serve as our own “chance to choose between chaos or community,” as Dr. King famously said.

📖 Table of Contents

• 📰 Highlights From Last Week’s Meetings

• 📝 Memos of Interest

• 🤝 Meetings of Interest: Jan. 21 - 24

  • Tuesday, January 21

    • Quality of Life, Arts & Culture Committee

    • Ad Hoc Committee on Administrative Affairs

    • Transportation & Infrastructure Committee

  • Wednesday, January 22

    • Dallas City Council Meeting

  • Thursday, January 23

    • City Plan Commission (CPC)

    • Regional Transportation Council (RTC)

    • Park & Recreation Board

• 🗣️ Quote of Interest

📰 Highlights From Last Week’s Meetings

• Members of the Dallas City Council Public Safety Committee want the Dallas Police Department to spend more money on recruiting officers from other major Texas markets, NBC 5’s David Goins reports in the story linked above.

• Dallas police officials at the same committee meeting presented on major reductions in violent crime last year, as compared to the previous year. The Dallas Morning News editorial board asks, “So why do so many people in Dallas still feel unsafe?”

• There’s still hope Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) leaders can address calls for reform from some member cities without intervention from the Texas Legislature. The Dallas Morning News editorial board says that would be a good thing.

• City Hall appears to finally have a handle on the long-struggling building permit process, WFAA’s Cole Sullivan reports.

• Generational battle lines are being drawn in the debate at City Plan Commission over whether to do away with required parking minimums, writes Dallas Observer reporter Emma Ruby.

📝 Memos of Interest

• Here’s a look at the January winter storm by the numbers, including the above breakdown of total people served each day that four temporary shelters were in operation.

• Members of the City Council-appointed Landmark Commission are seeking to designate the I.M. Pei-designed Dallas City Hall as a landmark, according to this memo. Designation would mean Landmark Commission must approve any future substantive exterior changes or demolition. City Council members have the final say in what could be a years-long process.

• Atmos wants to increase your gas rates by more than 8% to increase revenues within the city by $31.4 million, according to this memo. That translates to an average residential bill increase of $8.28 per month. The City Council has the option to challenge the proposed increase.

• Here’s the complete City Manager memo packet for Friday, January 17, 2025.

🤝 Meetings of Interest: Jan. 21 - 24

Tuesday, January 21

City Council Quality of Life, Arts, and Culture Committee, 9 a.m., Council Chambers, 6th Floor, Dallas City Hall, 1500 Marilla St.

• This briefing covers 2024 accomplishments for the departments that report in to the Quality of Life, Arts, and Culture Committee.

City Council Ad Hoc Committee on Administrative Affairs, 11 a.m., Council Chambers, 6th Floor, Dallas City Hall, 1500 Marilla St.

• Committee members will discuss a timeline for annual performance reviews of the officials who report directly to them, including city manager. They will also consider a recommendation to start a procurement process for consulting services to help with those performance evaluations.

City Council Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, 1 p.m., Council Chambers, 6th Floor, Dallas City Hall, 1500 Marilla St.

• The long-awaited city bike plan update will go through a final round of public comment in February and March, with a City Council vote expected by May, according to this briefing. As noted above, our bike network lags behind peer cities by several measures. The proposed plan aims to fix that. Read more here.

• City staff highlights what they learned about high-speed rail and its economic development potential during a recent trip to Japan that included four City Council members.

Wednesday, January 22

Dallas City Council, 9 a.m., Council Chambers, 6th Floor, Dallas City Hall, 1500 Marilla St.

• Item 6 would authorize city attorneys to spend another $100,000 for outside legal services in City Hall’s ongoing trademark lawsuit against Triple D Gear.

• Item 25 is acceptance of a $2 million federal grant for Downtown planning studies on mobility, connectivity, and economic development tied to streetcar expansion, Interstates 345 and 30 reconstruction, high-speed rail, the new convention center and more. More details here.

• Item 37 would amend the City’s state legislative agenda to include advocating for “limited law enforcement capabilities” for the Dallas Office of Inspector General. More information here.

• Item 43 is closed session discussion of the newly approved Charter section that allows any Dallas resident to sue the City to enforce state or local laws.

• Item 44 is closed session discussion of the appointment of a new city manager.

• Item 46 is the appointment of a new city manager, who must be named at the time of the vote.

Thursday, January 23

Dallas City Plan Commission (CPC), 9 a.m. Briefing, 12:30 p.m. Public Hearing, Council Chambers, 6th Floor, Dallas City Hall, 1500 Marilla St.

• Commissioners will be briefed on the South Dallas Fair Park Area Plan. Briefing materials are not posted online.

Regional Transportation Council (RTC), 9:30 a.m., Transportation Council Room, North Central Texas Council of Governments, 616 Six Flags Dr., Arlington

• This is a makeup of the meeting that was originally scheduled for earlier this month and was postponed due to winter weather.

• The agency is requesting $1 million to prepare for potential litigation from Hunt Realty Investment, Inc. and related entities over a proposed Dallas-Fort Worth high-speed rail line that would run through their properties in Downtown. The agenda packet contains more than 100 pages in correspondence between attorneys for Hunt and NCTCOG, including many letters from Hunt attorneys “asserting various legal and factual claims.”

• RTC members will also discuss how to fill a nearly $14 million funding gap for the planned reconstruction of Riverfront Boulevard from Cadiz Street to Justice Center Way, just outside of Downtown. The project, which includes bike and pedestrian enhancements, is currently funded with a mix of Dallas County and City money.

• Discussion of the developing Transit 2.0 Policy, including the future of DART, is also on the agenda.

Dallas Park & Recreation Board, 10 a.m., 6FN Conference Room, Dallas City Hall, 1500 Marilla St.

• Park Board members will consider a nearly $9 million contract with The Fain Group, Inc., for construction of a new pedestrian bridge to connect the Katy Trail to the Trinity Strand Trail as part of The Loop project (I am a Park Board member representing District 10).

🗣️ Quote of Interest

Did I miss anything? Do you have any questions? Just want to talk about meetings and memos and other fun stuff? Hit me up.