Agenda
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A. 26-2079A Real Estate, Financial, and Debt Analysis and Plans
A. Public Safety Facility Needs
B. Potential Relocation of 911/EOC
C. Potential Relocation of City Hall
D. Potential Repair Plans for City Hall
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CLOSED SESSION
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3. 26-2082A Authorize (1) a phased city hall repair strategy for 1500 Marilla Street as presented on June 3, 2026, and (2) the City Manager to implement the selected phased city hall repair strategy for 1500 Marilla Street in accordance with a proposed city hall repair program.
Transcript
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You know, an hour from now and we'll call to order the special call
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meeting at ten oh three. So we are now, uh, in the
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special call meeting, and I'll turn it over to our city manager, um,
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to lead us through our briefing agenda for today. Madam city manager. Thank
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you, mr. Be and good morning to the city council. The first item on the agenda for the special call meeting
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is a presentation on the financial analysis and funding considerations
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for priority of our public safety facilities, potential relocation of
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9 1 1 and our emergency operation center potential repair plans
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for city hall and potential relocation. All of these items
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have previously been briefed and discussed with the city council, either an open session
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or executive session, and we were asked to return to discuss financial
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considerations in a much more deeper perspective and be able to bring
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that back to you. I do wanna take an opportunity to
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make some additional comments.
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since 1978, when dallas city hall opened, the city has historically underinvested
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and underfunded maintenance repairs and modern updates in this building.
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we understand why the focus has always been
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on making sure that the priorities of our residents, whether public safety,
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parks, libraries, and streets were important, and these
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priorities, united councils to pass budgets and fund fund programs
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that supported those priorities. Now, 48
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years later, in 2026, you face a huge
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decision because of those priorities.
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and so I wanna give you a quick reminder of the process.
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in may and june of 20 25, 6 months after I was appointed
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as the interim city manager, I brought to this council a
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briefing, documenting the urgent need to reinvest in our
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public facilities, including city hall. In
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august of 2025, mayor johnson directed the council finance
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committee to examine city hall's conditions and began exploring
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financially responsible options. In october, 2025,
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staff engaged outside experts who came and reported on deferred
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maintenance needs and structural repairs, roof, hvac, electrical
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and plumbing, and we provided to this city council and estimate between
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152,000,340 5 million
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in november of 2025. This council directed the
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city manager to evaluate the possibility of how we could look at
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key other city departments and where they operated, and whether lease
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and or buying or building office space was the essential.
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in december of 2025, I engaged the dallas
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economic development corporation and a team of more than 80 professional experts
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who spent hundreds of hours inside this building. They inspected
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systems and structures so that we could move from, from the
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evidence that we were told did not have facts and bring the data
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to the city council. In february of 2026,
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those findings were presented first to the finance committee and
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later to the full city council. The analysis concluded
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that restoration and repairs to the building, just to bring it up to code,
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was an estimated three hundred and twenty nine twenty 9 million,
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and that did not include code or a da repairs.
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the council asked for more information. March 4th, 2026.
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I then engaged a set of new consultants to come and validate the work,
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refine the scope, and recommend as council requested a
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10 year phased repair plan. Even with shorter plans in
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the addition of construction efficiencies, those consultants have now
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reported that projected costs are between 532 million
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and 614 million over the next decade.
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so today's information is to help you have that deeper
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understanding of the financials and how you consider this important
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decision. But it is not because staff has not provided this city
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council with the information that you have requested.
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we understand that these decisions affect our residents, our taxpayers, public safety,
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economic development, and so much more. And we understand that these
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decisions are hard and how we plan today for the city
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for the future. And at this time, I'll turn it over to our chief financial
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officer, jack ireland, to deliver today's briefing. Thank you.
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good morning, mayor and members of the city council, and thank you ms. Tolbert.
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so, beginning the presentation as ms. Tolbert mentioned, uh, on slide
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two, we will talk through public safety facility needs, which has been
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a question, uh, discuss potential relocation of 9 1 1
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emergency operation center, uh, potential relocation
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of city hall potential repair program for city hall, and bringing
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this information to you at the request of the city council to bring
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the financial information to you at one time. So in slide three,
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as we started working on this, we knew it was important to be mindful of
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many things, mindful of our taxpayers, mindful of any impact on public
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safety, on core city services, how we deliver and implement
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the 2024 bond program, what opportunities we have for economic
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development and growth of our tax base, impact on our debt
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and future debt capacity, as well as our impact on our current
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and future annual operating budgets. And so if we turn to slide four,
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thinking about our current and, uh, upcoming annual
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budgets, just wanted to pull a slide that we shared with you on may the sixth
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that talked about some of the challenges that we face from a financial perspective
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for our annual budget. As you know, uh, we have limitations
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on our property tax revenue because of state cap, and the state
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is also considering expanding that cap. Uh, we
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have sales tax that this year we've seen some contraction and some,
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uh, less revenue than we had anticipated. We anticipate that
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that will continue. As you know, we continue to work on meet and confer agreements to
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ensure, uh, with our police and fire uniform employees that we have competitive,
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uh, salaries. Uh, our pension contributions, which we've spoken about
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and which we'll speak about, uh, as part of this presentation, those costs,
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uh, will grow as we, uh, implement the funding plan that
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this council and the board approved. We have, we know that we have a goal of
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hiring more police officers. We have to stay competitive with our
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non-uniform salaries. We've seen this year a rising cost in our employee
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health benefits. Uh, we are here partly because of deferred,
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uh, facility maintenance. And even after this facility is addressed,
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there is deferred maintenance in all of our other hundreds of buildings that the
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city operates. Uh, we do anticipate elimination of
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reduction in federal funds, and then there's a lot of uncertainty about the
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economic condition, uh, whether it's inflation, tariffs, supply chain, and other types
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of factors. So we realize and know and shared with you on
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march, may the sixth, the challenges that we'll be facing. I'm sorry,
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jack. I need to, um, for us to stand at ease for a
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few minutes because we have, we're having broadcast issues and we need to make sure the broadcast
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okay, the feed is back up. So if you could just pause there and we will we'll,
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uh, stand at ease for let's say two
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minutes. I'm told from our technical folks two minutes,
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so just hold tight.
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yeah, we have to switch the broadcast over from one meeting to
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the next. So it's just a technical issue, so we just need to hold tight for just a
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minute. Well, thanks for your patience.
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this webinar is being transcribed and summarized.
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okay. I am told that the broadcast is back up. Um, so go ahead, jack. Thank you.
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yeah, thank you sir. So, continuing on slide five. Uh, after
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we look at things on slide four that, uh, we're challenged with, we
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just laid out on may the sixth, some of the ways that we'll be addressing the budget. I'm
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not gonna read through all of those, but these are items that we presented on may 6th.
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that will be our approach as we go through development of, uh, the
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budget. So I wanted to shift gears, and
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it may seem outta place, but it is relevant, very relevant, uh, starting
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on page, uh, seven to talk about pension obligation bonds, because
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part of this conversation is about our ability to issue debt.
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and so one of the factors regarding the issuance of debt
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is we have held about $500 million of capacity
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in our debt service model for potential pension obligation
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bonds. So we wanted to talk about that
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and the impact that it could have on the other parts of this presentation.
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so, just as a reminder, on page seven, we have two employee retirement funds,
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uh, the dallas police and fire, as well as the non-uniform system.
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the texas pension review board has oversight of those. Uh, the city council
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has approved plans for both of the two systems that meet the state's
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requirement to be fully funded within 30 years. However, the,
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uh, contributions to dallas police and fire pension system do become pretty significant
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in the future. So moving to page eight, we had, uh,
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considered pension obligation bonds, which are taxable bonds
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that some state and local governments have issued as part of an overall
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strategy to fund the unfunded pension liability. And the unfunded
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pension liability in dallas police and fire is approaching $4 billion.
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now, we have a plan to pay that over 30 years. However,
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if we wanted to, uh, advance that and pay some of that
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down through pension obligation bond, that provides an opportunity.
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however, the use of pension obligation bonds rest on the assumption that
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the bond proceeds when you invest those, that they will have a
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higher yield than the cost of borrowing.
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it is all about the timing in the market that you are borrowing the pension
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obligation bonds at a lower rate than the pension system
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is able to invest and earn more money. We
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have used pension obligation bonds in the past. We issued about $500 million
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for the employee retirement fund, the civilian non-uniform fund back in
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2005. So the city has used that previously as a tool.
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so this was something that was in our conversation on may the sixth,
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and it was asked that we take this to a joint committee of finance and
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the pension ad hoc committee. That meeting was held on may the 21st.
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the joint committee did review the materials and ask that it come back
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to the full city council for consideration. That's why it's
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included in this presentation and relevant for debt modeling. So
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on page nine, just a little snapshot of dallas police and fire pension system,
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you can see the funding ratio and the years to be fully funded in the past.
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and especially on the chart on the left, you'll see that we are now under
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the 30 year funding requirement. That is a projection because of the
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new funding agreement that we have in place.
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so moving to slide 10, we did list out a couple of advantages
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and a couple of cautions related to pension obligation bonds.
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primarily, uh, at the advantage is again, capturing that
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positive arbitrage. If the investment returns exceed
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the cost of borrowing. And for dallas, what that means is that we would be
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able to reduce our contribution from the general fund over
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to the dallas police and fire pension system, and we would be paying for
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those bonds through our debt service fund. So it gives some
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relief to the general fund. Now, there are cautions, the
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gfoa or government finance officer association, they do not
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recommend use of pob, uh, primarily because of the risk associated
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with, uh, will the investment returns really exceed the cost.
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that is a risk. It's something that you need to be mindful of. Uh,
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also they cite that issuing pension obligation bonds takes away from your
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ability to do other capital projects. That's why we're having the conversation because
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it is a factor in your debt model. Uh, pabs tend
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to be complex, uh, in the way they're, uh, typically amortized
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over time and rating agencies may not view them as,
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uh, credit positive. However, uh, irving has maintained their
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aaa bond rating, and they did issue pension obligation bonds within the last,
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uh, five years. So, moving to slide 11, a
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little more information about the dallas police and fire pension system, their history
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of return on investment. So as we think about whether we should borrow money
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or not, how much will the, uh, pension system be able to
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earn once they get the cash? And so we've just shown some,
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uh, background, some of their history back to 2006. Since
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2006, they've had 11 years where they have been better than
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their assumed rate of return, which is 6.5%, and they've
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had nine years where they've earned less than that. The goal is that they need to average
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at that 6.5 over time. Uh, their most recent
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five year, uh, average has been 5.07 or 10
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year averages, 3.12. And that's compared
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to a current market. The market condition really is an ideal
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for issuing pension obligation bonds. Uh, right now in the market, it would cost
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probably 6% or more to borrow. And the pension system,
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uh, at least on a five and 10 year basis, has not achieved that
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rate of return. However, in the middle of the page, you'll see that the last three years
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in 25, they actually earned 15%, nearly 10%
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in 24, and nearly 14% in 23. So as
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all of us have investments, and those go up and down, and you see that in your own statements,
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the pension system similarly, uh, is, um, following
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the market. And you will see, uh, the years that they do well and other years
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they do not perform as well. Moving to slide 12 and
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13, what I wanted to show is we ask our, uh, actuary the city's actuaries,
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deloitte, and we ask them to model some scenarios. And so slide
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12 provides one scenario showing what savings
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we would have in the general fund if we issued pension
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obligation bonds, and we could reduce our contribution from the, can we stop just one second, jack and
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get the presentation back up. It looks like a tech looks like
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this. A screensaver is up.
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yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm looking at a hard copy, but I just noticed, I think the presentation
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is not displaying anymore.
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I can't.
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okay. We can go ahead, jack. Thank you. So continuing
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on slide 12, uh, just a scenario showing that we would potentially
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have savings in the general fund. And based upon,
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um, the pension system being able to invest and earn 6.5%
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interest, it would be a save a net savings to the city, uh, depending
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upon what rate of return they get. On slide 13, uh, deloitte modeled
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a scenario where this pension system does not earn as much.
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uh, it still saves the general fund, but there is a net
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cost if the pension system has losses detail on both the
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scenarios are in the appendix. So sorry, just to, uh,
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those slides I'll summarize on slide 14 and move on to the more
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important points of the conversation. Uh, the joint funding agreement that
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the city has with, uh, d-p-f-p-s, uh, was approved
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in december. The funding agreement satisfies the requirements, and as
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long as we continue to make our contributions, the the plan works.
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however, if you want an opportunity to potentially reduce the cost
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in the general fund, uh, transfer some of that cost to
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the debt service fund, pension obligation bonds as a way of doing that,
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however, it comes with risk being able to earn more
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than what we're paying on the debt. So I'll move on to the public
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safety facility needs, and that will show why pension obligation
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bonds matter. So on slide 16, as
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we talk about public safety facility needs and, uh, needs inventory was used
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to develop the 24, uh, bond program, and there was $727 million
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worth of public safety needs that were included in that needs inventory.
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the voters authorized 90 million for public safety. The projects
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included the police academy, fire station 43 replacement, fire station
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11 renovation, and various police and fire locations for
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different types of renovations and repairs for the $90 million.
