Dallas cuts DART board majority as cities plan exit votes – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

The Dallas City Council signaled support for relinquishing its majority hold on the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) Board, which it has held since its creation in 1983.

A 13-2 vote on a resolution on Wednesday supports a change in DART governance that would shift away from eight of 15 seats held by Dallas to a model where each of DART’s 13-member cities would receive one vote, while Dallas retains seven seats, or about 45% of the representation.

Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson said he supported the resolution, not because it was sufficient to address all issues related to DART, but it is, at a minimum, necessary.

“This one act that we’re taking today doesn’t, in and of itself, fix all the things that are challenging DART that need to be fixed,” Johnson said.

The vote comes as nearly half of DART member cities have called special elections in May to cut ties with the regional public transit provider.

Plano, Irving, Farmers Branch, Addison, University Park, and Highland Park each have passed resolutions in recent months to place a pullout election on the ballot.

In addition to board representation, DART and member cities are in negotiations over how much sales tax each city provides to fund DART, as well as the quality of bus and rail service.

District 14 City Councilmember Paul Ridley, who chairs Dallas’ transportation committee, said the resolution reflects a motivation by the city “to the spirit of cooperation and collaboration with the other member cities” holding pullout elections.

“This vote by itself does not ensure that those elections are cancelled,” Ridley said.

After the vote, Plano Mayor John Muns told NBC 5 he’s encouraged by the Dallas City Council’s signal of support for changing DART’s governance structure.

“I appreciate Dallas making this vote,” Muns said. “We’ve had some really good discussions with DART over the last few weeks. We have a framework for a solution.”

“We’re trying to come up with the answers for a solution before we have to leave it on the ballot. And nobody wants to do that if we can come up with a solution. So we don’t have much time and yet we need to make sure it’s done right.”

DART has warned of immediate service cuts in cities where voters approve withdrawing from the transit agency.

The deadline for cities to finalize ballot language is late February, with a deadline to cancel the pullout election approaching in mid-March.