Dallas Mayor Withdraws From Lawsuit Against Pension System Board
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DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings withdrew from his lawsuit against the Dallas Police and Fire Pension System Board Tuesday afternoon.
According to a statement released on the Mayor's behalf, this action leaves "defense of the remaining $2.1 billion in the Pension System's Fund in the capable hands of the four City Council members who recently intervened in the case and their attorneys."
Rawlings' attorney wrote in the lawsuit, which the mayor did not file in his official capacity, he believed the pension board was "willingly failing" to perform its duty. It asked a judge to issue an injunction to stop the withdrawals, which the mayor asked the board to do in a letter the previous week.
The statement Tuesday, said the decision was made to better position the trial court to gain oversight of this matter.
It went on to say, "While Mr. Rawlings hopes that the Board restrains itself and holds off voting any more money out of the fund until legislative action can be taken to repair the Pension System, he is relieved that the Board is once again subject to judicial oversight.
Here is the entire statement released on the Mayor's behalf:
The Pension System responded with the following statement Tuesday night:
Meantime, DART is fighting back against a proposal to help the fund.
Griggs said it would help the city and avoid a public safety crisis, but Tuesday community advocates and DART officials spoke out against the plan saying it would devastate those who rely on public transportation.
"We believe that it's immoral. It will affect too many lives in the process," said Dr. Jerry Christian, DART Board Member. "DART is driven by employees, we would have to lay off hundreds of employees, some projects will be lost as a result."