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so now, uh, several years later, what,
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uh, priority projects do we have that could be addressed through
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a bond program that do need additional funding? There have been numerous, uh,
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conversations about the law enforcement training center at unt dallas
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having a shortfall. We've had a conversation about expanding
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that program to include a new public safety training complex. We've
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recently had conversations about 9 1 1, an emergency operations center
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that are located in this building and would be better suited to be relocated.
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we also have issues with the current police property room,
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uh, crime scene facility, and evidentiary vehicle storage that we want
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to talk about in then fire station number four replacement. So I'll go into each of
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those on the next couple of slides as we talk about the priority public safety
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program. So on slide 17, uh, this is
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information that's been updated for the, uh, two facilities.
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the, uh, law enforcement training center on the left, the public safety
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training complex on the right, $227 million for one and $170 million.
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on the second on page 18, uh, we did update,
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uh, the next steps, uh, for each of those projects with the
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law enforcement training center. Uh, the, the
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most updated cost is $227 million in total.
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a guaranteed maximum price agreement is currently being evaluated
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and should be brought before the council in august for approval. And
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then there would be additional gmps later for the public safety training
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complex. Uh, depending upon the direction about funding, we would
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know how to proceed with that facility or not.
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so on slide 19, just a summary of the funding for
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the law enforcement training center, uh, at unt
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campus. Uh, you'll see that we have the $50 million from the 24
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bond program. We have the state grant that you're aware of. There's work being done
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towards the private funds that are being, uh, raised for the project. And
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there's an $82 million, uh, shortfall on the project
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on slide, uh, 20 similar, uh, this was not
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a project that was anticipated at the time of the 24 bond program. It has
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been something that has been discussed and developed since then to go ahead
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and do that secondary, uh, facility. The public safety training
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complex, uh, potential sources of funds are outlined here,
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aviation department, uh, some enabling costs. And so this assumption,
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uh, is that it would be located at the executive airport
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and aviation would contribute some of the cost associated with the
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project. There's sponsorship opportunities for a total of $170 million,
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uh, with 1 49 of that being unfunded, uh, and something
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that could be considered for a bond program. So the 9 1 1
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emergency operations center, again, that's located here at, uh, 1500 marilla
[24:01]
in the basement, is not ideally situated and could be,
[24:05]
uh, improved by being located at another site. Uh,
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we believe after much research on this, that use of an
[24:14]
existing city facility may be the most appropriate path forward.
[24:18]
if so, the cost associated to relocate is about $40 million.
[24:23]
on slide 22, uh, we have talked less about these. However, we did
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include this in the, uh, either the april or the may
[24:31]
briefing, uh, that we did to council. Um, but the property room that's
[24:35]
located down at 1725 baylor is, uh,
[24:40]
undersized. It does not meet the current needs, and it has, uh,
[24:44]
some significant improvement in repair issues. And then
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the evidentiary vehicle storage is located at 1955
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veil big or the former auto pound, uh, several years ago now,
[24:57]
we started an effort to outsource the auto pound, but we
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are still, uh, maintaining those evidentiary
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vehicles on that site, which is standing in the way of being able to develop
[25:09]
that site or sell that site. So, um, that is an opportunity.
[25:14]
uh, there. Um, on slide 23, the bond office
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worked with the police department on the needs for this, uh, joint
[25:22]
facility. Uh, specifically they were asking for 31 acres,
[25:27]
two buildings, enough space for 2,800, uh, vehicle
[25:31]
storage sites, et cetera. And so on. Slide 24,
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just looking at the cost of those, uh, and this is preliminary
[25:39]
steel, but if we use the il bigg property and move the other operations
[25:43]
and keep that property, or at least keep part of that property, uh, the
[25:47]
cost for, uh, the joint facility, uh, with the property
[25:52]
room, crime room and evidentiary storage would
[25:56]
be about $150 million. If we look at using another site,
[26:00]
and we have to do a lot of site work, including, uh, the pavement for
[26:04]
the 2,800, uh, parking, et cetera, it, it does drive the
[26:09]
cost up on slide 25, another
[26:13]
facility that we believe is a, uh, priority is fire station number four.
[26:17]
it's back here behind the building just to the south of city hall at eight
[26:21]
16 south akron street. Uh, based on the implementation of the
[26:25]
convention center master plan and the anticipated development of the 31 acres
[26:30]
that become available, replacement of this fire station, uh, therefore
[26:34]
would be a priority before spring of 29 at a cost of about $20 million.
[26:39]
so on slide 26, you'll see a summary of the
[26:43]
priority public safety facility needs law enforcement training center
[26:48]
at 82 million to fill that gap. Public safety training
[26:52]
complex that was not considered, uh, when we did the 24 bond program, almost
[26:56]
150 relocating 9 1 1 and eeoc out
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of city hall, uh, 40 million, uh, a joint facility
[27:05]
for property room and evidentiary vehicles 150 and fire station
[27:09]
four at 20 for a total of $441 million for
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priority public safety needs. So
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typically we pay for capital infrastructure through bond programs.
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so on slide 27, just grabbed a slide that we talked about, uh,
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in may about our bond program. Typically, we use the
[27:31]
bond program for all of our capital improvements, whether it's streets, floods, storm,
[27:35]
uh, our public safety. Uh, property tax is the revenue source that's
[27:40]
pledged to use, uh, for payment of the principle and interest. Uh,
[27:44]
we go through our debt capacity analysis looking at our existing debt,
[27:48]
uh, debt that's already been approved by the voters, but not yet issued. What is our current
[27:53]
and projected property values? What is our tax rate? Are we going to change the
[27:57]
tax rate or keep it the same? What other, uh, capital
[28:01]
or debt needs do we have? And, and what's the economic condition and the
[28:05]
cost to borrow? So on slide 28, I just wanted
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to drop this in to remind everyone of the, uh, 2024 bond
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program, the fiscal year, or fy 25 column that says year
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one, we have issued those bonds. That 250 has been issued the fy
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26 year two, those bonds have been issued. We're currently,
[28:26]
uh, planning, unless things change based upon direction from council,
[28:30]
uh, to issue $250 million for the third year, fourth year and fifth
[28:35]
year. So $750 million over the next three years
[28:39]
to complete the 24 bond program. However, moving to the next
[28:43]
slide, uh, this has expanded on from our may the,
[28:47]
uh, sixth conversation. Um, and this is
[28:52]
in the middle. Green is the may 6th, uh, conversation where we
[28:56]
had the remaining, uh, $750 million in
[29:00]
the 24 bonds. We had 500 million for pension obligation bonds.
[29:05]
we had 250 million at that time that we were thinking was the number just
[29:09]
associated with the police academy components.
[29:13]
uh, and then we had a future 2029 bond program. If you go
[29:17]
over to the right, uh, starting at column k through
[29:21]
o, you'll see how that has been updated.
[29:26]
so in the update the pension obligation bonds to
[29:30]
mitigate the risk of when you borrow, uh, spread that out over multiple
[29:34]
years, rather than entering the market at one time and spread that over
[29:38]
three tranches similar in the public safety, instead
[29:42]
of it being 250, it's been increased by 191 million
[29:47]
to get the, to the $441 million. What the
[29:51]
impact of those changes are, it slowed down the
[29:55]
24 bond program a little bit more. It still requires four years
[29:59]
instead of the three, and then it did reduce the 29 bond program
[30:04]
by about a hundred million dollars. So if we go forward
[30:08]
with a pension obligation bond using this issuance schedule,
[30:12]
and we insert $441 million of public safety,
[30:16]
this would be the preliminary schedule of how those bonds would be issued
[30:21]
on the next slide. Said the same thing in words rather than a table. But
[30:26]
the table on the previous slide, again, it adds 191 million
[30:30]
to the two 50 that we talked about in may for $441 million
[30:35]
for public safety. It changes the pension obligation bonds
[30:39]
from a one year issuance, one tranche to three tranches.
[30:43]
uh, it continued the $750 million for 24
[30:47]
bond program, but it spread over four years and the reduction of a hundred
[30:51]
million dollars in the 29 bond program. So
[30:56]
a scenario would allow, if the council chose to call an
[31:00]
election for november 3rd, has to be called by august the 12th
[31:04]
for $500 million worth of pension obligation bonds, and $441 million
[31:09]
worth of, uh, public safety bonds for the priority
[31:13]
projects that we just talked through. So, shifting away from those public
[31:18]
safety needs and to potential repair plans for city hall.
[31:22]
on slide 32, just as a reminder, the march 4th action
[31:26]
that was, uh, directing the city manager to bring back some
[31:31]
phased, uh, repair programs. Uh, the city manager,
[31:35]
uh, chose to engage outside industry experts to conduct
[31:39]
that work. Uh, bringing in grisham smith and wm two company,
[31:44]
cbre, of course, has been working with us through the process. We've had a couple of
[31:48]
briefings may 20th on phase one and june 3rd on phase two,
[31:52]
and you'll see some of those same slides from june 3rd on the next,
[31:56]
uh, four or five slides. So on slide 33 from grisham
[32:01]
smith's june 3rd presentation, they provided a draw schedule, uh,
[32:05]
for a 6.4 year scenario that costs 4 530
[32:10]
$1 million and a 10 year scenario for $556 million.
[32:15]
so their bottom line is on page 34, again, the dollar amounts listed there.
[32:20]
wm two company looking at the same information. Uh, they proposed two
[32:24]
different scenarios. One was a five year implementation for 591 million,
[32:30]
and then on slide 36, a 10 year scenario, uh, for
[32:34]
611 million. So again, there, there two
[32:39]
scenarios are shown on slide 37, 5 91 to six 10.
[32:44]
so on slide 38, this is a summary from, uh, the presentation
[32:48]
on june 3rd, and it lays out the four scenarios that
[32:52]
you received on june 3rd and compared those to the edc
[32:56]
information that you had, uh, received previously. And so these
[33:00]
are just laid out showing the top row being the corrective
[33:04]
repairs, the repairs necessary to, uh, just, I believe the term
[33:09]
is a warm lit shell. Uh, but then there's additional cost for
[33:13]
interiors, uh, furniture fixture and equipment technology,
[33:19]
and those type of costs that would get added to for a total capital
[33:23]
that's kind of shaded in a little bit of a pinkish color, I guess
[33:28]
across about the middle of the page, if we borrow funds to do it, there is
[33:32]
interest cost associated with this. If we do not borrow funds, then there's
[33:36]
not interest cost associated with it. Uh, the scenarios that
[33:40]
were provided did indicate that we would need some swing space because
[33:45]
parts of the building would need to be, uh, left during parts of
[33:49]
the renovation. So swing costs are listed as well as 20 year
[33:53]
operating costs. So this is the cost for utilities, custodial
[33:57]
security, and this is a 20 year cost. And so a lot of times when people hear the
[34:01]
number, hold, hold on one second. Sorry. Of a billion dollars. I'm sorry. I'm sorry to interrupt. I know you were, you were flowing
[34:06]
there, but I think we have another technical issue. I just wanna make sure
[34:10]
it looks like we got a screensaver up again.
[34:14]
is it me, ? Okay. Just, um,
[34:18]
we'll stand at ease for just another couple minutes until we get a,
[34:23]
an update from the tech folks about how long it'll take to get this fixed. Hold
[34:27]
on.
[36:09]
yes, we're online and ready to go, mayor.
[36:15]
all right. Uh, jack, we're back up and running, so you can go. Great. Thank you.
[36:20]
continue, please. So, I was about to say on the bottom of slide 34
[36:24]
that, um, a lot of the conversation is about billion dollar plus
[36:28]
project, but remember that includes the corrective repairs,
[36:33]
the additional capital cost for modernization, as well as the
[36:37]
cost of borrowing the funds, as well as swing space, as well
[36:41]
as 20 years of operating costs. All of that together is what is
[36:45]
in that bottom row or the total. So for the next couple
[36:49]
of slides, uh, the column that has the, the red box
[36:53]
around it, the grisham smith option two is the option that I
[36:57]
pulled forward, not because it's a recommended option, but because it's, the cost
[37:01]
was kind of in the middle. And so I took that and we worked, uh,
[37:06]
to spread that cost out over the 10 year implementation based upon
[37:10]
the timing of their project. So on slide 39,
[37:14]
you'll see instead of, uh, you'll see it in years across
[37:18]
the column. So year one, the total cost, 113 million bottom
[37:23]
line, uh, year two, $173 million, bottom line,
[37:27]
et cetera. And you can see that going across for a total of 1.5,
[37:32]
uh, billion dollars. Again, in the middle of the page is the capital
[37:36]
cost associated with the repair. The road directly below that
[37:41]
interest is if you choose to issue debt to make those repairs,
[37:45]
or if not, and you do it with cash, then it's 769.8,
[37:50]
which is in the far right column with the red box around it. So that gets you
[37:54]
the corrective repairs as well as the modernization, uh, over this
[37:58]
10 year period for $769.8 million.
[38:03]
so moving on to the, the next slide on slide 40,
[38:08]
if the council, uh, wanted to, uh, issue debt to
[38:13]
pay for the $769 million, it
[38:17]
does have the interest. The interest cost is about $456 million
[38:22]
over the 20 year period. I did not assume that we borrowed it
[38:26]
all at once, but rather that we borrowed it in six tranches that
[38:30]
kind of matched the 10 year implementation schedule. Uh, the tranches
[38:34]
are listed there on the right of how much we would need to borrow in each
[38:38]
year to follow the schedule that gresham smith laid out
[38:42]
on slide 41. If we did that, what would the impact be?
