{"id":227793,"date":"2026-03-31T00:49:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T00:49:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/227793\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T00:49:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T00:49:12","slug":"dallas-councilman-blasts-city-manager-for-tying-city-hall-to-a-new-mavs-arena-months-before-discussing-it-with-council-members","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/227793\/","title":{"rendered":"Dallas councilman blasts city manager for tying City Hall to a new Mavs arena months before discussing it with council members"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dallas City Council Member Adam Bazaldua sharply criticized City Manager Kimberly Tolbert on Monday for a lack of transparency when it comes to deciding the fate of Dallas City Hall<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I feel that we have had an extremely dishonest conversation with the public to this point,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bazaldua’s comments come days after Dallas Mavericks CEO Rick Welts answered a question at a Greater Dallas Planning Council<\/a> event about the team’s desire to build a new arena in Dallas.<\/p>\n

Welts revealed that during a previous meeting with Tolbert about a new arena, she mentioned City Hall, the nearly 50-year-old iconic landmark designed by renowned architect I.M. Pei.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Over a year ago, City Manager Tolbert came to us and said, ‘ Look, I got to move out of City Hall. I can’t afford to operate what we do in that building going forward for the taxpayers,'” Welts said. I said, ‘Ok, that doesn’t have anything to do with us. But at some point in time, you’ll tell us what’s available.'”<\/p>\n

Tolbert defends process, cites prior briefings \u00a0<\/p>\n

It turns out that the conversation in March of last year or earlier took place before the city manager discussed it with council members.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a statement sent to CBS News Texas on Monday, Tolbert said in May and June of last year, she provided council members briefings discussing the “urgent need to fund repairs to city facilities, including Dallas City Hall.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

In August of last year, Mayor Eric Johnson sent council members a memo to start the process of reviewing options for City Hall.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In an interview with CBS News Texas on Monday, Bazaldua said Tolbert acted inappropriately.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Our city manager took it upon herself to bring the City Hall’s real estate on the market by having that conversation, and that conversation was had prior to any council action,” Bazaldua said. “I know for a fact that no one on our council took any action that gave the city manager that authority. To insert herself in a process that should have been done with much more transparency is very concerning to me.”<\/p>\n

CBS News Texas requested an interview on Monday with Tolbert, but a city spokesman said she was not doing on-camera interviews at this time, but will in the future.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Our questions to the city manager are:\u00a0<\/p>\n

When exactly did you meet with the Mavericks CEO to discuss the new arena and mention City Hall?\u00a0Did you have this conversation based on your authority as City Manager or at the direction of someone else?\u00a0Who else from the city was with you at this meeting?\u00a0Why didn’t you bring the concerns over the costs of City Hall to council members earlier?Mayor Johnson calls City Hall review “transparent” \u00a0<\/p>\n

In an interview with CBS News Texas on Thursday, one day before the Maverick’s CEO’s comments, the mayor praised the city’s process.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“The process has been the definition of transparent,” said Johnson. “It’s just not true that this process hasn’t been transparent. You can go back to what I initially sent out, a memo. I put it in writing. I distribute it publicly, saying to the council, I want a committee to look at options for City Hall. So, that was very transparent. The meetings that were called subsequent to my request were all open to the public. Discussions were had at those meetings, and every single thing that has happened has been compelled by council action.”<\/p>\n

CBS News Texas asked the mayor’s office on Monday if he was aware of Tolbert’s meeting and discussion with the Mavericks that day, but we didn’t hear back.\u00a0<\/p>\n

During the interview, the mayor said he is confident in the cost estimates to fix City Hall<\/a>: $329 million to make repairs and $1 billion to modernize it for the next 20 years. Bazaldua said if this was an issue truly about the Mavericks’ new arena, that should have been the conversation from the start. He said he wants another third-party organization to determine the costs to repair City Hall. Bazaldua said he and a group of council members are considering their next move.<\/p>\n

“We are working towards bringing in more balanced data, more information to consider, and hopefully a more transparent conversation for my colleagues to take up,” said Bazaldua.<\/p>\n

The Mavericks have said they are committed to staying in Dallas. In discussing the team’s plans on Friday, Welts said they want to develop on 50 continuous acres.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We will build a hotel adjacent to the arena,” said Welts. “We’ll move our new corporate headquarters downtown. We will move our practice facility downtown. We’re hoping to have a medical partner as part of that, also servicing our team. There will be residential and retail. There will be restaurants.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bazaldua said he doesn’t see a new arena and City Hall as an either\/or proposition.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“The fact that we can’t invest in our Downtown Dallas, and keep the Mavericks, and maintain city assets for civic purposes is absurd,” said Bazaldua.<\/p>\n

On March 4, in a 9-6 vote, the city council directed Tolbert to obtain more information about potentially moving City Hall to another building and selling the current building and land. That information is due back no later than May. The Council’s Finance Committee has a meeting scheduled for May 26.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Watch Eye On Politics at 7:30 Sunday morning on CBS News Texas on air and streaming<\/a><\/p>\n

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