Meetings of Interest: You're On Mute 🔇

Good evening:

Dallas-based AT&T CEO John Stankey earlier this month made headlines with his frank reminder to employees that he’s serious about his return-to-office mandate. Those who don’t like it are free to find work elsewhere, he suggested.

Just a couple blocks away from Downtown’s AT&T Discovery District headquarters, Dallas Mayor Eric L. Johnson is trying to put a workplace mandate of his own on fellow City Council members.

Johnson is proposing the City Council Rules of Procedure be amended to require that his colleagues attend committee meetings in person, according to this Friday memo to City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert. Exceptions would be made “for committee members to attend such meetings via video conference when necessitated by official city business.”

“Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, attendance at all City Council and committee meetings was in person,” Johnson wrote. “Since the termination of the Emergency Regulations that provided for hybrid meetings, there is no clear basis for council members appearing via video conference.”

City Council committees are where much of the sweet City Hall sausage gets made before policy matters move on to the full City Council. Appointing members and chairs is one of the few exclusive powers of the mayor.

The committee chair — or “presiding officer” — is required to attend meetings in person in order to run the meeting. It is not uncommon for other council members to appear for these meetings on video, from their homes, vehicles, City Hall offices just down the hall, or other unknown locations.

The mayor says he wants a culture shift.

“Physical presence fosters higher-quality deliberation through face-to-face interaction and promotes efficiency,” the mayor said. “It also increases focus, attention, and transparency, and reduces risks of technological disruption, while ensuring clear voting and quorum procedures.”

City records show council members attended by video conference for dozens of committee meetings over the past two years. Virtual attendance is far less common at City Council meetings during the same period, which may be why the mayor is not proposing the mandate extend to those meetings.

The ramifications of this rule change reach beyond civic duty and into council members’ bank accounts. The City Charter calls for council member salaries to be reduced proportional to the percent of meetings missed after they miss more than 10 percent of the total number of meetings in a given salary year. City council members are paid $60,000 annually.

The rules change is up for a vote at this week’s City Council meeting, where it is sure to spark some interesting debate.

Meanwhile, members of the City Plan Commission (CPC) are also asking for the City Council to sign off on an attendance rules change of their own. They want to delete the requirement that a majority of the CPC be physically present, making permanent a practice they have followed since the pandemic.

📖 Table of Contents

• 📰 Highlights From Last Week's Meetings

• 📝 Memos of Interest

• 🤝 Meetings of Interest: August 25 - 29

  • Tuesday, August 26

    • DART Committee-of-the-Whole

    • DART Board of Directors

    • Fair Park First Board

  • Wednesday, August 27

    • Dallas City Council

📰 Highlights From Last Week’s Meetings of Interest

• Former Dallas Police Chief Eddie García is taking his talents — and his protein shakes — to Fort Worth. García left Dallas to reunite with former Dallas City Manager T.C. Broadnax in Austin less than a year ago, saying his policing career was over as he took on an assistant city manager role. Now, he’s back in blue after emerging from a pool of 50 applicants to be Fort Worth’s top cop, The Dallas Morning News reports. His first day on the job is expected to be Sept. 22.

• City Plan Commissioners heard strong neighborhood opposition to a plan to build 50 homes on 4 acres in northwest Dallas before voting nearly unanimously in favor, Robert Wilonsky reports for The Dallas Morning News.

• The City could close up to five branch libraries and decommission nine aging community pools in coming years in part to save money, KERA and The Dallas Morning News report. The Park & Recreation Department has long planned to take the pools offline, and the City has invested more than $75 million on new aquatic facilities (as a Park Board member, I have supported the planned pool closures).

📝 Memos of Interest

• Overall crime in Dallas is down by over 13.2% through the end of July, as compared to the same period last year, according to the latest public safety dashboard. Officers’ average response times to 911 calls continue to be a major problem, according to the data. Officers are not meeting department response time goals for any of the four categories of calls.

• The City is transitioning alley trash pickup to front curb pickup for 26,000 households. Here’s how officials are spreading the word — and receiving the frustrated feedback.