[38:47]
so the same as changes you make in pension obligation bonds affects debt capacity.
[38:51]
what does issuing $769 million of
[38:55]
debt to do the 10 year repair program, what impact does that have?
[39:00]
well, again, I factored in the public safety, which we talked about.
[39:04]
I factored in the three year trache, three tranches of pension obligation
[39:08]
bonds. It would require slowing down the 24
[39:13]
bond program even more. Instead of just slowing it from three to four years, it
[39:17]
would actually spread it out to six years because it puts some of the city hall
[39:21]
repairs ahead. It's just a timing. What do you do? First, I
[39:25]
followed the gresham smith, uh, implementation schedule. So that
[39:30]
would result in some slowdown, further slowdown of the 24 bond program.
[39:35]
and then it would delay implementation of a future bond program
[39:39]
instead of it being a 1.2 or $1.1 billion program,
[39:43]
because you use all the capacity for $770 million
[39:48]
for city hall, it drops your other bond propositions down
[39:52]
to just $330 million. So, uh, again, it's about
[39:56]
the same amount. 769 for city hall, 330
[40:00]
for other propositions is the $1.1 billion. That
[40:04]
could be for a future bond proposition. But if you carve
[40:09]
out part of that for city hall, it, it limits what other capacity
[40:13]
you have in this scenario. In addition to the 500 million,
[40:18]
uh, pension obligation bonds, the 441 million, uh,
[40:22]
priority public safety facilities, if you added another $769.8 million
[40:27]
for a general obligation program, uh, for city hall repairs,
[40:31]
it would take, uh, the election up to $1.7 billion.
[40:38]
so moving to slide 42, thinking about not doing
[40:42]
it with debt because that is a lot of debt, uh, but
[40:47]
doing it with cash instead, uh, what is the impact of
[40:51]
that? Um, so
[40:57]
yeah, sorry about that. Uh, so to fund the corrective repairs of
[41:01]
the $769.8 million, uh, based
[41:06]
upon their 10 year schedule, uh, it does add significant
[41:10]
impact or pressure on the annual operating budget. Uh,
[41:14]
and so $152.4 million is the peak
[41:18]
year of that. And so the next couple of slides talk
[41:22]
about $152.4 million. This is not a recommendation.
[41:27]
it's, we wouldn't do all of these things. It's just a math exercise of what
[41:31]
$152.4 million equals. And so
[41:35]
moving on to slide, uh, 44, uh,
[41:40]
you see what that would be. So $152.4 million
[41:45]
if you were to, again, a math exercise, uh, increase
[41:49]
the property tax rate to generate that, that's about 7 cents, uh,
[41:53]
because each 1 cent is $22.1 million.
[41:57]
uh, I know we've worked really hard to get the tax rate down, uh, but this would
[42:02]
increase it back, uh, exceeding the three, uh, 0.5,
[42:06]
uh, percent cap that the, uh, vote the state has
[42:11]
in place would probably be triggered. And we would require an election,
[42:15]
uh, to even do that, uh, to raise the tax rate that much.
[42:19]
um, 6.90 cents on the median valued
[42:23]
home in the city is an increase of $212,
[42:27]
uh, in a tax bill. Slide 45. If instead
[42:31]
of looking at a tax rate increase, which is our primary revenue, if we decreased
[42:36]
operating expenses, uh, to achieve $152 million savings
[42:40]
for that peak year, what does that mean? Well, a held harmless
[42:44]
police and fire, uh, and that left $751 million
[42:50]
in other departments, uh, that would take a 20% cut to all of the other departments.
[42:55]
uh, or if we just started eliminating departments, uh, eliminating
[42:59]
all of the administrative, uh, departments of budget controller, civil service,
[43:03]
data analytics, hr communications, government affairs and purchasing,
[43:08]
that gets you $45 million to eliminate everything. And nobody gets
[43:12]
paid and nobody gets hired and bills don't get paid, and all kinds of things don't happen.
[43:16]
similar, if you eliminate, uh, mayor city council and all the appointed offices,
[43:21]
that's $50 million. So eliminating all that together doesn't get
[43:25]
you close. Uh, slide 46. Another way of looking at it
[43:29]
is, uh, what are our core services versus what are our quality of life
[43:33]
services? So, uh, picking on, uh, three of our favorites, park and recreation
[43:38]
library and, uh, arts and culture, um, it would take an 86%
[43:42]
cut of those if you're just cutting those departments. Uh, again, this is
[43:46]
a math exercise. What, what does, what do things add up to to get to
[43:51]
$152 million if you wanted to just eliminate employees,
[43:55]
that's about 2200 employees out of the general fund, or about,
[44:00]
uh, four out of every 10 general fund civilian employees,
[44:04]
not police, not fire, but civilian employees. Um,
[44:08]
and cutting four out of every 10 employees means you cut
[44:13]
services because it's the employees that provide the services. So,
[44:17]
to do this, it's a combination of all this, whether it is some,
[44:21]
uh, revenue increase, some expense reduction,
[44:25]
some debt, uh, together provides you different, uh, strategies
[44:30]
to approach it. Um, it's, it's a, you know,
[44:34]
a cafeteria of opportunities on which you select and what you put
[44:38]
together to do that type of plan. And so, moving now from repairing
[44:42]
city hall to relocating city hall, and I asked my friend peter jensen,
[44:46]
who I think is close by to come walk through, uh, three slides,
[44:50]
uh, talking about their engagement as they looked at the market
[44:55]
for, uh, city hall relocation.
[45:01]
good morning, mr. Mayor, council members, thank you for the opportunity to speak
[45:05]
to you again today. Uh, the city tasks, cbre
[45:10]
with exploring the market, um, and finding indicative results,
[45:14]
um, for potential relocation scenarios. So I'm gonna walk you through some of our
[45:18]
market findings today. These are expounding upon some earlier slides as our
[45:22]
data has progressively increased in quality, uh, over the
[45:26]
past six months. Um, first of all, the
[45:31]
relocation costs that that will be presented in executive session and, um,
[45:35]
are a holistic review of all applicable costs and
[45:40]
our directional findings, that there's material savings opportunity that ought to be
[45:44]
explored further. And that's in all scenarios, all six
[45:48]
of the benchmark scenarios that have been presented to city council and the public
[45:52]
to date. The methodology includes all of the opportunity costs,
[45:57]
consolidation of owned assets where appropriate lease eliminations and terminations
[46:01]
where appropriate, looking at the city's portfolio, the building conditions
[46:05]
of relocation, candidates necessary upgrades and appropriate reserves
[46:10]
for 20 years. Uh, that's important because we are no longer
[46:14]
forecasting, um, and, and carrying forth models that,
[46:19]
uh, have zero reserves going into the city's assets. So
[46:23]
in these city hall scenarios, we're carrying appropriate reserves every year so that
[46:27]
you're not in these types of situations again. But the most important
[46:32]
thing is that it's an apples to apples comparison, and that's what we were tasked to do.
[46:37]
um, I want to also correct a prevailing narrative that the
[46:41]
city is committed to leasing in perpetuity. We were tasked with exploring
[46:45]
the market for all acquisition scenarios, joint ventures, lease
[46:49]
to own leasing is of course one of those viable scenarios,
[46:53]
um, and one that deserves exploration. That's what we've done. But there is no commitment
[46:58]
and no policy direction being given to us to only consider
[47:02]
lease scenarios. But, um, as a steward of the public trust and
[47:06]
a fiduciary, of course, exploring those is a noble, uh, effort.
[47:11]
but the market has not limited the city to only leasehold interest
[47:18]
for our work to advance. There needs to be given a directive to go
[47:22]
and, and negotiate. Um, negotiations always can be terminated, but,
[47:27]
um, the indicative findings are that there are compelling opportunities and solutions
[47:31]
available, um, but other activities need to occur to bring forth final
[47:35]
numbers. Lastly, I just wanna
[47:39]
point out there, there's been a lot of activity in downtown, um, both good and
[47:43]
bad, um, depending on your perspective and your position in the market. Um,
[47:48]
but from a, um, vacancy standpoint, from a,
[47:52]
uh, let's, uh, buy low sell high, so to speak, um,
[47:57]
like mr. Buffet advises, uh, this is an excellent time for the
[48:01]
city to be in the market, and that has been proven over and over in our exploration
[48:06]
work. Uh, if you just look at the cost of new construction and
[48:10]
the assessed values of various buildings in downtown, um,
[48:14]
you can see that a lot of them are assessed at probably 10 to 15%
[48:18]
of new construction costs. Um, and I think that's a very interesting, uh, way
[48:23]
to look at this next slide, please.
[48:27]
uh, again, just a little bit of backdrop on the comparative analysis with the market. Uh, we've
[48:31]
collected some real time data. We have real time data on cost inputs. We've
[48:35]
applied the same per square foot cost to all of the scenarios. There's been no cherry picking of data,
[48:40]
um, parking garages, whether new construction or leasing
[48:45]
spaces for a short term or long term. Those have all been evaluated. We're carrying
[48:49]
some, um, estimates for city council chambers. Obviously, a
[48:53]
public facing space is very important. Uh, we're carrying a very high number at a
[48:57]
thousand dollars per foot for a city council chambers to be replicated somewhere.
[49:02]
uh, also where appropriate lease revenue, uh,
[49:06]
if you were to acquire a building, uh, via purchase, and there's contractual lease revenue
[49:11]
from third party tenants, that's being factored into the model as well, which would potentially
[49:15]
bring the city's basis down considerably in those assets. But just
[49:19]
so that we're not, um, you know, accused of, of, of, um,
[49:24]
uh, goal seeking, so to speak. Um, we are only modeling
[49:28]
contractual revenue. We're not simulating revenue into the future
[49:32]
that could be appropriate, uh, if there were, uh, eventually other tenants
[49:37]
that, that decided to locate with the city, but for now, it's safest
[49:41]
and most conservative to model only contractual revenue. So that's what's in the model.
[49:46]
and then lastly, uh, the 20 year occupancy model. We are factoring in
[49:50]
property taxes impact both positive negative and then the operating expenses
[49:54]
for the various assets. Um, you know, you can't own buildings and operate
[49:59]
them for free, nor can you borrow money at 0% interest. And so, um, in the
[50:03]
holistic 20 year occupancy model, we feel these are very important figures to
[50:07]
include in the, uh, comprehensive model. And then I mentioned
[50:11]
this earlier, but there are city leases where you are a lessee right now
[50:16]
that are coming up for expiration. For example, uh, department of water utilities
[50:20]
that expires in 2028. Um, just continuing at the current pace of spend
[50:24]
and eliminating that would be, uh, about a $25 million savings over the
[50:28]
next 20 years. So those things are being factored into the model as well. Next slide, please.
[50:36]
in terms of a, a qualitative evaluation, um, a lot of clients
[50:40]
ask us to, to help them think through this, um, from a number of vantage
[50:44]
points. Um, the city has a number of things to consider
[50:48]
here. One is an owner, um, two is as an employer, three is
[50:52]
an service provider, four is a fiduciary. And then fifth is called an
[50:56]
agent, an economic development agent. And you all are making decisions every day with these different
[51:00]
vantage points. So, um, we have tried to provide
[51:04]
a model and an evaluation model for various
[51:08]
relocation possibilities with these lenses in mind. Um, I
[51:13]
think the most important ones here that really haven't gotten a lot of of discussion
[51:17]
are the city's role as an employer and as a service provider. Um, the direction
[51:21]
in terms of policy and and feedback from staff and council
[51:25]
has been to ensure that the service provision is at
[51:29]
least equal to the current city hall, if not better. And that
[51:33]
the role, your role as an employer is sensitive to your relationship with employees,
[51:37]
uh, where we can provide higher quality employment environment
[51:42]
for the city's, uh, uh, staff. So all these vantage points,
[51:46]
uh, create a holistic review of all relocation candidates.
[51:51]
um, and that is what we, um, have been charged and tasked to do.
[51:55]
I'll stop there. Thank you, peter. And so on slide 51, just
[51:59]
a couple of more slides from me. Um, the potential relocation of city hall
[52:03]
does provide several opportunities. As peter mentioned, uh,
[52:07]
material savings over the 20 year period, uh, does strengthen our
[52:11]
fi uh, fiscal stewardship. Uh, there's opportunities related to enhancing
[52:16]
resident experience and accessibility, advancing operational
[52:21]
consolidation and efficiency. Improving, uh, employee morale and
[52:25]
engagement allows us for, uh, to continue improvements in optimizing
[52:29]
our space as well as activating some of our city assets to support
[52:34]
economic, uh, development. So in summary, on nope,
[52:38]
one more. Um, on slide 52, uh, looking
[52:42]
at, um, funding strategy related to a potential, uh, city
[52:46]
hall relocation, um, the numbers, uh, peter will share in,
[52:50]
uh, more detail in executive session. Unfortunately, not able
[52:55]
to do that in open session yet. Um, as we've
[52:59]
talked about, our primary funding sources, uh, for things continue to be either
[53:04]
cash or debt. But in conversations with cbre, uh,
[53:08]
I believe that the financial transaction will provide us multiple, uh, financing
[53:12]
options. Again, whether it's a lease to own or a purchase deferral
[53:16]
of upfront cost, uh, other opportunities, those are things that would come out
[53:20]
through the pre-development phase. Again, the consolidation of city
[53:25]
operations from multiple locations, again, as peter mentioned, uh,
[53:29]
does allow us to terminate some leases and have savings in those areas
[53:33]
that could, uh, result in savings that could be redirected towards
[53:37]
city hall. Uh, we have the opportunity to divest of some of our real
[53:42]
estate, some, whether it's oak cliff municipal center eventually, or central
[53:46]
service center on canton street. Eventually there is opportunity, uh,
[53:50]
for us to, uh, look at our real estate in a different way.
