Nathan Hunsinger
Audio By Carbonatix
Nobody believed that determining the fate of Dallas’ City Hall — the billion-dollar building designed by a big-name architect that has become the most famous hunk of concrete in town over the last six months — would be easy.
Wednesday’s City Council meeting to discuss a damning property condition report certainly wasn’t a picnic. Hours of public comment (over 80 individuals spoke on the topic when the council’s special-called meeting began after lunch) were followed by hours of debate that stretched into Thursday morning. It was tense, at times it got outright adversarial, and it ended with Mayor Eric Johnson speculating that antagonistic commentary on ethics and the Dallas Mavericks (who have, to this point, stated that there is no plan on the table for the City Hall site) would “probably have consequences.”
Finally, sometime after 1 a.m., a vote was held to add guardrails to the resolution passed last week by the council’s Finance Committee and to place greater emphasis on providing ongoing information about repairs needed in the building. Only the true masochists were still around to see that 9-6 vote roll in.
The resolution on the table directed city staff to pursue relocation options for the city government and urged the more immediate relocation of 911 and 311 dispatch operations. The full-steam-ahead directive was tweaked by the full council and softened, as a voting block comprising council members Cara Mendelsohn, Paul Ridley, Adam Bazaldua, Paula Blackmon, Bill Roth and Laura Cadena seemed determined to stave off the proverbial wrecking ball.
The council members introduced a slew of amendments to the resolution, some of which passed and others that were pretty obviously going to fail after a few minutes of discussion. That didn’t stop our representatives from spending their full time allotment discussing them anyway, though! (Sorry, the Observer gets sassy when we’re sleepy.)
Here’s what did pass: The city manager’s office is now charged with “exploring” relocation possibilities instead of “pursuing” them, and they’re instructed to do so while also continuing to dig into the $1 billion in maintenance repairs that were identified by the team of engineering and design industry leaders that wrote the condition report.
They will also provide the council with funding plans for both options, and they have been asked to develop a report that prioritizes the most critical maintenance repairs needed around the building. In the plan presented to the Finance Committee last week, a panel of experts warned the council against a phased approach to repairs, recommending instead a full, five-year overhaul of the building that would see employees temporarily relocated to avoid distraction, inconvenience and that pesky little construction carcinogen, asbestos.
Finally, the council asked city staff to determine whether any of the companies involved in the facility condition report stand to benefit from the potential sale of City Hall, which could pose a conflict of interest. Some at the horseshoe insisted that the measure was necessary after dozens of Dallasites urged the council for more transparency in the process.
Future reports on the state of City Hall will go directly to the full council, rather than a committee for initial briefing.
