Rules Review

Dallas City Council members usually review and revise their own rules for how they do their weekly business every few years, especially following elections.

But a new move to make changes to the City Council Rules of Procedure comes at an unusual time, a month before a new Council is seated. The effort may be aimed, at least in part, at curtailing the sitting mayor’s already limited powers, including starting weekly meetings without him and making it easier for council members to push policy items forward.

By memo filed last week, five City Council members are requesting a thorough review of the rules within 30 days. The memo does not appear to detail what specific changes they want, only highlighting various sections of the current rules, including who holds certain powers and how all important committees are set.

Some Council members last year pushed to weaken the mayor’s powers by putting City Charter changes up for voters to decide. Those proposals, which I wrote about here, didn’t make it on the ballot.

This may be an attempt to revive those discussions even before four new City Council members are sworn in on June 16.

Or maybe it’s just an innocent attempt to freshen up the rule book.

📖 Table of Contents

• 📰 Highlights From Last Week's Meetings

• 📝 Memos of Interest

• 🤝 Meetings of Interest: May 19 - 23

  • Monday, May 19

    • Quality of Life, Arts, and Culture Committee

    • Transportation and Infrastructure Committee

  • Wednesday, May 21

    • Dallas City Council Briefing

  • Thursday, May 22

    • City Plan Commission

📰 Highlights From Last Week’s Meetings of Interest

• Dallas City Council members on Wednesday:

  • Approved Item 24 to authorize a $29.4 million development agreement with Tango North RF, LLC, to develop a new Downtown fire station a few blocks from an existing 50-year-old one at 660 North Griffin Street. The funding source is the Downtown Connection Tax Increment Financing District. Related amendments to the Downtown Connection Tax Increment Financing District to facilitate the fire station development deal were also approved.

  • Granted pay raises, to City Secretary Bilierae Johnson ($232,836), City Auditor Mark S. Swann ($231,721), and City Attorney Tammy L. Palomino ($338,000). All three were also given one-time retention bonuses. Read more from KERA.

  • Approved Item 50, a resolution authorizing City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert and her chief financial officer to continue negotiations with the Dallas Police and Fire Pension System on a funding plan and settlement of pending litigation.

  • Approved items 51 - 53, routine items to accept the results of the May 3 election, order June 7 runoff elections in two districts, and authorize the mayor to appoint another Ad Hoc Canvassing Committee to review and submit a report to the City Council following the runoffs.

  • Approved major changes to the City’s parking ordinance, including most parking minimums, after years of debate. Read more from KERA.

  • Approved code amendments to update criteria for the City’s Demolition Delay Overlay, which sets rules for delaying demolition of buildings more than 50 years old and within the overlay. Read more.

📝 Memos of Interest

• Three years in the making, the proposed Dallas Bike Plan 2025 will come to City Council for a vote on May 28, according to this memo.

• A briefing update on the planned new Dallas police academy expected to be held this week is delayed until June 4, with an anticipated City Council vote the following week on a lease agreement with the University of North Texas at Dallas, according to this memo.

• Here’s the complete City Manager memo packet for Friday, May 16, 2025

🤝 Meetings of Interest: May 19 - 23

Monday, May 19

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

• Ever wondered about an Omnibus Ordinance Review? Besides being a guaranteed good time, it’s a necessary process to align City ordinances with changes in state and federal laws, and clean up inconsistencies, outdated language, and redundancies. City Council members will soon consider a single ordinance updating, repealing, or clarifying sections across 30+ chapters. Read more.

• The Dallas Street Seats program that allows for restaurant seating in roadway parklets is not well utilized, with an average of one new application per year, according to this memo. City officials are reviewing the approval process and working to ensure the program aligns with the Vision Zero plan to eliminate traffic-related injuries and death adopted by City Council in 2022.

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

• Speaking of Vision Zero, this annual update includes a bunch of interesting injury and fatality crash data, much of it not very positive. But improvements to some of the most problematic roadways are in the works. Read more.

• Committee members will interview six candidates for appointment to the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) Board. Four of the six are returning members: Randall Bryant, Patrick Kennedy, Michele Wong Krause, and Enrique MacGregor. Two new nominees are Roy Lopez, a government affairs and community relations executive, and Maurice West, a Paul Quinn College administrator. If approved by the committee and City Council, Lopez and West would replace Flora Hernandez and D’Andrala Alexander.

Wednesday, May 21

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

• With the current Dallas Love Field Airline Use and Lease Agreement (AULA) with Southwest Airlines and other airlines expiring in 2028, City officials are planning for an extension to 2040. The new agreement would allow for an estimated $800 million in airline-funded expansions and improvements to accommodate annual passenger traffic approaching 10 million. Read more.

• The City’s aging facilities portfolio is valued at $1.5 billion and in need of increased annual maintenance funding, though a current total needs inventory is unknown, according to this briefing. What is known is the nonstop water infiltration in the underground City Hall parking garage is not good.

• City Council members are continuing to work on improvements to the evaluation process for the officials who report directly to them. The new approach, to be guided by an outside consultant, seeks to enhance accountability, transparency, and informed decision-making by integrating performance reviews with budget planning and public input. Read more.

• Discussion of proposed amendments to the Fiscal 2025-26 HUD Consolidated Plan Budget is also on this agenda. Read more.

• A much-anticipated update on the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center Dallas redevelopment is not yet posted online.

Thursday, May 22

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.