[53:54]
also, uh, was mentioned the excess space that may be available in
[53:59]
a relocation that would allow us to rent and have a new revenue stream,
[54:03]
uh, as well as potential opportunity to co-locate with another government
[54:08]
entity that, uh, I believe is currently looking for additional space.
[54:12]
we also will have the opportunity to share costs, uh, with, uh, departments
[54:17]
that, uh, do come into the building, whether it's, uh, water utilities,
[54:21]
uh, who's currently in the building. Uh, they have some operations that
[54:25]
could be moved into the city hall building inspection could be moved in. And
[54:29]
some of those enterprise funds, uh, regardless of what we do, could be used
[54:34]
for, uh, additional funding sources as well as historic tax
[54:38]
credits and potential tax increment financing, uh, district funds or other
[54:42]
economic incentives that may be available, uh, with a relocation that
[54:46]
may not be available here. But I believe all of that, uh, in a little more
[54:50]
detail will be discussed in executive session, but primarily we'll come out through the
[54:54]
pre-development phase if we move forward in that direction. So on slide
[54:59]
54, uh, last two slides, just in summary of the whole
[55:03]
document. Uh, back to pension obligation bonds a viable option
[55:07]
that could help produce general fund contribution, shifting some
[55:11]
of that cost to the debt service fund, but again, the risk is associated
[55:16]
with the cost of borrowing versus the interest earned.
[55:20]
uh, if counsel chose to move forward with that, uh, it could potentially
[55:24]
be on a november ballot. Uh, we would recommend waiting
[55:28]
to actually issue the tranches of debt until the market conditions were
[55:32]
uh, improved. Uh, the next two bullets are about public safety.
[55:37]
again, priority, public safety facilities, law enforcement, training center,
[55:41]
public safety training complex, the property room and evidentiary
[55:45]
vehicle storage and fire station four as well as 9 1 1 and
[55:50]
emergency operations center, uh, could potentially be a bond,
[55:54]
uh, proposition for $441 million if you choose to
[55:58]
move forward in that way. Uh, looking at the 10 year phased
[56:02]
repair program, uh, use of debt has consequences,
[56:07]
uh, especially for future bond programs, uh, by
[56:11]
using the debt capacity for $769 million,
[56:15]
uh, for this building, it limits your ability for other capital improvements.
[56:20]
and then cash, just trying to pay for it all out of the general fund
[56:24]
has some, uh, consequences on, uh, service delivery. Uh,
[56:28]
but relocation, uh, to an alternative site, uh, does provide
[56:33]
material, uh, savings, uh, based on the current market conditions. Again,
[56:37]
that would be determined through pre-development. So on slide 55 for
[56:42]
next steps, um, potentially we will be able to get some direction
[56:46]
from council today regarding a november 3rd election. Uh,
[56:50]
for whatever you may choose to include, the date to call that election would
[56:54]
be august the 12th. Uh, after, uh, I
[56:58]
think executive session and questions and answers, then I think there is one
[57:03]
item that, uh, will potentially be voted on today regarding
[57:07]
a potential phased, uh, repair strategy. And then lastly,
[57:11]
we will be back in august on august the fifth, uh, for additional briefing on august 12th
[57:15]
for additional action items. Uh, mayor, that's the conclusion
[57:19]
of the presentation.
[57:24]
okay. It is 11:00 am on june 10th, 2026,
[57:28]
and the special call meeting of the city council will now go into close session under sections
[57:32]
5 51 0.071 and 5 51 0.072
[57:36]
of the texas oak meetings act on the following matters described on today's agenda.
[57:41]
item numbers five and six. So we will go into
[57:45]
special, uh, we will go into a executive session, and then we will,
[57:49]
uh, come back, um, in an hour, we'll call it noon,
[57:54]
okay? Okay.
[57:59]
special call to city council meetings completed. Its closed session under sections 5 51
[58:04]
0.071 and 5 51 0.072
[58:09]
of the texas open meetings act. And at 2:35 pm
[58:14]
on june 10th, 2026, we've returned to open session.
[58:21]
it's still 2:35 pm and now the special call
[58:26]
meeting will stand at recess until after agenda items
[58:30]
number 24 and 25 of the regular meeting
[58:34]
are completed. And now we need to take a, a moment
[58:39]
to allow the meetings to switch over as a technical issue. We have to actually
[58:43]
close one webex meeting and open another for the public to be able to see it.
[58:48]
so we'll stand at ease for just a minute until the meeting switches over,
[58:52]
and then we will move forward.
[59:01]
okay. It is now 3:22 pm and the special call meeting
[59:05]
of the city council's. Now call to order. And we're going to go,
[59:10]
uh, have the discussion now on the briefing item a that we
[59:14]
heard before. So I'm now going to turn it over, um,
[59:18]
back to the city manager's office to continue our, um, discussion on
[59:22]
briefing item a and it'll be our normal 5 3 1 rules
[59:26]
for asking questions. Nothing different, so
[59:30]
thank you mr. Mayor. We are actually, uh, ready to begin the, uh, the q and a for
[59:34]
the presentation that was delivered. Thank you, sir. Okay. Members, go ahead and use your
[59:39]
machines and chime in
[59:45]
assuming the machines work. I don't see anybody yet.
[59:50]
oh, boy. Chairwoman stewart, you recognize for five minutes, um, for the public,
[59:54]
we are on briefing item a.
[59:58]
okay, so this is a presentation. Few hours back. As I recall,
[1:00:03]
um, , we were, we were reviewing, um,
[1:00:08]
uh, goodness, our commitments to public safety and other bond projects.
[1:00:13]
and so jack, if I think you had two scenarios, one where
[1:00:17]
we postponed bond projects for three years and another where they got
[1:00:21]
postponed for six in each case actually,
[1:00:25]
um, what's the consequence of delaying a project if, for example,
[1:00:29]
I'm supposed to put some pickleball courts in and they're not gonna, um, happen
[1:00:35]
instead of happening maybe three years from now, they're not gonna happen either six or
[1:00:39]
nine years from now. Um, what, what's the consequence of that? I
[1:00:43]
think I know, but I'm gonna ask you to help me understand. Okay. Thank
[1:00:47]
you. Uh, jack harland, chief financial officer, uh, for the city.
[1:00:52]
and so just to put it back in a little perspective, the different
[1:00:56]
scenarios talked about were if we move forward with a $441 million
[1:01:02]
public safety facilities, uh, proposition, it would have
[1:01:06]
an impact and result in us delaying the 2024 bond program from
[1:01:10]
three remaining years to four remaining years. Then
[1:01:15]
we talked about another situation where in addition to the $441 million
[1:01:20]
in public safety projects, we may also choose to do
[1:01:24]
$769.8 million worth of, uh,
[1:01:28]
city hall repairs. And that scenario, it did require that
[1:01:32]
the 24 bond program got stretched from three years remaining
[1:01:36]
to six years remaining. In those situations, um,
[1:01:41]
obviously it delays the, the project, uh, that the community has
[1:01:45]
asked for, that the commu the community voted for in november of 24.
[1:01:50]
uh, there's the risk of cost escalation as you're
[1:01:54]
delaying time, there's inflation that would factor in. And then would
[1:01:58]
we be able to deliver all the projects or would it reach a situation where everything
[1:02:03]
is so much more expensive that we are not able to deliver every single
[1:02:07]
project? And that's my concern. Um, we will have
[1:02:11]
to make some hard choices. It seems to me, I don't think if, if all of the bond
[1:02:15]
projects go up in cost, and yet we're, we're still looking
[1:02:19]
at the same number of bond dollars to cover those projects,
[1:02:24]
then something's got to give. And so some projects will get
[1:02:28]
postponed to the next bond program or just go to never, never land. Uh,
[1:02:33]
potentially they could go into a future bond program, potentially they could be canceled.
[1:02:37]
um, potentially there could be other funding sources identified that would
[1:02:41]
supplement them, but it, it would create an issue of, uh,
[1:02:45]
we only have authorization for $750 million remaining
[1:02:50]
from the 24 bond program. And so the longer you wait,
[1:02:54]
the more inflation, the harder that becomes. Right? And so, say
[1:02:58]
for example, you were gonna put in a rec center, but all of a sudden you have significantly less
[1:03:02]
money for it, perhaps you'd have to do put in, build a rec center
[1:03:07]
that doesn't have a gym. There may be those types of trade-offs that would
[1:03:11]
be discussed, right? So
[1:03:15]
this has an impact on our residents, is my point. And these decisions have
[1:03:19]
a huge impact on our residents and what their expectations are, what
[1:03:23]
their neighborhoods need, what they're waiting for, because they've been told they're
[1:03:27]
on the schedule. So, um, I, I just think we have to,
[1:03:32]
um, always think, keep our residents in mind. And in this
[1:03:36]
particular case, under this particular scenario, I don't know that they fare
[1:03:40]
particularly well. Thank you, mr. Mayor.
[1:03:44]
chairman ridley, you recognize for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Mayor.
[1:03:48]
so jack, in reference to the
[1:03:52]
portion of the presentation about the pension obligation bonds,
[1:03:56]
when the city prepared its 30 year amortization
[1:04:01]
schedule to satisfy the prb and
[1:04:06]
the, uh, and the context of the settlement with the pension, uh,
[1:04:10]
board, um, what was the source of revenue
[1:04:14]
that you contemplated to fund that 30 year plan?
[1:04:21]
so the, the, um, I'll get to the answer, but the final
[1:04:25]
solution was an increase in general fund contributions
[1:04:29]
from the city would, uh, satisfy the requirement. Uh,
[1:04:34]
we did have the conversation about pension obligation bonds. We
[1:04:38]
did have a conversation about, uh, um,
[1:04:43]
divesting of different, uh, city assets that might, could generate revenue
[1:04:47]
that could be used to pay down the unfunded liability.
[1:04:52]
those are the two primary other things that were discussed other than increasing
[1:04:56]
the city's general fund contributions. Well, and I, I agree with
[1:05:00]
you, but the primary focus was, and what I believe
[1:05:05]
his counsel voted on was general fund
[1:05:09]
increased contributions to meet our obligations under
[1:05:13]
that 30 year amortization plan. Yes, sir. That was the final decision.
[1:05:17]
yes, sir. Absolutely. And has anything changed in the city's financial
[1:05:22]
condition that makes that no longer feasible? N no, sir. Uh,
[1:05:26]
we still, and I believe I said earlier today, as long as we meet
[1:05:30]
those, uh, commitments and contributions we will fully fund in 30 years
[1:05:34]
as expected, uh, the, uh, idea
[1:05:38]
of pension obligation bonds could potentially provide relief
[1:05:42]
to the general fund. But it is not a mandate, it's not required to meet the obligations
[1:05:47]
as long as we make those payments from the general fund. Well, and my concern about
[1:05:51]
the pension obligation bonds, as you point out in your presentation,
[1:05:56]
is that we need the pension board's
[1:06:00]
rate of return to increase above what our cost of funds would be
[1:06:04]
on a bond program. And right now we would
[1:06:08]
be underwater. And so it doesn't make sense to entertain
[1:06:13]
that option at this time. Is that correct? So
[1:06:17]
the, the last three years, the pension fund returns have been,
[1:06:21]
uh, they've done very well, uh, 15% and 25,
[1:06:25]
9%, and 24, nearly 14% and 23.
[1:06:30]
uh, so I don't think we would be underwater the last three years. But when
[1:06:34]
you're looking at a longer term, which we presented in the presentation,
[1:06:38]
their five year return is 5%, their 10 year return is
[1:06:42]
3%. So when you think about it in the longer terms, that is a true statement.
[1:06:47]
well, and we have to think about it in the longer terms because we're talking about a 20 year
[1:06:51]
bond, aren't we? Yes, sir. Alright, on slide 21,
[1:06:55]
about the 9 1 1 and emergency operations center, you, um,
[1:07:00]
estimate $40 million to relocate those programs because they're not ideally
[1:07:05]
situated to be at city hall, what does that
[1:07:09]
mean? So I'll take a stab unless
[1:07:13]
kevin come on out. Um, so, uh, they're currently
[1:07:17]
in the downtown, um, uh, obviously in city hall.
[1:07:21]
I think there's some situations where it's difficult to get to city hall under
[1:07:26]
certain, uh, emergency types of situations. Uh,
[1:07:30]
it being in the, in this building, uh, may add some added risk
[1:07:34]
to it. Um, and so I think looking outside, even
[1:07:38]
though it's immediately outside the central business district, uh, provides
[1:07:42]
value. Kevin, I'll let you, sir. Yes, good afternoon. Kevin oden,
[1:07:47]
director of emergency management and crisis response. Everything that, uh, cfo
[1:07:51]
ireland said is correct. And then I would add, um,
[1:07:55]
generally speaking, our peer cities do not co-locate those, uh,
[1:08:00]
activities within their, their central hub of government. Um, because
[1:08:04]
of the risk of concentration of services in one place, uh,
[1:08:08]
that increases the, uh, the risk we have of, of losing operations
[1:08:12]
or space. To give you a, a concrete example, during
[1:08:17]
the, um, the cheerleading incident last summer, uh, we were not
[1:08:21]
able to access city hall, uh, in any reasonable amount of time.
