The Dallas City Council will meet at least twice this month to try to sort out details of a proposed $1.1 billion bond program after council members pushed back against the mayor for postponing a meeting to the end of January because he is going to Switzerland.
City Secretary Bilierae Johnson said Thursday that the City Council is now planned to meet during two special called meetings on Jan. 19 and Jan. 31. They will be the latest public discussions on the bond after a council meeting in December ended without the group reaching consensus on anything, including when the bond program should be put on a ballot for voters.
The earliest voters can decide on the bond program is May, which would require the City Council to approve sending it to the ballot by Feb. 14. But some council members say a delay to November may be a better option to allow more time to iron out the details.
The City Council was originally scheduled to talk about the bond program on Jan. 17. But Mayor Eric Johnson sent a memo to the city secretary asking for the meeting to be canceled because he won’t be able to attend.
“On that day, I will be representing the city of Dallas at the World Economic Forum,” the mayor wrote in the Dec. 29 memo. The forum’s annual meeting is in Davos, Switzerland from Jan. 15 to Jan. 19. He is scheduled to speak on Jan. 18 during a panel discussing how the private sector can help make delivery systems appropriate for the future and improve moving goods into cities.
He requested a new meeting, Jan. 31, for the council to talk about the bond. Also on that meeting agenda will be discussions about the police and fire pension system and the employees’ retirement fund, a five-year plan the city has to submit to the federal housing and urban development department for grant money for local programs, and whether the city should reduce residential lot sizes and allow duplex, triplex and quadruplex housing in single-family neighborhoods as ways to increase housing options.
Council members Paula Blackmon, Jaime Resendez and Adam Bazaldua responded to the mayor in a Jan. 4 memo saying Jan. 31 “could jeopardize” the city’s ability to include a bond package for city infrastructure projects and possibly the employee retirement fund in a May election.
“Constituents throughout the city are deeply concerned about the investments in our streets, the continued expansion and upgrades to our city’s park infrastructure, and the necessary funding for repairs to existing city libraries, arts facilities and public safety facilities including our new (police) training facility,” the memo from the three council members said. “Addressing these concerns through the 2024 bond is pivotal to the overall well-being and safety of our communities.”
They asked the mayor to approve adding a separate City Council meeting for Jan. 19 at 2 p.m. to discuss the bond and the two pension systems. They asked him to respond to their new meeting request by 5 p.m. on Tuesday.
Blackmon told The Dallas Morning News the mayor didn’t reply by the deadline, prompting the trio to directly ask the city secretary to put the Jan. 19 meeting on the public meetings schedule.
Funding amounts and when the City Council should put the bond package on a ballot for voters are among issues that still need to be figured out for the $1.1 billion bond program. City staff is recommending $532 million go to street and transportation projects and $225 million for parks and recreation. The council-appointed community bond task force members in November recommended allocations that included $375 million for street and transportation projects and $350 million for parks and recreation.
Meanwhile, housing advocates have been calling for as much as $200 million in bond money to help foster more affordable homes. Both the city staff and community bond task force recommendations fall short of that goal.
City Manager T.C. Broadnax during a News editorial board meeting on Thursday said it would ultimately be up to the City Council to decide when to put the bond package on the ballot.
Missing the mid-February deadline for a May election could mean further delays on long-awaited projects like a new police academy and street repairs in some underserved communities, he said. The city manager described the possible road repairs as “promises deferred.”
“Meaning we bought land many, many, many years ago — sometimes 20 years ago — to do certain things that now is actually showing up in this program,” Broadnax said Thursday. “So it would just be elongating the wait that certain communities have had for certain kinds of assets and infrastructure.”