• City Council members are asked to submit proposed budget amendments by this Friday, Aug. 29, at 10 a.m., with final budget votes set for Sept. 17, according to this memo. Amendments can also always be made during upcoming City Council budget meetings.

• Does the city have a strategy for growing our sales tax? What factors are affecting our sales tax forecast? Why is $32 million needed for civilian overtime? Answers to these and many other budget questions can be found here.

• The City has established the Office of Housing and Community Empowerment (OHCE) by merging multiple departments to streamline housing, homelessness, and community services under a centralized structure, saving $6.2 million in the proposed fiscal 2025-26 budget, according to this memo. ​

• Dallas City Council Member Cara Mendelsohn questions via this memo if City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert’s proposed public safety budget adheres to a voter-approved Charter measure. Mendelsohn says she does not think Tolbert’s budget meets the Proposition U requirement that Dallas police officer salaries be within the top five of all city police departments in cities with populations over 50,000 in a five-county area. The Dallas Morning News editorial board digs in on the matter today, finding that Tolbert’s public safety budget actually goes “over and above the requirements under Prop U.”

• Here’s the complete City Manager memo packet for Friday, August 22, 2025.

🤝 Meetings of Interest: August 25 - 29

Tuesday, August 26

Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) Committee-of-the-Whole, 1 p.m. DART Conference Room C - 1st Floor, DART HQ, 1401 Pacific Avenue, Dallas, TX 75202

Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) Board of Directors’ Meeting, 6 p.m., Board Room, DART HQ, 1401 Pacific Avenue, Dallas, TX 75202

• Board members will consider extending to Oct. 28 the deadline to determine how to potentially shift (or not) shares of board seats for service area cities based on regional population changes.

• Transit service changes for 2026 are scheduled for a vote. The proposed changes are detailed in this presentation.

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

• The City of Dallas in June issued a 90-day notice of termination to nonprofit Fair Park First regarding its management of Fair Park. This board will discuss the organization’s financials and the ongoing transition back to Park & Recreation Department management.

Wednesday, August 27

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

• Item 11 proposes to amend the City Plan Commission’s (CPC) Rules of Procedure, including deleting a requirement that a quorum of the body be present in person. CPC has allowed for attendance by video conference since the pandemic, but this would make the change permanent. Read all the changes here.

• Item 27 authorizes a public hearing to be held on Sept. 17 on the proposed tax rate of $0.6997 per $100 valuation or a lower rate as may be proposed by City Council. The City Council would also vote on the rate at that September meeting.

• Item 59 is a 10-year beverage services contract with PepsiCo to serve their drinks at 54 Dallas Park & Recreation facilities, including recreation centers, and golf and aquatics facilities. Estimated revenue for the City from the deal is around $1 million. The Dallas Park Board (on which I serve) previously approved the deal. Read more.

• Item 60 is an economic development incentives deal with Scotiabank to woo them to plant a large-scale regional office in Victory Park. The deal includes a tax abatement and up to $2.7 million in grants.

• Item 62 is the “discharge” of the recently hired Inspector General Timothy J. Menke. Voters last November approved creation of the independent position reporting directly to the City Council. But the City Charter measure says the person leading the office must be “a competent practicing attorney of recognized ability,” The Dallas Morning News reports. Though he does have an impressive resume, Menke is not an attorney.

• Item 63 is Mayor Eric L. Johnson’s proposal to require City Council members to attend committee meetings in person and no longer allow attendance by video conference. He’s also asking his colleagues to approve changing the name of the Committee on Government Performance and Financial Management to the Committee on Finance, and changing the name of the Committee on Workforce, Education, and Equity to the Committee on Government Efficiency.

• Public Hearing 1 will be held to receive comments on the fiscal 2025-26 proposed budget

• Public Hearing 2 is an annual hearing to receive comments on the proposed Public Improvement District assessment levied on Downtown Dallas property owners who fund enhanced security, clean, homeless assistance, and programming services provided by Downtown Dallas, Inc. (DDI). The City Council will vote on the organization’s 2026 assessment and service plan following the hearing.

• Public Hearings 3 - 16 are regarding service plans and assessments for the 14 other Public Improvement Districts operating in Dallas.

🗣️ 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.