[1:08:25]
we had to actually relocate, um, to do coordination of that event
[1:08:29]
because of the traffic in and around downtown. Um, and so
[1:08:33]
we believe that moving these critical functions outside of,
[1:08:37]
uh, where the center of government is in addition to, uh, the traffic and,
[1:08:42]
and, um, uh, potential risks that downtown faces
[1:08:46]
expedites our ability to provide emergency operations and
[1:08:50]
emergency nine one one, uh, call taking to our residents. So have there
[1:08:54]
been any other instances of access interruption to the emergency
[1:08:59]
operation center in the last 10 years besides the cheerleader incident?
[1:09:04]
yes, I remember, uh, the july 7th ambush personally getting
[1:09:08]
into downtown was, uh, next to impossible.
[1:09:12]
um, anytime we've had, uh, issues accessing due to
[1:09:16]
snow and ice, um, conditions here in the downtown area has
[1:09:20]
created, um, issue, uh, its potential with the,
[1:09:24]
um, everything going on around fifa, being concentrated
[1:09:29]
in and around this building, um, that if there are, uh,
[1:09:33]
any sort of lockdowns or other things that go on, we could have a difficult
[1:09:37]
time getting to, uh, our site here and we may have to operate out of other
[1:09:41]
locations. So how many snow and ice storms have we seen in the last 10
[1:09:45]
years that have been exclusively located in downtown?
[1:09:52]
no, they're more geographically located, but I would say that our ability to
[1:09:56]
get immediate to where we're operating here, um,
[1:10:00]
is curtailed in some of those incidents. I've had to have staff I
[1:10:04]
based in and around this area, uh, 24 hours a day,
[1:10:08]
just so that we could operate out of this building during those snow and ice
[1:10:13]
incidents. Well, and don't most of the relevant department heads, aren't they already
[1:10:17]
in city hall when an emergency may arise?
[1:10:22]
where are they coming from? Well, if, I mean, if you're
[1:10:26]
having an emergency in eight to five, yes,
[1:10:30]
you may have many here, but we also have departments that are not based
[1:10:34]
here at city hall, such as, uh, code or transportation
[1:10:39]
or police headquarters, um, across the way. And then certainly,
[1:10:43]
uh, most of the big events, incidents I've worked over my career have not been,
[1:10:47]
uh, within normal business hours. And then so you're trying to, uh, get people
[1:10:52]
into, uh, downtown, which, if there is an incident that is affecting
[1:10:57]
mobility downtown, that ability to get persons into this building to operate
[1:11:02]
on an expeditious basis, is it it's very difficult and
[1:11:06]
very complex. Well, it just seems that if that is
[1:11:10]
gonna cost us $40 million for the off chance
[1:11:14]
that it may happen once or twice in 10 years, that's a
[1:11:18]
really low capital investment priority.
[1:11:22]
with regard to the public safety facilities, jack,
[1:11:26]
there's a reference to the,
[1:11:30]
um, current evidentiary storage
[1:11:35]
facility at the v bigg pound,
[1:11:39]
and that that is currently on 71
[1:11:44]
acre site and it's proposed to relocate it because
[1:11:48]
it's not large enough apparently to a 31 acre
[1:11:52]
site. How does that make sense? Thank you for that
[1:11:56]
question. Um, the issue is not that the si the current size is not
[1:12:00]
large enough. Uh, the current location was the
[1:12:05]
site of the auto pound, and about three years
[1:12:09]
ago, or four years ago, the city went through a process of outsourcing
[1:12:14]
the auto pound mm-hmm . And with the intent of
[1:12:18]
vacating that property at vil big and then being able to sell
[1:12:22]
that property for development. And then we realized, okay, there's
[1:12:26]
still the evidentiary vehicles that are there even after we outsourced
[1:12:31]
the auto pound. So the question is, do we keep them there
[1:12:36]
and do we move the property room over there with them or
[1:12:40]
do we move them both to another site and then we would be able to,
[1:12:44]
uh, divest of the vil big property, the total 71 acres,
[1:12:49]
but the site that's needed for the evidentiary vehicles is not
[1:12:53]
the entire 71 acres. It's just a portion. And, uh,
[1:12:57]
their scope would be that they need 31 acres for the,
[1:13:01]
that locate for that, uh, function as well as the
[1:13:05]
function of the property room. So how many vehicle storage spaces
[1:13:10]
are available at the vil vbi site? Now, this is martin
[1:13:14]
riojas, deputy director for the dallas police department. The, uh, vbi site currently
[1:13:19]
has 2,800, uh, vehicle spaces,
[1:13:24]
and we have currently 2200 vehicles
[1:13:28]
at the site. So it's oversized for your current needs. It's, it, it
[1:13:32]
has, right now we do have about 1300 vehicles that are at
[1:13:36]
vendor properties. Uh, those are, those are vehicles that are not
[1:13:41]
held for evidentiary evidence that are towed but not evidence. And so those are sent
[1:13:45]
to the vendor lots mm-hmm . That's about 1300. And so with
[1:13:49]
us having that vendor that has freed up space at, at the auto pound, so
[1:13:53]
we have about 2,800 spaces available, and we have about 2200
[1:13:58]
cars right now at the site. So jack, why does it
[1:14:02]
make sense to free up the vil big property to sell it,
[1:14:06]
but then we have to buy a new property to transfer the evidentiary
[1:14:10]
lot to the opportunity to
[1:14:14]
consolidate with the, uh, property room and
[1:14:18]
the crime scene unit, uh, provided some consolidation and
[1:14:23]
collaboration opportunities, I believe, for the police department as those groups,
[1:14:27]
uh, worked together, uh, and wouldn't have to be going from
[1:14:31]
location to location. So having them together on one joint site
[1:14:36]
was the, uh, the goal, it was a goal that was asked for
[1:14:40]
in the 2024 bond program. It did not make it to the final,
[1:14:45]
uh, proposition, but it has been something that has been asked
[1:14:49]
for. Um, it could be co-located at vil big,
[1:14:53]
it could be lo co-located somewhere else, I think needs some
[1:14:57]
additional time to explore, uh, different opportunities,
[1:15:02]
uh, determine whether it is in the city's best interest to divest
[1:15:06]
of that, uh, 71 acres, uh, at the, basically
[1:15:11]
the corner of interstate 30 in hampton road. So page 24 indicates
[1:15:15]
that the cost of co-locating at the bil big property would be 150 million
[1:15:21]
and co-locating in an alternate site unidentified would be
[1:15:25]
232 million. Am I reading that correctly?
[1:15:29]
yes, sir. So what would cost 150 million if
[1:15:34]
we leave the evidentiary lot where it is and just move
[1:15:38]
the property room there? Yes, sir.
[1:15:42]
so in that scenario, uh, it does add a new
[1:15:46]
building for the, that's part of the evidentiary vehicle unit
[1:15:51]
at v big. It would vacate the
[1:15:55]
property room that is on baylor street over east of downtown
[1:15:59]
and bring it over. That's the bulk of the $150 million
[1:16:03]
is that, that unit and replacing the property room
[1:16:08]
that is passed cap capacity, uh, to,
[1:16:12]
uh, $114 million for that facility is the biggest piece of
[1:16:16]
the $150 million. And has anyone looked into
[1:16:20]
the alternative of renting space for the property room
[1:16:25]
and crime scene operation?
[1:16:31]
I'm gonna let, uh, deb, thank you.
[1:16:35]
um, council member for the question. No, we have not looked at leasing property
[1:16:39]
for the, for the property room given, um, the alternatives that are available.
[1:16:44]
and has anyone quantified the need to consolidate to
[1:16:48]
co-locate these operations in terms of saved
[1:16:52]
manpower, increased efficiency, any other metrics
[1:16:56]
other than simply dpd wants it?
[1:17:00]
I believe that, um, that was the reason for this consolidation is to
[1:17:05]
consolidate the crime lab as well as the evidentiary, um,
[1:17:09]
property room, um, to provide those efficiencies. And, um,
[1:17:13]
I just also wanna note that these were needs that were
[1:17:17]
identified in the longer term needs inventory previously that were
[1:17:22]
not funded in the, um, 2024 bond program. Well, it doesn't really answer
[1:17:26]
my question, my answer, my question is, are there any metrics that
[1:17:30]
demonstrate how much efficiency we're losing or how much we would gain
[1:17:34]
through co-locating? I understand that the dpd wants
[1:17:38]
it. I, but I'd like to get at why and really
[1:17:42]
how seriously we need to spend $150 million on
[1:17:47]
this. So this is martin
[1:17:51]
riojas. Um, the, the issue is that we do have a lot
[1:17:55]
of staff members that are crime scene that are
[1:17:59]
going back and forth between the property room and the auto
[1:18:04]
pound. And also the desire was to have
[1:18:08]
all physical evidence, anything physical in the same, in
[1:18:12]
the same area, in the same location, and then kind of, and consolidating some
[1:18:16]
of the management of, of those areas. Now that, in terms of having,
[1:18:20]
um, anything more, anything more detailed, I, we,
[1:18:24]
we can work to get that. I don't have that right now in terms of like a metric that I
[1:18:28]
can give you that would result in, into right this
[1:18:33]
minute. But the idea is that we would have the management of
[1:18:37]
physical evidence together and, and all the housing of physical evidence together so that,
[1:18:41]
so that there was one management over all physical evidence for the department.
[1:18:46]
well, we have many needs in this city, as I'm sure you'll concede and we have limited
[1:18:50]
resources. And so I think it's important that we get at just
[1:18:54]
what the justification is for this co-location expense. And finally,
[1:18:59]
why do we need to replace fire station number four? There's no mention of
[1:19:03]
the need to expend $20 million to replace it in
[1:19:07]
this presentation. So thank you. And I want to answer part
[1:19:11]
of your last question, and then I will on fire station four as well. Uh,
[1:19:15]
one of the biggest drivers about the property room crime scene
[1:19:20]
and evidentiary vehicles is the fact that the property room
[1:19:24]
at baylor street is out of capacity.
[1:19:28]
they are stacked on top of stacked on top of stack. They're at the ceiling. There
[1:19:32]
is no, uh, not sufficient room, uh, at the property room
[1:19:37]
for, for other evidence to be brought in. And it's, it's getting to
[1:19:41]
a critical point. I want to thank martin. You've told me that within a couple of years
[1:19:45]
we will be out of capacity at that location. So if we
[1:19:49]
have to do something to address the capacity issue at the
[1:19:53]
property room, then the question was asked, is there an opportunity to
[1:19:58]
improve efficiencies at the same time? And that led us to look at
[1:20:02]
other options that then pulled in the evidentiary, uh, vehicle
[1:20:06]
storage. So that was part of the driver regarding fire station
[1:20:10]
number four, with the ex implementation of the convention
[1:20:15]
center master plan and the anticipated development on the 31 acres
[1:20:19]
that will become available, uh, it was determined that fire station 20,
[1:20:23]
I'm sorry, fire station four for $20 million, uh,
[1:20:28]
would be, uh, a priority for replacement. And the chief has come forward.
[1:20:32]
so I'll let you speak further.
[1:20:37]
uh, good afternoon everyone. Uh, fire chief justin ball. Yeah,
[1:20:41]
it, we figured with the convention center it'd be a priority, but
[1:20:45]
it's, we have a list of stations that are up
[1:20:49]
there to be replaced 'cause of age condition, and that's
[1:20:54]
right there at, at the top. So, um,
[1:20:58]
it's, I mean, it's one of the stations will be replacing
[1:21:03]
before some of the other ones because of its age
[1:21:07]
and condition and it's, it's downtown and
[1:21:13]
we need more, more apparatus base in a, in a newer station
[1:21:17]
because, um, rather than add
[1:21:22]
more stations, we need more apparatus downtown because it's so
[1:21:26]
busy. So there's a lot of reasons why that station
[1:21:30]
needs to be replaced. Is there any alternative to simply add on to the station
[1:21:34]
to accommodate more apparatus add?
[1:21:38]
could you say that again? Is it possible to add on to the existing station
[1:21:42]
to accommodate more apparatus? No, we've, we've looked at
[1:21:46]
all that. It, it's, uh, again, we
[1:21:51]
have a list of stations and I can provide that list. Uh, but that's
[1:21:55]
at the top. Thank you mayor.
[1:22:00]
mr. Roth, you're recognized for five minutes. Uh, thank you. Um,
[1:22:05]
jack, just a, just some understanding questions for me on,
[1:22:09]
on, uh, is, is a public safety
[1:22:14]
bond, is that different from a general obligation bond
[1:22:18]
or it's just designated differently? It, it would be a general obligation
[1:22:23]
bond, it would be a proposition. So in a typical
[1:22:27]
bond program, we may have 10 different propositions. In this case, we
[1:22:31]
would potentially only have one proposition for public safety,
[1:22:35]
but it would be a general obligation election, general obligation bonds
[1:22:40]
financed over 20 years paid from our property tax debt service rate.
