Dallas Mayor calls special meeting to vote on Dallas City Hall's future
Vote to vacate Dallas City Hall could come next Wednesday
A new special meeting called by the Dallas Mayor could mean the beginning of the end for the current Dallas City Hall building. FOX 4's Lori Brown has more.
DALLAS - The future of Dallas City Hall could be decided next week if a newly scheduled special meeting goes through as planned.
What we know:
Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson has called a special Dallas City Council meeting for Wednesday, June 17.
That meeting's voting agenda includes steps to authorize Kim Tolbert, the Dallas City Manager, to pursue the first steps needed to vacate Dallas City Hall.
Dig deeper:
Dallas City Council was scheduled to vote on potentially relocating out of the current Dallas City Hall building, but a Dallas County judge blocked the vote after three city council members filed a lawsuit.
Council members did vote on potential renovations to City Hall, but that vote failed by a 9-6 vote.
Johnson said in a statement following that vote that he believes relocation will be a more prudent use of taxpayer dollars and a better long-term solution for the city’s government, employees, and residents.
The other side:
Save Dallas City Hall, the nonprofit coalition that has been campaigning to keep the current building, argues the city would violate Texas Parks and Wildlife code if it attempts to sell City Hall without holding an election.
It also argues that relocating from the current City Hall building would require a supermajority vote. The 9-6 vote from Wednesday suggests that Dallas City Council is close to having that supermajority.
If the city votes to leave Dallas City Hall and tries to transfer the land to the Dallas Mavericks in an attempt to keep the team in Dallas, Save Dallas City Hall says that would violate the city's own charter regarding prohibitions on gifts.
On Saturday, the Texas Theatre will hold a screening of Robocop, the 1987 film that prominently uses the I.M. Pei-designed Dallas City Hall building. Proceeds from the screening will go towards Save Dallas City Hall.
Dallas City Hall in Robocop. CTSY: Orion Pictures
What we don't know:
It's unclear if those same city council members will pursue legal action to challenge the upcoming vote, or if the newly called meeting violates the previous lawsuit.
Dallas City Hall's future
The backstory:
The future of Dallas City Hall has been in question since March, when Dallas City Council voted to explore leaving the iconic I.M. Pei-designed structure.
Last Wednesday, experts from two different firms presented options to Dallas City Council that ranged from $530 million to $610 million. Those costs are strictly for repairs and not potential upgrades to the building.
The latest estimates are less than the $1.4 billion estimate to keep the iconic building from February, but more than AECOM's $304 million baseline repair estimate presented in May. The latter estimate included a 10-year plan for repairs.
City council members characterized the fight to save the building as a fight for Dallas itself.
"To me, it's no longer ‘save City Hall’. It's ‘save our city’," Councilwoman Gay Donnell Willis said. "It's been a hard week. We've had a lot of news this week. And, I think we need to not only hear from our experts, but we need to listen to our experts."
"It's not a debate about whether we love an old building, Councilman Adam Bazaldua said last week. "This is a debate whether Dallas has done right by our taxpayers, whether we keep our word protected assets, and, from a process designed to make predetermined outcome look inevitable."
What's next:
The special Dallas City Council meeting will begin Wednesday, June 17 at 8 a.m.
The Source: Information in this story comes from Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson and previous FOX 4 reporting.