Dallas City Hall
Dallas City Council members voted to advance the exploration of moving City Hall operations during the June 17 special-called meeting.
In a 9-5, the council has directed City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert to negotiate pre-development agreements on prospective sites for up to four locations that could be bought or leased for the new city hall. The council has allocated up to $3 million in funding for those negotiations.
Additionally, council members also approved the relocation of 911 operations and the Office of Emergency Management and Crisis Response from the I.M. Pei building. Bizor Tolbert said in a statement that the goal is to “strengthen reliability, response times and continuity of operations while ensuring fiscal responsibility and transparency” for those operations.
In a 9-6 vote on Wednesday, June 10, the city council rejected the plan to repair City Hall and directed Bizor Tolbert to explore sale options and the costs of leasing or buying a new City Hall location. The vote followed a temporary restraining order issued by Judge Eric Moyé on June 9 to prevent the council from voting to allow city staff to move city operations. The lawsuit argued that the city failed to give proper public notice of the scope and nature of the proposed decision, with Moyé stating in his decision that one agenda item was too open-ended.
The special-called meeting went on as scheduled, but only discussed and voted on the repairs to City Hall.
However, District 7 Council member Adam Bazaldua and District 9 Council member Paula Blackmon, who were successful in obtaining the TRO, have requested that Moyé issue a show-cause order for constructive contempt. They argue that the June 10 approved motion’s language of “to explore options for the disposition of the City Hall site” violated the TRO. The judge will hear this case Thursday afternoon.
Following the June 17 vote, Mayor Eric Johnson released a statement in support of both votes.
“Last week, a near supermajority of the City Council wisely chose not to pour what likely would have been over a billion taxpayer dollars into an obsolete building,” Johnson said in the statement. “Now, as a result of today’s vote, the City Council will be receiving even more details in connection with our relocation options in order to better understand what our future City Hall could be.”