[1:22:44]
so the, so the fact that you've broken it out is just really sort of to help us
[1:22:48]
classify what, what might be a suitable for designation in that category
[1:22:53]
of, of potential borrowings? Yes, sir. As we were having conversations
[1:22:57]
about, uh, the need for the, uh, two components
[1:23:01]
of the police academy, we started having conversations about
[1:23:06]
what the, the highest priority needs were from a public safety perspective.
[1:23:10]
and these other projects got it added in as potentially the highest
[1:23:15]
type of public safety projects facility needs that we currently have.
[1:23:19]
um, and following up in council, uh, members, uh,
[1:23:24]
stuart's question is, uh, if, if a project
[1:23:28]
is not available or is not suitable or, or we
[1:23:32]
can't do a project that, uh, was designated under the bond program,
[1:23:37]
do we have the, the opportunity to move those funds into
[1:23:41]
another, to another project? Or is, or is the bond financing
[1:23:46]
absolutely, uh, specifically, uh, deal
[1:23:51]
specific and, and, and property specific or, or, or item
[1:23:55]
specific? So generally the, uh, bond proposition
[1:23:59]
has some flexibility, um, but you cannot move between
[1:24:03]
proposition. So if you had voters approve a library proposition
[1:24:08]
and a fire station proposition, you can't switch money between
[1:24:12]
those two. But, but if it, but if it was a real estate, if it was a building proposition
[1:24:17]
or a if or a moving having to do with, with a
[1:24:21]
facility or something, we could do it that. So if the proposition was a library proposition
[1:24:25]
and it was determined and one was the high priority at the time the
[1:24:29]
bond program was passed, if you decide another one is a higher priority,
[1:24:34]
it could be switched out, but not across propositions, but within
[1:24:38]
the language of that elected proposition. And once, once
[1:24:42]
a bond is, once you, we go to the public, get approval for bond,
[1:24:47]
uh, issue bond, uh, approval, uh, is there
[1:24:51]
a, uh, uh, once it's authorized, is there some, is there a deadline
[1:24:55]
on when you have to actually issue the bonds or actually go to market
[1:24:59]
to, to execute on, on, on authorizing
[1:25:04]
the actual bonds themselves after the election? Right.
[1:25:08]
there used to be, and I probably have said 10 years before, but bond counsel
[1:25:12]
has recently corrected me. As long as we can demonstrate to the attorney
[1:25:16]
general that it is still part of our plan, then the authorization
[1:25:21]
no longer expires at 10 years. We just have to continue to communicate with
[1:25:25]
the ags office that it is part of our financing plan. But
[1:25:29]
as we were talking about pension obligation bonds, if we got authorization
[1:25:34]
now, or at some point, I would not recommend that we
[1:25:38]
issue the pension obligation bonds. Now we wait until the market conditions are
[1:25:42]
right to do that. It's costing too much to borrow that right now. But those
[1:25:47]
rates will come down. They, they go up, but they'll come back eventually. And that, that
[1:25:51]
was gonna be my, my point is that once we get the authorization,
[1:25:55]
then we can manage the market requirements and actually be
[1:25:59]
more strategic in when we would actually issue the bonds and, uh,
[1:26:03]
the, or commit to the issuance of the bonds physically. Yes, sir. The
[1:26:07]
other question is are, are these bonds, can they be pre refinanced,
[1:26:11]
uh, or can they be prepaid typically, or are you, are we sort
[1:26:15]
of committed to not committed to a 20 year? We're committed to 20 years, but
[1:26:20]
can we pay 'em off early? Can we refinance over the 20
[1:26:24]
year period? Uh, most of our bonds are callable after 10 years. They're
[1:26:28]
callable after 10 years. Okay. Yes, typically. So, uh, e each structuring
[1:26:32]
deal can be different, but that's our typical, our standard. So it gives us some flexibility that
[1:26:37]
if we do want to go to the public to authorize a certain
[1:26:41]
amount of bond, uh, uh, potential, we
[1:26:45]
do have flexibility in, in seeing strategically
[1:26:49]
the market, figuring out what we want to do, even going ahead and exercising
[1:26:53]
it and then being able to column it at a certain period of time. Yeah. Yes,
[1:26:57]
sir. Um, is there also, uh, the, the opportunity
[1:27:01]
to, um, uh, basically
[1:27:08]
you, you, you can, you're not precluded from doing it except by your bond
[1:27:12]
credit, your ratings and stuff from doing future bond programs,
[1:27:16]
as long as you can justify the financial capacity of the city to,
[1:27:20]
to carry it. Is that correct? Yes, sir. So, um, before we
[1:27:24]
issue the bonds, obviously we have, uh, bond writings done, um,
[1:27:29]
for each issuance, um, not necessarily when the bonds are authorized,
[1:27:33]
but with each tranche that we we issue there is that, and those tranches
[1:27:38]
can be, be periodically, um, issued
[1:27:42]
for actually public payment. That's what you did in the, in the, uh,
[1:27:47]
in your scheduling over the period of years so that you don't,
[1:27:51]
even though we're, we've committed to it, there's interest maybe accruing, but we
[1:27:55]
don't actually have to lend the, you know, borrow the money physically
[1:27:59]
and, and use it until we, we really need it. Y
[1:28:03]
yes, with the exception that there is no interest accruing from the time that it's authorized,
[1:28:08]
any interest only accrues from when you actually issue. Oh, so that's great too. So we have
[1:28:12]
the flexibility in not having to actually issue the bond immediately.
[1:28:16]
yes, sir. Um, my question with regard to the, uh, 9 1 1,
[1:28:20]
uh, and emergency operations center, uh, is the $40 million that
[1:28:24]
was projected, is that, uh, was that a
[1:28:28]
relocation cost? Was there, is there additional costs, uh,
[1:28:32]
associated with that, with that potential relocation?
[1:28:37]
if, if we're considering that? I'll allow peter to answer
[1:28:41]
question related to that. Uh,
[1:28:45]
cbre and, and some other consultants developed that number. Um, and
[1:28:50]
it's a holistic number based on the program and the performance
[1:28:55]
specs, um, that gets you to a modern, um,
[1:28:59]
uh, design criteria and get you to, um, what
[1:29:03]
the industry best practices are. So, uh, I made a very good example here is the
[1:29:07]
dallas county eoc that opened today. There was a ribbon cutting there. Um,
[1:29:11]
we worked on that project and many of those numbers are highly applicable,
[1:29:16]
um, to a variety of scenarios, um, that, um, that the
[1:29:20]
city has contemplated and is contemplating. Uh, so we feel the numbers pretty tight
[1:29:24]
'cause it's based on very recent comps. Um, and, and so
[1:29:28]
relative to the public safety training complex and the, um,
[1:29:33]
and, uh, we could, we could also, uh, go ahead and get them
[1:29:37]
authorized by the public, but if we decide not to, uh, execute
[1:29:41]
the full amount that we need or we don't need as much because we've done other
[1:29:45]
fundraising opportunities, we'd have the flexibility jack of moving that money
[1:29:50]
around within that category of public safety potentially,
[1:29:54]
uh, potentially. But on the law enforcement training, uh, center,
[1:29:58]
um, I think we're ready to go on that. Um, we're at a point where
[1:30:03]
there's been significant fundraising and we're still about 82 million
[1:30:07]
short on that. And so, so that, that would be a one. And I was thinking about the public safety
[1:30:11]
training complex. That could be something that, that we would be authorizing in
[1:30:15]
a future. Potentially. We can borrow the money. I mean, we can authorize the bonds,
[1:30:19]
but we don't necessarily have to spend it right away. That is correct. Okay. Thank you
[1:30:25]
ms. Blair, you recognize for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Mayor, and
[1:30:29]
thank you, um, mr. Ireland for this presentation.
[1:30:34]
and peter, for all your assistance in getting all the information we need done.
[1:30:39]
um, with the bonds, how often do
[1:30:43]
we normally go for a new bond package?
[1:30:49]
I would say the typical is about every, um, five years
[1:30:54]
we have been, uh, getting authorization, uh, four to five years. There
[1:30:58]
have been some years that we've done very small, just maybe three propositions.
[1:31:03]
and, uh, so it's kind of varied, but typically five. And
[1:31:07]
the current, I apologize, the current 2024 bond program was designed
[1:31:11]
to be implemented over five years. We've, we've started two,
[1:31:15]
we've got three remaining. Then in 2029, we would anticipate the next
[1:31:19]
bond program at, at this particular point. So
[1:31:23]
this would be, uh, an if we do a 2026, that would be
[1:31:27]
an off cycle, correct? Yes ma'am. That would be an off cycle. How
[1:31:32]
much was the last, the 2024 bond? What's the total amount of the 2024
[1:31:36]
bond package? Uh, 1.25 billion.
[1:31:40]
and now we're, if we do 1 20 26, how much are we
[1:31:45]
projecting we would need just for, just for the,
[1:31:49]
this cycle and what would it be for? So for the, uh,
[1:31:53]
public safety facility proposition, if we chose to do that,
[1:31:58]
um, if we can pull up slide number 26, uh, as
[1:32:02]
a summary of the $441 million that we would include in that,
[1:32:06]
um, law enforcement training center at unt 82 million.
[1:32:12]
the public safety training complex we've been talking about red
[1:32:16]
bird, or I'm sorry, executive airport, 149 million,
[1:32:20]
the relocation of 9 1 1 and eoc 40 million,
[1:32:24]
the property room and evidentiary, uh, vehicle storage 150
[1:32:29]
and fire station four would be 20. So $441 million.
[1:32:35]
if we did, um, based on, uh, this presentation.
[1:32:39]
and then if we also chose to do a pension obligation
[1:32:43]
bond, which would be a separate proposition, uh,
[1:32:48]
we are suggesting up to 500 million for that. So then that
[1:32:52]
would be 941,000,941. Mm-hmm . On
[1:32:56]
top of the one point whatever billion we already, so we are looking closer to a
[1:33:00]
$2 billion package over two year o over within
[1:33:04]
the five years. From 24 through 29? Yes, correct. Okay.
[1:33:08]
um, so what's the impact on the
[1:33:13]
payers for all these bond packages? Do they need to pay higher property
[1:33:17]
taxes or in, in order to
[1:33:21]
pay back these loans? 'cause a bond is actually a loan, isn't it? Yes ma'am,
[1:33:26]
it is. Um, so the bond gets us cash upfront to make the capital
[1:33:30]
improvement. We pay it back over 20 years with, uh, principal
[1:33:34]
and interest. Um, all of our modeling at this point
[1:33:38]
assumes no change to the property tax rate. And so,
[1:33:42]
uh, we have a tax rate that's split between general fund and debt service, and
[1:33:47]
our modeling does not anticipate a change in the tax rate.
[1:33:51]
a property owner's actual tax bill will of course be based upon their
[1:33:55]
value and the tax rate. So as values go up, we know that
[1:34:00]
the tax bill goes up, but that's a factor of the value, not the rate.
[1:34:04]
so in order to pay this, these, this,
[1:34:08]
these bonds or loans back, we do need
[1:34:12]
to figure out how to get 'em done, correct? Uh, yes
[1:34:16]
ma'am. But, uh, as we do it, I've been sensitive to think that
[1:34:21]
the council is not interested in a tax rate increase. So I keep try to keep
[1:34:25]
the capacity within that level. But
[1:34:29]
would it not be fair to say that eventually you can't keep
[1:34:33]
borrowing yourself out of a, a hulk? Is that not correct?
[1:34:38]
I'm not the, you know, I'm not the financial wizard that some of my, my, my colleagues
[1:34:42]
are, but basic, when I do my bills
[1:34:46]
at the end of the month, I can't borrow more money to, to pay off another
[1:34:51]
loan. I, I eventually, I gotta pay live within my means, correct?
[1:34:55]
yes ma'am. And we would be living within our means. We would not be asking
[1:34:59]
to borrow more than we have the capacity to
[1:35:03]
pay back. And so what's important to know is because
[1:35:07]
we've been borrowing money so many years every year,
[1:35:11]
because we always have bond programs going, we're always repairing
[1:35:15]
streets, we're always building a library or a fire station. So every year
[1:35:20]
after we'd financed for 20 years, some old debt rolls off
[1:35:25]
a new, a new debt, new debt is layered on. So as we pay off one bond
[1:35:29]
from, um, 2016, 2006, then
[1:35:33]
we add in something in 2026 and something rolls off from 2007,
[1:35:38]
we add in something from 27. So let me ask another
[1:35:43]
question. Um, well, let me say this.
[1:35:47]
district eight, my district is one of the largest districts in the, the city. We have
[1:35:51]
almost a hundred thousand residents in district eight. We
[1:35:55]
are really the, one of the most diverse districts there are. We have five rec
[1:35:59]
center, 27 parks, two trails, over 500 horses,
[1:36:03]
one equine vet center, and a new rodeo. That's
[1:36:08]
diverse, correct? Yes ma'am. And we have one of the least
[1:36:13]
amount of infrastructure there is. I have a development
[1:36:17]
that could put in 400 new units,
[1:36:21]
but I don't have enough sewer line, my sewer line can't
[1:36:26]
get those develop, get that development out there. So how do
[1:36:30]
I get this paid for and do all the stuff we need to do?
