Dallas council members hope judge will hold city manager, city secretary in contempt, void last week's vote against repairing City Hall
Two Dallas council members hope the judge will hold the city manager and the city secretary in contempt and ultimately void last week's vote against repairing City Hall.
Dallas Council Members Adam Bazaldua and Paula Blackmon filed court papers Tuesday essentially accusing City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert and City Secretary Bilierae Johnson of violating his temporary restraining order last week related to the council's vote against repairing City Hall.
Bazaldua and Blackmon asked Judge Eric Moye to require Tolbert and Johnson to appear and show cause why they shouldn't be held in constructive contempt of his court order. Ultimately, their goal is for the judge to void the council's 9 to 6 vote last week, rejecting at least $500 million in repairs to the nearly 50-year-old City Hall designed by renowned architect I.M. Pei.
Moye issued a temporary restraining order before last week's vote to prevent the council from authorizing the city manager "to pursue opportunities for the redevelopment of city hall."
Instead, the council voted to "explore options for the disposition of city hall."
Bazaldua and Blackmon said in their court filing that this amounted to "a change in word choice. It is not a change in substance." No word when the judge will issue a ruling on Bazaldua and Blackmon's request. The judge will hold a hearing on this case on Thursday.
The new court papers come as council members will meet at 8 a.m. Wednesday to consider spending up to $2 million in federal COVID-19 funds to conduct more due diligence on moving city hall offices to one of four buildings in Downtown Dallas.
In addition, the council will look at spending up to $1 million in COVID funds to relocate the 911 and emergency operations staff and 311 staff to another building downtown. If the council approves both measures, it still doesn't mean relocating City Hall is final. More work will still need to be done.
Those who want to save City Hall say they never trusted the cost estimates to repair the building. They also say now that the Dallas Mavericks have expressed interest in building a new arena at the former Valley View mall site in far North Dallas, there is no urgency to move out of City Hall. They say there is no plan for the site to be redeveloped, and no estimates on how much it will cost to move out of city hall and demolish the building.
Those who want to relocate City Hall say in the long term, it will cost the city less to move into another building than stay and make repairs. They also advocate creating an entertainment center at the city hall site to attract more people downtown.
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