Owning Up

Good evening:

“Owning mistakes, learning from failures.”

Not surprisingly, this is not a campaign slogan adopted by any of the 10 incumbent City Council members up for re-election on May 3. But it is an unfortunate mantra of late for City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert, who has spent much of her time over the last year cleaning up messes that predate her tenure as the City’s CEO.

Among the biggest debacles in recent memory is the City’s $14 million purchase in summer 2022 of an office building at 7800 N. Stemmons Freeway. The plan was to turn the building into a “one-stop shop experience for builders, developers, and residents,” primarily those seeking development permits, according to City documents.

As the building was still undergoing renovations in late 2023, some City employees began moving into the space. By early 2024, however, it was revealed that the new permitting headquarters lacked the proper—you guessed it—permits, among other problems (The Dallas Morning News reported extensively on the failures).

Tolbert, who was weeks away from taking over as interim city manager, ordered the staff to vacate the premises and return to the Oak Cliff Municipal Center, the longtime permitting base. She promised her own review of what went wrong, in addition to a City Auditor’s report ordered by City Council members and expected to be released this week.

Tolbert preempted the auditor and released her after-action report on Friday afternoon. It notes the timeline I’ve outlined above and concludes that the the decision to purchase the building “was neither strategic nor well-considered.”

Staff conducted “very limited due diligence” and “received no disclosures from the seller,” engaging a broker “to perform only a surface-level review of the building,” the report says.

That broker’s report “was incomplete and failed to identify significant deficiencies in major building systems, including HVAC, electrical, and plumbing, as well as numerous ADA compliance issues,” the report says. “This failure to properly evaluate the condition of the building prior to purchase put the City at risk and resulted in wasted taxpayer dollars.”

The taxpayer bill has more than doubled since the purchase to approximately $29 million. Noting that the City does not even need an in-person “one-stop shop” for permitting because most of the key functions are moving online, Tolbert recommends the City cut its losses and sell the site.

Table of Contents

• 🗳️ Early Voting Starts Tuesday

• 📰 Highlights From Last Week's Meetings

• 📝 Memos of Interest

• 🤝 Meetings of Interest: April 21 - 25

  • Monday, April 21

    • Quality of Life, Arts, and Culture Committee

    • Transportation and Infrastructure Committee

  • Tuesday, April 22

    • Housing and Homelessness Solutions Committee

    • Government Performance and Financial Management Committee

    • Fair Park First Board of Directors

  • Wednesday, April 23

    • Dallas City Council Meeting

  • Thursday, April 24

    • City Plan Commission

🗳️ Early Voting Starts Tuesday

Early voting starts this Tuesday, April 22, for 13 contested City Council seats. A total of 49 candidates are on the ballots in an election that will deliver at least four fresh faces to Dallas City Hall.

You can read more about who is on the ballot in my “Candidates of Interest” series here.

Election Day is Saturday, May 3.

📰 Highlights From Last Week’s Meetings of Interest

• Dallas is experiencing a higher rate of food insecurity than the state or national levels, the Dallas Observer reports from a City Council committee presentation.

• Violent crime across Dallas continues to drop, but long police response times are of concern, WFAA reports.

• The City is launching a federally funded pilot program to clean up dangerous properties and reduce crime, The Dallas Morning News reports. It is part of a proposed $30 million budget for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Consolidated Plan.

• Interim Dallas Police Chief Michael Igo, who lost out on the permanent job to Daniel Comeaux, announced in an emotional speech at Wednesday’s City Council meeting that he is retiring, The Dallas Morning News reports.

📝 Memos of Interest

• The two-year effort to modernize the City’s permitting, zoning, inspection, and development processes culminates with the launch of a new online system, DallasNow, on May 5. Read more.

• Public hearings are being held this week to gather feedback on plans to potentially trench and cap the highway that runs between Downtown and Deep Ellum, Interstate 345, according to this memo.