[1:36:35]
so you're asking me a little bit outside of my area, and I probably would want to call on
[1:36:40]
economic development to help figure that deal out, uh, or, uh, dallas
[1:36:44]
water utility to help with the, the fact of the sewer expansion.
[1:36:48]
so, uh, but I'm, no, the question is, and let me, let me rephrase
[1:36:52]
the question. These are my needs. These are the things that I need, I need,
[1:36:56]
right now, we don't have the budget
[1:37:01]
to take care of these things. Do we, ma do we sit, uh, miss, uh,
[1:37:05]
miss bert? Do we have the, the, the money right now in the, the,
[1:37:09]
in the coffers to pay for all these things that infrastructure
[1:37:14]
streets and, and, and, and still do the repairs
[1:37:18]
on city hall? Thank you so much for the question on councilwoman blair. And I've, I've
[1:37:22]
stated publicly, um, previously that from an expense
[1:37:26]
standpoint and from a revenue standpoint, and I know that in the slide deck that
[1:37:30]
you have before you, it talks about the things that we would have to do to either increase,
[1:37:35]
um, revenues or we would have to find a way to decrease our, expend our
[1:37:39]
expenses. So we need to interrupt you for just a moment.
[1:37:43]
um, it's four o'clock. I wanted to take, uh, a 10 minute
[1:37:47]
recess. We can all, uh, have a little bit of a break. So those of
[1:37:51]
you who need to, oh, come on man. Take care of some business, can take care of some business,
[1:37:56]
but we'll reconvene in 10 minutes.
[1:38:01]
okay,
[1:38:06]
4 39. And we have resumed
[1:38:11]
with the, uh, briefing. So, um, um, city
[1:38:15]
manager, I think we're, we're, we're at I think 53
[1:38:19]
seconds, madam secretary with, uh, ms. Blair had the floor
[1:38:24]
is when we left, where we left off 53. If you could set the clock back to approximately
[1:38:28]
53 or
[1:38:32]
pretty close, if you can get close, that's the close you can get. And ms. Blair,
[1:38:37]
you have the floor. Okay, so, um,
[1:38:44]
how, okay, how, oh, it's been a minute. So let
[1:38:48]
me, let me re let me correct something. In district a,
[1:38:53]
we have, uh, major area of, uh, property
[1:38:57]
that has been a recently annexed one of the last places
[1:39:01]
of property that had been recently annexed, which means we are in
[1:39:05]
a large need of infrastructure. So how will our bond
[1:39:09]
pa bond programs and the, the, uh,
[1:39:13]
need to either renovate, remodel and
[1:39:17]
bring the city up to the city, building up to
[1:39:22]
standards? Uh, ha what will happen to the, the district, my
[1:39:26]
district and their needs? Thank you so much for the question.
[1:39:31]
uh, councilwoman, uh, blair, one of the things that we talked about, if you go back to
[1:39:35]
how we laid out slides 44 and 45,
[1:39:40]
we've had a lot of comments that have been made in the prior weeks regarding,
[1:39:44]
uh, the need to fund repairs out of, for cash using cash.
[1:39:48]
and we know that our current general fund has
[1:39:53]
existing budget pressures and there are budget pressures going forward, whether we're talking
[1:39:57]
about pension, which mr. Ireland has given you a complete rundown of
[1:40:01]
where we are currently with our pension plan. Uh, whether you're talking about the increase
[1:40:05]
in our police officers pay, um, employee health insurance, all
[1:40:10]
those things or things that they just don't go away. So we would still have to
[1:40:14]
continue to fund those. Um, I would say that those are priorities for
[1:40:18]
the city. So then the other option is to use the city's credit card,
[1:40:22]
which is issue in debt. Mr. Ireland has laid out that if you were to
[1:40:26]
do that, your future bond program, which we planned
[1:40:31]
for that to be around 2029, you would actually limit
[1:40:35]
the amount of money that you would then have for that bond program. And I believe the number
[1:40:39]
was around 300 million would be the amount
[1:40:43]
that you would have available to then do any other future programs beginning
[1:40:48]
with that year. So it is definitely a, um,
[1:40:53]
a, an option, but it also comes with the
[1:40:57]
impact of what then you cannot continue or how
[1:41:01]
you have to push out the bond program that we are currently in the middle of, which is 2024,
[1:41:05]
and then the impact that you would have on the upcoming bond program, which is currently
[1:41:10]
planned for 2029. So I can't tell you which exactly
[1:41:15]
propositions then the city council would want to support with that
[1:41:19]
number, that $300 million number. We know that currently our
[1:41:23]
needs as it relate to infrastructure, we still don't have
[1:41:27]
adequate funding even in the existing bond program to bring all of our
[1:41:31]
infrastructure needs, um, across the city up to the scalable levels that
[1:41:35]
we're looking for. So it is a decision, it's a
[1:41:40]
hard one, um, but it definitely does come with, um, um, the limitations
[1:41:44]
that you would have for being able to continue to address some of those
[1:41:48]
priority needs that we've heard from our residents, which is how the
[1:41:52]
existing bond program was uh, developed. So thank you for the question
[1:41:56]
and just to say I have the most septic tanks
[1:42:00]
in the city of dallas, which is just ahead of being in the back in
[1:42:05]
a outhouse. Thank you. Alright, thank you very much. Seeing
[1:42:09]
no one else in the queue, we'll move on to our speakers now. Madam secretary. Thank you.
[1:42:19]
we're done. We're done.
[1:42:24]
thank you, mr. Mayor. The speakers that are registered
[1:42:28]
today are signed up to speak on agenda item three, therefore I will read
[1:42:32]
the item into the record. Agenda item three is authorized one a
[1:42:36]
phase city hall repair strategy for 1500 marilla
[1:42:41]
street as presented on june 3rd, 2026, and
[1:42:45]
to the city manager to implement the selected phase city hall repair
[1:42:49]
strategy for 1500 marilla street in accordance with a proposed city
[1:42:54]
hall repair program. You do have several
[1:42:58]
individuals who have signed up to speak on this item. You speaker will be given one minute
[1:43:05]
speakers, you will have an opportunity to address the city council. Your
[1:43:09]
time will be presented on the monitor at the podium in the
[1:43:13]
center section here, and the podium is now to my left and your right,
[1:43:17]
I will call speakers in groups, the first group, when I call your name, I will ask that
[1:43:22]
you come forward and have a seat in the first three rows of this intersection
[1:43:30]
and virtual speakers. When I call your name, I will ask that you
[1:43:35]
please have your audio and video, uh, ready for
[1:43:39]
before you speak. Kevin walker, melissa lara,
[1:43:44]
robert walters, trey black, amanda moreno
[1:43:49]
lake, jim lake, michael trini,
[1:43:54]
michael alon, ana saeed,
[1:43:58]
luke, jo hill, adam cross, haw vahe,
[1:44:02]
jake milner, arthur santa maria, nanu
[1:44:07]
hon, jose avila, jennifer scripps,
[1:44:12]
frank miha, miha, amy
[1:44:17]
tharp, asmar reyes, canti
[1:44:21]
shesh and mark nunley. Kevin walker is virtual.
[1:44:25]
mr. Walker? Yes. Yes, you may begin.
[1:44:32]
thank you. Good afternoon, mayor and council members. Uh, my name is kelvin walker
[1:44:36]
and I serve as the ceo of the dallas citizens council. Uh, for over 90 years,
[1:44:40]
the dallas citizens council has brought together business
[1:44:45]
leaders to advanced missionary
[1:44:49]
initiatives, which have led significant progress for dallas for our infrastructure, healthcare, education,
[1:44:53]
and safety and economic development. The members of the citizens council proudly serve in the moments of
[1:44:57]
most for dallas. I'm here today to ask for the, because today's
[1:45:01]
decision comes down to one simple question, what is the best outcome for dallas?
[1:45:07]
this is a decision that we need to make that's not about the next budget site
[1:45:11]
decision about the next 50 years. I encourage you to move from
[1:45:15]
analysis to action, from evaluation to execution, and vote
[1:45:19]
to move forward toward with
[1:45:23]
for reimagining our area, the downtown area, to create a vibrant future for us in the
[1:45:27]
next generation. So I would encourage you to vote no on item three. Thank you for your time
[1:45:32]
and have thank you melissa lara.
[1:45:44]
good afternoon mayor, council members and city manager. My name is melissa lara,
[1:45:49]
co-founder of pico, a business born in oakland in 2016. Before
[1:45:53]
becoming an entrepreneur, I was a flight attendant for emirates based outta dubai for several years.
[1:45:57]
there at witness, a city wants to overlook for beginning in a desert, transform itself into
[1:46:02]
a global destination because leaders had the courage to think bigger.
[1:46:06]
dallas has that same potential. As a business owner, I have seen firsthand
[1:46:11]
what vision can do. Bishop parks became one of dallas' most visited destinations
[1:46:15]
because people like amanda lake and jim lake saw opportunity when
[1:46:19]
others saw risk. I've also seen the opposite or deep el
[1:46:23]
store went from our top performing location to one that we can no longer keep open
[1:46:28]
crime increase and visitors stop coming. A hard reminder than when we stop investing
[1:46:32]
in tour. City decline follows, this is about more than a building.
[1:46:36]
it's about economic development, creating jobs, attracting tourism,
[1:46:41]
growth and preservation can coexist that your time progress does not erase
[1:46:45]
our history. Thank you. They say yes to downtown vote no. And agenda item number
[1:46:49]
three. Thank you robert walters.
[1:46:57]
thank you. Good afternoon, counsel. Uh, my name is rob walters.
[1:47:01]
um, throughout most of my adult life, I've
[1:47:05]
sought ways to contribute to our betterment in the city.
[1:47:09]
uh, whether through service on the police and fire pension board,
[1:47:13]
uh, chairing the dallas citizens council, founding and leading, uh, clyde
[1:47:18]
warren park and other ways, including most recently, uh, are safe
[1:47:22]
in the city initiative. I've studied the issue
[1:47:26]
before you long and hard.
[1:47:30]
I appreciate the trade-offs, but there are no consequence
[1:47:34]
free decisions. And in my judgment, the
[1:47:38]
cost of rehabilitating this building, the cost of fewer
[1:47:42]
parks, police, or potholes filled is simply
[1:47:47]
far, far too great. I urge you to vote
[1:47:51]
against the city hall repair strategy, but even more
[1:47:55]
fundamentally, that's your time. Thank you.
[1:48:00]
thank you. Trey black.
[1:48:05]
trey black is not present. Amanda moreno lake.
[1:48:14]
good afternoon mayor, council members and city manager. My name is amanda moreno
[1:48:18]
lake. I'm a business owner and a resident of district one. As this
[1:48:22]
stage, you have heard all the arguments, are you going to do what's best for
[1:48:26]
the future of dallas? The numbers don't lie. Multiple
[1:48:30]
estimates, experts, and studies all point to the same direction.
[1:48:35]
continuing to pour taxpayers dollars into an aging facility
[1:48:39]
is not the best long-term investment. I know what
[1:48:43]
opportunities when I see them, I know what they look like. Look
[1:48:47]
at the facts and make decisions based on what's right for our city. Today
[1:48:51]
is an opportunity to choose growth over stagnation, opportunity
[1:48:56]
over maintenance and the future. Over the past vote note against agenda
[1:49:00]
item number three, gracia. And I hope you all have a blessed evening
[1:49:04]
and thank you for what you do. Thank you, jim lake.
[1:49:14]
good afternoon. My name is jim lake and I live in district one. I was born and raised
[1:49:18]
in north dallas and I've spent my entire career developing and repurposing neighborhoods
[1:49:22]
in north oak cliff and the dallas design district. Today I brought a few photos
[1:49:26]
with me. Uh, they were up there just a second ago. You have 'em in front of you.
[1:49:31]
um, one is a, uh, the, the, the top two photos of showing
[1:49:35]
the city hall site. Um, and there's from, from
[1:49:39]
1976 comparing with 2026, 50 years
[1:49:43]
later, it's the same site. 50 years later, nothing has changed with
[1:49:47]
still a zero tax base. Then you compare the photo with what was
[1:49:52]
a power plant in a rail yard in 1999 into what is now victory park.
[1:49:56]
in 2026, it went from 16 million in
[1:50:00]
tax value to 2.5 billion. And we've done this before. We know what to do. This
[1:50:04]
is a one time chance for us to have a bold vision and create a
[1:50:08]
destination that will blend culture and cultures that can and will
[1:50:12]
be the heartbeat of our city. That's your time. Thank you. Thank you.
[1:50:17]
mike. Michael trigon. Trigon.
[1:50:22]
thank you. Uh, my name's michael trigon. I'm the president of headington
[1:50:27]
companies. Uh, we've done and been doing business making
[1:50:32]
acquisitions and building various operations throughout
[1:50:36]
the city downtown, specifically including the jewel hotel, both phases
[1:50:40]
of the commissary 45 10 drake stone, which is the former
[1:50:44]
davis building, the eyeball, uh, all of stone street
[1:50:49]
and hampton social, which used to be iron cactus. I bring all
[1:50:53]
this up because we start with the premise. If we can find old stock
[1:50:57]
or stock that dates back that has unique elements
[1:51:02]
and not a a glass box, we try to save it. We've
[1:51:06]
won two preservation dallas awards and I think it's two, it
[1:51:10]
could be three, but nevertheless, we always try and save the building.
