Meetings of Interest
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Meetings of Interest 22: June 9, 2024

Meetings of Interest 22: June 9, 2024

Meetings of Interest: Weaker Mayor 🪫

June 09, 2024 • Estimated Reading Time: 10 minutes

Sunday, June 9, 2024

Good evening:

Being mayor of Dallas can be a thankless job because the City Charter makes it one of the weakest big-city mayor seats in the country. A majority of Dallas City Council members say they want voters to make it even weaker this November.

Under the City Charter, the mayor of Dallas presides over weekly City Council meetings, but has only one vote among the body of 15. The city manager runs the day-to-day operations and oversees nearly all city employees. One of the few absolute powers of the mayor is to appoint council committees at the beginning of every two-year council term.

If you read these weekly emails, you know that most of the grunt work is done in committees. The committees debate and make recommendations on things like the Downtown convention center redevelopment, how to close a multi-billion dollar funding gap in the police and fire pension, whether to offer economic incentives to sports teams or major corporations to relocate to Dallas, and much more.

Mayors tend to be deliberate about their committee appointments. They often spend weeks or months meeting privately with council members to vet their interests and strengths. It is a complicated puzzle, and it is the primary way mayors can work to implement the agendas on which they run and are elected by voters citywide.

One of two proposed charter amendments would give the mayor 60 days from the June inauguration to make appointments. If they are not made in that period, the council would revert to committees from the prior term until the mayor makes his or her decisions. This could be particularly challenging for a newly elected mayor who comes into the job without relationships with the 14 other City Council members.

A second amendment would require City Council approval of the mayor’s committee appointments, effectively eliminating one of the Dallas mayor’s few exclusive powers.

A main reason the latter change is needed, some said, is because of the relatively rare instance when mayors have unilaterally made committee changes in the middle of a term, including removing council members from committees in some cases.

“It’s very hurtful, and it’s very harmful,” said Council Member Paula Blackmon, who was removed from an ad hoc committee during her first term in office (this proposal, as written, would not apply to ad hoc committees).

These amendments are being proposed in the final weeks of a Charter Review process that began in September. The process included months of deliberations by a volunteer commission and testimony from hundreds of people. The commission did not recommend any Charter changes to weaken the mayor’s office.

A final City Council vote on what to send to voters is expected on June 26.

Read on for more on:

Other Charter amendments that could be up for your approval on the November ballot.
How the City Council may attempt to stop a planned Dallas-to-Fort Worth high-speed rail line in its tracks.
Next steps on a proposed horse-drawn carriage ban.

⚡ Highlights From Last Week's Meetings of Interest:

— Among other amendments to win preliminary approval is a 667-word preamble to the Charter that is modeled after New York City’s Charter preamble, approved by voters there in 2022. It declares Dallas to be an equitable democracy; highlights its diversity and resiliency; recognizes indigenous groups who inhabited its land; and pledges to build a just and equitable city for all. Some City Council members indicated they will come with edits when the matter is up for an official vote later this month.

City Council members also appear ready to ask voters to extend their term lengths from two years to four, though it is unclear if they will ask for a pay raise.

The City Council so far appears to be against moving municipal elections to November of odd-numbered years, despite significant public support including from Downtown Dallas, Inc. (DDI). One of the leaders of the effort, Jeff Kitner, does a nice job arguing for the change in The Dallas Morning News. Bottom line: If you want more people to vote, move the elections to November.

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— Some City Council members questioned how the Dallas Police and Fire Pension System is being managed given its relatively low 10-year investment returns, The Dallas Morning News reports from a committee meeting last week.

Thanks to DDI's Nikia Summerlin, Urban Planning Manager, for monitoring hours of meetings every week and contributing to our summaries.Questions? Nikia can be reached at [email protected].

📝 Memos of Interest:

— Interim City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert provides an update on her first 30 days on the job. As noted in the above org chart, she recently promoted Dallas Fire-Rescue Chief Dominique Artis, a Dallas native, to the newly created Chief of Public Safety position, overseeing police, fire, courts, city marshals and more. He’s serving in an interim capacity.

— The Dallas City Council will vote on June 26 whether to ban horse-drawn carriages from City streets, according to this memo. A City Council committee in April recommended the ban and a transition to “an electric version of carriages.”

— The Dallas City Council is expected to vote Wednesday on a resolution to block plans for an above-ground Dallas-to-Fort Worth high-speed rail stop in Downtown, according to this memo from Mayor Eric L. Johnson. More on that below. — Check out all the latest City Hall memos here and here.

Meetings of Interest: June 10 - 14

Watch City of Dallas Meetings Live

Monday, June 10

💪 City Council Workforce, Education, and Equity Committee, 9 a.m., Council Chambers, 6th Floor, Dallas City Hall, 1500 Marilla St.

— Budget briefings are scheduled on the Office of Community Care and Small Business Center.

— The committee will also discuss 2025 legislative priorities related to workforce and education issues.

🚨 City Council Public Safety Committee, 1 p.m., Council Chambers, 6th Floor, Dallas City Hall, 1500 Marilla St.

— Violent crime is down 17% through May of this year as compared to the same time last year, according to Dallas police statistics.

— A new program will honor fallen police officers and firefighters with street toppers at locations where they died. The first toppers are expected to be placed in Downtown in September. Read more.

— Budget briefings are scheduled on Dallas Fire-Rescue, Judiciary, City Marshal’s Office, and the Office of Community Police Oversight.

— Committee members will also discuss legislative priorities.

Tuesday, June 11

🚌 Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) Board of Directors, 1 p.m. Committee-of-the-Whole; 4 p.m. Special Board of Directors’ Meeting

— The Board is expected to vote on new strategic plan goals and objectives, as well as new vision and mission statements. The plan was developed with extensive stakeholder input and aims to position DART as a key regional economic and mobility asset, according to agency leaders. Read more.

Wednesday, June 12

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

— Item 44 is a resolution, requested by Mayor Pro Tem Tennell Atkins, to oppose an above ground high-speed rail line through Downtown as part of the Dallas-to-Fort Worth project. The resolution specifically notes that this should not impact any plans for expansion of streetcar lines through Downtown, a priority for DDI. It also leaves the door open for a change in position after the City receives a requested economic impact study. For a good explainer on this one, check out this March piece from D Magazine’s Matt Goodman.

Thursday, June 13

🚄 Regional Transportation Council, 1 p.m., Transportation Council Room, North Central Texas Council of Governments, 616 Six Flags Dr., Arlington; Watch live here

— The proposed Dallas-to-Fort Worth high-speed rail project is up for discussion here too, specifically related to an environmental study of the potential route. It could be interesting depending on the outcome of the Dallas City Council vote one day prior against the currently proposed Dallas leg.

Did we miss anything? Do you have any questions? Just want to talk about meetings? Let me know.