A judge has ruled that the Dallas City Council cannot address city hall matters in their Wednesday meeting.
The ruling comes after three councilmembers filed a lawsuit on Monday, claiming the city rushed a special meeting to decide if the city should repair Dallas City Hall or go somewhere else.
In the lawsuit, council members Adam Bazaldua, Paula Blackmon, and Cara Mendelsohn say the city manager, Kimberly Bizor Tolbert, and city secretary, Bilierae Johnson, violated the Texas Open Meetings Act, the city charter, and the city’s requirements for a transparent government.
According to councilman Bazaldua, Mendelsohn has withdrawn herself as a plaintiff in the lawsuit. CBS News Texas has reached out to Mendelsohn to ask why.
Former Dallas Mayors weigh in
Former Dallas Mayor Laura Miller also commented on the “rush” to make a decision in an interview with Eye on Politics reporter Jack Fink earlier this week. “What is really strange to me is that they would have a vote on this when we just heard that their hopeful tenant, the Mavs, wants to go to Valley View,” said Miller. “So why the rush? There’s no plan for the building. There are no cost estimates and we’re just going to cost to demolish it.”
Former Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert rejected the idea of fixing City Hall. “It’s almost a crime to the taxpayers of this city to put that much money into a building,” Leppert said. “The reality is, if you make the renovations to the buildings, you’re going to have to move those people anyway.”
Mayor Johnson wants to move Dallas City Hall
Current Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson said he wants the city to move out of Dallas City Hall because the latest cost estimates are too expensive for taxpayers.
Johnson said the land could be sold to a private developer for a new development.
“The numbers have now been proven multiple times to be accurate, and it would be very costly to stay, and so I would be in favor, for sure, of us saving the taxpayers considerable money by leaving this obsolete building,” Johnson said.