• Here’s the complete City Manager memo packet for Friday, April 18, 2025

🤝 Meetings of Interest: April 21 - 25

Monday, April 21

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

• City Council members will discuss how to crack down on “extraordinary neighborhood events” like the viral Preston Hollow mansion Christmas light display last year that Council member Gay Donnell Willis said at the time cost taxpayers $25,000 in police time. “The event caused traffic, litter, noise, and light nuisance to the surrounding neighbors,” according to the briefing.

• Downtown Dallas, Inc. (DDI), is working with City departments on a pilot program to temporarily close streets for special weekend events. Learn more.

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

• Committee members will interview Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) Board nominee Maureen Milligan, a former Dallas assistant city attorney and assistant housing director. If approved by City Council on Wednesday, she would complete the term of former Board member Rodney Schlosser, who recently resigned.

• Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) officials will provide the latest on plans to trench and cap the 2.8-mile highway that runs between Downtown and Deep Ellum. Read the briefing.

• Transportation officials will provide an update on potential new revenue sources for current and expanded streetcar operations. DDI has long advocated for an extension that would connect the Dallas Streetcar to the McKinney Avenue Trolley.

• The Town of Addison wants to make a “boundary adjustment” along Montfort Drive from the current boundary to Celestial Road, according to this memo. The adjustment would only apply to infrastructure, with Addison taking over maintenance costs, traffic management, and policing. The Dallas City Council must sign off.

Tuesday, April 22

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

• Development of a temporary housing community of 50 units for adults experiencing homelessness could cost up to $17 million to develop and up to $3.8 million annually to operate, based on five responses to a City-issued Request for Information. Committee members need to decide whether to continue pursuing the concept or scrap it. Read more.

• The Committee is scheduled to hold a public hearing to receive comments on proposed changes to the Dallas Housing Finance Corporation (DHFC) and the Dallas Public Facility Corporation (DPFC). This memo summarizes feedback gathered in recent months. By memo earlier this month, three Council members questioned the review process and laid out a proposed path forward.

City Council Government Performance and Financial Management Committee, 1 p.m., Council Chambers, 6th Floor, Dallas City Hall, 1500 Marilla St.

• Committee members will discuss the future of several high profile City-owned properties, including the once-planned permitting building at 7800 N. Stemmons Freeway that was purchased in 2022. Read more.

• City Auditor Mark Swann’s current two-year term ends on May 1. Committee members will discuss whether to nominate him for another two-year term. Read more.

Fair Park First Board of Directors, 4 p.m., Fair Park Visitor Center, 3535 Grand Avenue, Dallas, TX 75210

• Board members are expected to discuss a range of topics, including fundraising, plans for a community park, and audit updates.

Wednesday, April 23

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

• Item 2 is preliminary adoption of the nearly $30 million budget for U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development annual grants. A public hearing will be set for May 28 to receive comments on the proposed use of funds.

• Item 23 is a $7 million loan agreement with an affiliate of developer Sycamore Strategies, LLC, for the development of a 48-unit permanent supportive housing complex at a building along the Dallas North Tollway that once housed the Braniff Hostess College.

• Item 26 will amend the City’s commercial remodel fee structure to correct a fee calculation error that resulted in a loss of millions of dollars in anticipated fee revenues.

• Item 39 is a nearly $3 million City contract with nonprofit Housing Forward to continue the Street to Home initiative to rehouse people experiencing homelessness. The initiative has housed more than 180 people from Downtown public spaces since last year.

• Items 49 and 50 authorize the City to spend up to $51.7 million to purchase part of developer Ray Washburne’s former Dallas Morning News property for the redevelopment of the Downtown convention center. Washburne was reportedly in the process of selling the property to a data firm.

• Item 53 is the appointment of a new DART Board member. As noted above, former city official Maureen Milligan is the only nominee.

• Items 55 - 58 would reappoint City Secretary Bilierae Johnson and City Auditor Mark Swann to new two-year terms, and allows for pay raises for them and City Attorney Tammy Palomino.

Thursday, April 24

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

🗣️ 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.