Meetings of Interest: Rumors On ICE 😵‍💫

Dallas police officials are celebrating a major hiring boost, but they continue to grapple with 911 response times that fall far short of goals for most types of crimes. Learn more from WFAA.

A two-day Civil Service trial for former Dallas Police Officer Christopher Hess was postponed after the parties announced they were working on a settlement, The Dallas Morning News reports. The former officer’s history of violence and complaints against him was documented in a 2023 Dallas Morning News series. The Civil Service proceeding could lead to Hess getting his old job back.

Property and sales tax revenues are expected to be a combined $20 million below budget for the fiscal year that ended on Sept. 30, according to this monthly Budget Accountability Report (see chart above).

An advisory group for the planned Dallas Cultural Trail is hosting three upcoming evening information sessions about the project, which will link the Design District, Deep Ellum, and South Dallas. Learn more and register via this memo.

Here’s the complete City Manager memo packet for Friday, October 17, 2025.

City Council members next month will consider awarding $7.1 million in funding to 65 Dallas-based nonprofit arts and cultural organizations, according to this memo. The Dallas Black Dance Theatre is recommended for funding this year after City Council members voted to cut them last year amid allegations of unfair labor practices.

The City took in more than 2,500 animals in suspected animal cruelty cases last fiscal year, mostly roosters, hens, and chicks, according to this briefing. As the Dallas Observer reported just days ago, Dallas is a hotbed for cockfighting.

Committee members will continue discussing potential code amendments to crack down on excessive lighting, noise, and traffic tied to “extraordinary neighborhood events,” such as the viral Preston Hollow mansion Christmas light display last year.

Ever wonder how the City determines when and how to fix failing streets, bridges, sidewalks, retaining walls, and other infrastructure? Sure you have. This briefing has all the details, plus possible enhancements ahead.

Some in Dallas believe Bexar County’s Haven for Hope homeless services campus is a model that should be replicated here. This briefing on that facility comes nearly a month after two council members broke up a closed-door meeting that included a quorum of this committee gathered in part to learn about Haven for Hope.

The most anticipated briefing of the week will cover the state of the I.M. Pei-designed Dallas City Hall at 1500 Marilla Street. It will kick off discussions of whether to invest many millions of dollars into fixing the structure or consider selling and/or demolishing for future economic development. Dallas Morning News Architecture Critic Mark Lamster says keep your hands off the “iconic” building and blames years of neglect and underfunded maintenance for its current condition. The above 1976 news report offers some evidence that the building’s well-known problems started even before it opened two years later. Briefing materials are not yet posted online.

Committee members may also discuss the Budget Accountability Report referenced in the memos section above.

Nearly 7% of total bond appropriations from the 2006, 2012, and 2017 voter-approved bond programs remain unspent as of the end of the third quarter of last fiscal year, according to this report.

Item 3 would authorize the purchase of a $3.9 million Airbus H125 helicopter for the Dallas Police Department. DPD’s helicopter unit operates 20 hours per day and responds to nearly 4,000 calls every year.

Item 16 is a funding agreement with the Dallas Arts District Foundation and a $1.3 million construction services contract for a long-planned project to improve safety at the intersections at Pearl and Flora streets and Pearl Street and Ross Avenue in Downtown’s Arts District.

Item 21 is a $2.3 million payment to Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) for operation and maintenance for this fiscal year of the City-owned Dallas Streetcar System that runs from Downtown’s Union Station to Bishop Arts District. Read more.

Item 22 is a $14.2 million boost in an existing street resurfacing contract to cover street maintenance and construction needed to prepare for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Item 24 allocates an additional $5.4 million to an existing contract with Downtown-based HKS Architects, Inc. for “additional programming, architectural and engineering design, and construction and administration services” for the planned Dallas Police Department Law Enforcement Training Center at the University of North Texas at Dallas. Read more about the increased scope.

Item 25 authorizes the issuance and sale of $252 million in general obligation bonds approved by voters in the 2024 Bond Program. This draft ordinance includes the breakdown of funding by proposition.

Item 40 is a DDI-supported $103 million incentive agreement for a Bank of America Plaza redo being led by developers Mike Ablon and Mike Hoque. Their planned $409 million project would transform Downtown’s tallest tower into a mixed-use building with an estimated 280 new hotel rooms, hotel amenity space, a new parking garage, and an elevated pedestrian walkway from said garage to the building.

Item 42 authorizes an annual $8.7 million payment to Dallas County for the City to continue sending prisoners to the Lew Sterrett Criminal Justice Center. This item was previously delayed for further discussion at a City Council committee, which happened last week. The committee members want additional performance measures built into a future jail contract.

Item 48 is a “no thank you” to Oncor’s proposed electricity rate increase, which would translate to about a $95 increase for the year for an average residential bill using 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity. This memo explains more on the process and why Dallas and other cities are fighting the proposed increase.

Public Hearing 5 is being held to receive comments on a proposed expansion of the Downtown Connection Sub-District of the Downtown Connection Tax Increment Financing District. The hearing will be followed by a vote to make the changes, which are required for the previously noted (Item 40) funding plan for the Bank of America Plaza redevelopment project.

Board members (including me) will consider a contract up to $454,908 with Berry Dunn for a strategic and comprehensive plan update, including recommendations on becoming a more financially stable system.

Parks staff is also seeking input from board members to update dog park design guidelines. Treat machines? Doggie roller coasters? Read the briefing (which includes neither of those things).