Meetings of Interest
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Meetings of Interest 3: Jan. 21, 2024

Meetings of Interest 3: Jan. 21, 2024

Meetings of Interest: 💰 Bond. Big Bond.

January 21, 2024 • Estimated Reading Time: 14 minutes

Sunday, January 21, 2024

Good evening:

A few hundred of the most civically engaged Dallas residents spent Friday afternoon and early evening at City Hall to hear the latest City Council discussion on the 2024 Bond Program and to advocate for funding arts, parks, housing, and more.

In two non-binding votes, City Council members indicated they want to increase the total bond amount another $150 million to a $1.25 billion package. They also want to send the proposal to voters for a May vote, as opposed to November. That means they have to decide on allocations in each major category (parks, streets, public safety, flood protection, housing, economic development, etc.) to put on the ballot by the state's February 16th deadline to order a May election.

More discussion on how to allocate the money is expected on Wednesday, Jan. 31, when Mayor Eric L. Johnson has called another special meeting to discuss the bond.

Read on for more on the bond and:

The vision for high-speed rail connecting Houston to Dallas and Fort Worth.
A massive taxpayer payout stemming from a gas drilling lawsuit the City lost nearly four years ago.
The proposed reallocation of $161 million in federal pandemic relief funds.

⚡ Highlights From Last Week's Meetings of Interest:

-- Dallas City Hall has formally asked the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) to study a Dallas tunnel into Downtown for the proposed Dallas-to-Fort Worth high-speed rail line, we learned during the City Council Transportation & Infrastructure Committee meeting last Tuesday. The request came by letter earlier this month from City Manager T.C. Broadnax to NCTCOG Director of Transportation Michael Morris. The larger vision for the Dallas-to-Fort Worth line is to introduce a seamless "one-seat trip" from Houston to Dallas and Fort Worth as a unified high-speed rail system. While the Dallas to Houston and the Dallas to Fort Worth projects are currently being developed independently, ongoing study will open the door to connect the two and realize a fully integrated system. For a deeper dive on high-speed rail, check out

this story from D Magazine's Matt Goodman

-- Leaders of the Mayor's Task Force on Homelessness, Organizations, Policies, and Encampments (HOPE) discussed their report, issued last year, at a special meeting of the City Council Housing and Homelessness Solutions Committee on Thursday night.

The Dallas Morning News has more on this meeting

, including what the committee heard from business and property owners and mayors from surrounding cities. DDI's Chief of Public Safety and Field Operations Larry Gordon served on the mayor's task force.

Read the report

-- The City Council could be asked to approve updates to the

ForwardDallas

land use plan by June, according to discussion at last week's City Plan Commission. Learn more about the proposed

ForwardDallas

plan updates

here

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

📝 Memos of Interest:

-- Also of note from Friday's special-called bond meeting is the memo above from four City Councilmembers recommending a proposed "starting point" for funding major bond categories. The memo was delivered to City Manager T.C. Broadnax just before the meeting from City Council members Adam Bazaldua, Kathy Stewart, Chad West, and Jaynie Schultz. It is unclear how many other councilmembers support these dollar amounts, but those four do represent varied interests.

-- Atmos is requesting an increase in Dallas rates to generate nearly $48 million more in annual revenues, or about $13.72 more in added cost per month for the average residential customer,

according to this memo

. City staff is reviewing the request and will bring findings to the City Council Government Performance and Financial Management Committee later this year. The City has the option to challenge the increase.

-- Check out all the latest City Hall memos

here

and

here

Meetings of Interest: January 22 - 26, 2024

Monday, January 22

🏡

City Council Housing and Homelessness Solutions Committee, 9 a.m., Council Chambers, 6th Floor, Dallas City Hall, 1500 Marilla St.

-- The City is seeking approval to shift up to $2.5 million in federal funds originally earmarked for rental assistance to supportive services as part of the ongoing "R.E.A.L. Time Rapid Rehousing Initiative,

according to this briefing

. City officials say the move will help end homelessness for up to 300 additional people. More than 2,900 have been housed to date through the program, which DDI has supported financially and through our Downtown Homeless Outreach work.

-- Here's an

update on implementation

of the City's "Housing Policy 2033."

💹

City Council Government Performance & Financial Management Committee, 2 p.m., Council Chambers, 6th Floor, Dallas City Hall, 1500 Marilla St.

-- The above is a slide from a scheduled

briefing from urban planner Joe Minicozzi, of Urban3, on the economics of land use

. It looks far more entertaining than your average City Hall PowerPoint. Because he's always ahead of the curve,

D Magazine's Matt Goodman sat through the same briefing in Irving last month

, writing that "Minicozzi’s argument is basic: the land a city has within its borders is a finite resource, and how said city chooses to use that land determines its financial health." Goodman will have more on this in the March issue of

D Magazine

(

subscribe here

-- The committee will also discuss whether to advocate during next year's state legislative session to legalize casino gambling,

according to this briefing

This briefing

includes details on the recently approved State constitutional amendment that allows the City to exempt child-care providers from property taxes for any facilities used to run a child-care business. Staff is recommending City Council adopt the exemption next month.

-- City staff recommends reallocating more than $161 million in federal pandemic relief funds for Dallas Fire-Rescue payroll,

according to this briefing

. The money was originally earmarked for a variety of uses, including economic development, housing, arts, workforce development, home repair assistance, and more. If approved by City Council next month, this would be the second reallocation of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds.

-- The

latest Budget Accountability Report

includes pages of interesting data on City operations and economic indicators.

Tuesday, January 23

🚌

Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) Board of Directors, 6 p.m., Board Room, DART HQ, 1401 Pacific Ave.; Watch live here

-- Staff recommends DART hire Ernst & Young Infrastructure Advisors LLC to produce a report allocating costs by service area city. The final report would be expected by June.

-- The Board may also vote on the agency's 20-year financial plan. This vote has been delayed a few times dating to last year.

📃 Charter Review Commission, 6:30 p.m., Council Chambers, 6th Floor, 1500 Marilla St.

-- This commission will continue to vote on potential amendments to the document that outlines the structure, powers, and functions of our city’s government. The body's recommendations will go to City Council later this year and any Charter changes must be approved by voters, most likely on the November ballot. Have a look at all the proposed amendments and learn more about the process

here

Wednesday, January 24

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

-- The City Council will

vote on a $55 million payment to Trinity East Energy, LLC

tied to a lawsuit the City lost in 2020 to the gas drilling company that paid $19 million for the right to drill on Dallas parkland only to be later denied the permits to do so. Then-

Dallas Morning News

city columnist Robert Wilonsky sat through weeks of testimony and

wrote about that verdict and the long and tortured history of the case nearly four years ago

-- Should Councilmembers approve the payment to Trinity East Energy, they will vote separately to fund it through General Obligation Refunding Bonds.