[1:51:14]
we've been in the same situation on a smaller scale that city hall is in.
[1:51:18]
it's an insidious place to be. It is always under budgeted
[1:51:23]
in terms of how much it will cost and ultimately, that's your time. Thank you. Thank
[1:51:27]
you michael alon,
[1:51:32]
mike avalon, 60 seconds. Here we go. Before I start, thank you for your service.
[1:51:36]
um, I wonder voice make my voice down on city hall.
[1:51:40]
I speak specifically as it relates to projects such as the bank of america
[1:51:45]
plaza, the redevelopment of the area around it. I support the redevelopment of the
[1:51:49]
current dallas city hall site as a transformative economic development
[1:51:53]
opportunity for downtown dallas. I believe dallas has an opportunity to create
[1:51:57]
lasting economic value, strengthen connectivity within downtown and surrounding
[1:52:01]
neighborhoods, and be catalytic to investment in the area for the other
[1:52:06]
underperforming undervalued assets. I believe redevelopment
[1:52:10]
this area will deliver meaningful generational benefits for all of our city.
[1:52:15]
while I recognize and respect the differing views surrounding this issue, my
[1:52:19]
position is grounding the long term economic vitality and competitiveness of dallas.
[1:52:24]
in my opinion, investing 500 to 650 million in
[1:52:28]
deferred maintenance in our existing city hall is regrettably, regrettably,
[1:52:33]
not approving. That's your time use of our city. Thank you. Thank you.
[1:52:37]
luke joko.
[1:52:51]
good afternoon, mayor johnson and council members. I'm here in support of
[1:52:55]
relocating dallas city hall and creating the opportunity for a catalytic project
[1:52:59]
that can help shape the future of downtown dallas. I simply want
[1:53:03]
to be a voice for my generation 'cause we'll be the ones living with
[1:53:07]
the outcome of this decision for the next 30 to 40 years. I grew up in
[1:53:11]
arlington and was a suburban kid who always wanted to come to dallas because
[1:53:16]
of the culture of the neighborhoods, the restaurants, the people, and the energy.
[1:53:20]
I drive to the original snuffers on lower greenville and through downtown because
[1:53:24]
it felt authentic. It felt interesting. I knew one day I wanted to live
[1:53:28]
here. Today I do live here. I work here, I invest here and I send
[1:53:33]
my kids to school here. And one thing I've learned is what makes cities special
[1:53:37]
isn't what happens inside the buildings. It's what happens between them. If I'm
[1:53:41]
gonna speak for my generation, I support relocating city hall
[1:53:46]
'cause I'm in favor of growth. I'm in favor of creating interesting places. That's your time where
[1:53:50]
people wanna live and work and play. Thank you. Thank you. Adam cross.
[1:54:04]
hello, my name is adam kraus. I'm a dallas native and downtown
[1:54:08]
business owner. Downtown dallas is dying and the losses of at and
[1:54:12]
t fifth third bank, neiman marcus, fox four news, the dallas mavericks
[1:54:16]
and dallas stars is only the beginning. It will continue to
[1:54:20]
compound and kill the small business owners who will not survive what comes next. Dallas
[1:54:24]
is about to lead the country in downtown office vacancy. And while there is 15,000
[1:54:29]
people who live in downtown today, there are zero new apartments, zero
[1:54:33]
new offices, and zero hotels under construction. While the rest of this region
[1:54:37]
thrives, the private market has already redlined downtown. Thank you mayor
[1:54:41]
johnson for having the courage to put this to a vote and say no more. Because
[1:54:46]
the vocal few are hammering the final nails into this coffin, wanting hundreds
[1:54:50]
of millions of taxpayer dollars spent on this decaying mausoleum
[1:54:55]
and handing the rest of the community the bill. This is the generational moment that
[1:54:59]
requires courage and conviction for a new people, uh, begging for a vibrant
[1:55:03]
downtown worth living in and worth believing in. Vote no on agenda item three. Thank
[1:55:07]
you. Thank you kean. Vashi.
[1:55:20]
alright, so I have been in, uh, working and
[1:55:24]
we own a property in, uh, downtown dallas. And it is a hotel that
[1:55:28]
is just right next door to city hall. Uh, been there for about
[1:55:32]
two years now and I thought after my first year, uh, the conversations I
[1:55:36]
would've be having with guests would be more so about, uh, places to see and
[1:55:40]
stuff to visit. But the biggest question I always get is, hey, is it safe
[1:55:44]
to walk outside? Is that walk that I'm talking about is right across this city
[1:55:48]
hall land, uh, right adjacent. The only place my guests
[1:55:52]
need to go is right down young street and they don't feel safe traveling
[1:55:56]
that walk. So I think, you know, with the $3 billion convention center that
[1:56:00]
we're putting together, that walk is not gonna get any
[1:56:04]
friendlier if we don't do anything with this area over here. So I believe that, um,
[1:56:09]
and I ask you guys to vote, uh, vote no and, um, relocate city hall. Thank
[1:56:14]
you. Thank you
[1:56:18]
jake milner.
[1:56:24]
jake milner is not present.
[1:56:28]
author santa maria
[1:56:36]
mayor and council members. Thank you. The consequences of a
[1:56:40]
declining downtown are not confined to just downtown
[1:56:45]
southern dallas is directly affected when big corporations close their
[1:56:49]
downtown offices and facilities. And when major investment is
[1:56:53]
redirected elsewhere, we've seen this pattern before.
[1:56:58]
major opportunities move north, north, and north. While
[1:57:02]
southern dallas is told to sit down and be patient, you now
[1:57:06]
have an opportunity to break that pattern. Southern dallas has the most to
[1:57:10]
lose if downtown continues to weaken and the most to gain if you choose
[1:57:14]
to act boldly. Today, some of us are focused on growing and
[1:57:18]
investing in southern dallas, and the wrong move here could pull that rug out from
[1:57:22]
under us. I urge you to vote known to repairing this
[1:57:26]
building so we can pursue the kind of investment that can benefit downtown and
[1:57:31]
southern dallas together. Thank you. Thank you sauna saeed.
[1:57:39]
good afternoon, mayor and council. I serve as president of the farmer's market stakeholders
[1:57:43]
association and I'm a downtown dallas resident. I'm here to urge you to
[1:57:47]
vote no on item three. There is no great city that reaches its
[1:57:51]
full potential without a strong downtown mayor, thank you for taking
[1:57:55]
on an issue that too many have avoided for years. And to the council members who
[1:57:59]
see the opportunity to reimagine and reinvest in our urban core.
[1:58:03]
thank you. Please fight for downtown. Listen, the businesses,
[1:58:08]
residents and stakeholders who want to stay here but are exhausted from years of delay
[1:58:12]
division and inaction, we have a chance to turn the page and
[1:58:16]
create the kind of downtown that attracts investment, talent, residents, and opportunity
[1:58:21]
for generations to come. It's go time, be bold, act quickly,
[1:58:25]
and lead downtown dallas should be the heart of this region, not a
[1:58:29]
footnote to its suburbs. Thank you. Thank you. Nanu
[1:58:33]
ong.
[1:58:37]
it's not present. Jose avila.
[1:58:50]
good afternoon. I want to express my gratitude to mayor johnson,
[1:58:55]
city manager tolbert and the council members who were ready to vote yes
[1:58:59]
on dallas's future. And we're prepared to put our communities
[1:59:03]
over this building. Thank you. Do not be discouraged.
[1:59:08]
we have your back. Hold the line. Let's see this through. Together
[1:59:14]
now to the residents of dallas. Pay attention to what happened yesterday.
[1:59:18]
three council members who don't even bother to show up or at
[1:59:22]
least left. Uh, three council members sued the city
[1:59:26]
in the name of transparency or proper process. A judge granted their
[1:59:31]
tro, it blocked the relocation vote, it blocked the redevelopment vote, but
[1:59:35]
it did not conveniently. Block item three, the vote to spend your
[1:59:39]
money to repair this building. That one upcoming serves the agenda
[1:59:43]
of those three people who filed the suit, which is at best a remarkable
[1:59:47]
coincidence. That's your time. I urge you to vote no on item three. And thank you for being
[1:59:51]
here. Thank you. Jennifer scripps.
[2:00:04]
good afternoon, mayor city council. My name is jennifer scripps. It's my
[2:00:09]
honor to serve as the president and ceo of downtown dallas, inc.
[2:00:13]
for nearly 70 years, ddi has helped lead downtown through periods of transition.
[2:00:17]
and I think we can all agree after the last couple of weeks we are at a period of
[2:00:21]
transition. This week you received further confirmation that any responsible
[2:00:26]
repair and renovations for this building would take years and cost taxpayers
[2:00:30]
at minimum hundreds of millions of dollars last week. Also, ddi
[2:00:35]
met with a hundred residents, stakeholders and visionaries to plan the future of
[2:00:39]
downtown. I urge you not to spend hundreds of million dollars to repair
[2:00:44]
and try to modernize this facility, but instead to put it
[2:00:48]
into the needs of our community and work with us as we plan downtown, as
[2:00:52]
a multi-purpose seven day a week active and vibrant urban core
[2:00:56]
that we can all be proud of. Thank you so much. Thank you,
[2:01:00]
frank opolis.
[2:01:09]
good evening, mayor johnson, manager tolbert city council members, particularly
[2:01:14]
those who are present today. I'm frank opolis corn properties,
[2:01:18]
and I've been coming to this place since 1978 when mayor falso was mayor.
[2:01:22]
and I've been very privileged and blessed of doing projects in the city and in
[2:01:26]
the southern sector that have transformed neighborhoods and areas. I'm very particular
[2:01:31]
in this particular area. I've also had fortunate to remodel and repurpose old
[2:01:35]
buildings, old balls around the country at the same time.
[2:01:39]
my family has been involved in, in the businesses of downtown since 1976.
[2:01:44]
we fed people here and I've seen this area transform to
[2:01:49]
nothing and particularly in the area of downtown there, tax based economic development.
[2:01:53]
and today it's a watson time opportunity to free up 50
[2:01:58]
acres next to the convention center, to they create a new major
[2:02:02]
to create a campus that no other major city has in the united states. 50 acres
[2:02:06]
in quarter city. The city hall's. Impressive. That's your time on a, on a
[2:02:10]
pulse card. Vote no on proposition three today, please.
[2:02:15]
thank you. Stop the insanity. Amy tharp. Amy thorpe.
[2:02:25]
uh, good afternoon council members and mayor,
[2:02:31]
I just wanna say, say I'm sorry, I'm, I'm sorry
[2:02:35]
you're not allowed to speak at this time.
[2:02:40]
amy tharp. My name is amy tharp and I serve as the
[2:02:44]
chief operating officer at downtown dallas inc. Downtown dallas is
[2:02:48]
at a pivotal moment today more than 16,000 residents called
[2:02:52]
downtown home. And through our big moves planning efforts that
[2:02:56]
jennifer just referred to, we are working to double and even triple that population
[2:03:01]
in the years ahead. That growth matters. A thriving residential
[2:03:06]
downtown creates long-term tax value for the city, supports
[2:03:10]
businesses and strengthens dallas's economic competitiveness.
[2:03:14]
we have a responsibility to ensure that major public investments
[2:03:19]
support that momentum rather than limit it. This is
[2:03:23]
a generational decision at a time when downtown's growth presents such significant
[2:03:28]
opportunity. We believe there's a path, one that creates greater
[2:03:32]
value for taxpayers, supports continued residential growth and positions
[2:03:37]
downtown and dallas for long-term success. We respectfully urge you
[2:03:41]
to reject a costly repair strategy and pursue that path instead.
[2:03:45]
thank you. Thank you. Uh, smar reyes.
[2:03:53]
good afternoon everyone. Thank you. Uh, citizens of dallas. I just
[2:03:57]
wanna say you'll make it quick and short and simple. We already lost
[2:04:01]
a lot here. I'm sorry. Mr. Reyes, your video needs to be displayed.
[2:04:06]
okay. So you are in favor. Um, I'm in
[2:04:10]
favor of this city. Um,
[2:04:15]
good afternoon. Can you, are you guys everybody to hear me? Yes, you may continue. Okay.
[2:04:20]
um, I mean, good afternoon everyone from dallas. We already lost a lot here in this beautiful
[2:04:25]
city of dallas. We lost the mavericks, we lost the stars
[2:04:29]
and I don't wanna lose anything else. Um, we need
[2:04:33]
to redevelop this building because of the maintenance costs.
[2:04:38]
um, I just wanna say how, um, by
[2:04:42]
us, by us keeping this building right here, we're
[2:04:47]
in keep an historic building, but we're in least dallas in the history books
[2:04:51]
as one of the cities that once was and didn't
[2:04:56]
continue to be. Dallas has great potential. We're in the heart of the
[2:05:00]
dfw area and if we shall continue to be, then we
[2:05:04]
need to reinvest in, uh, infrastructure
[2:05:09]
and I support, uh, moving this item forward. Thank you.
[2:05:13]
thank you. Canti resh
[2:05:21]
canti ssh,
[2:05:27]
uh, best wins or respected mayor, uh, council members, city manager
[2:05:32]
and the staff. My name is conti ti and uh, I am a business owner
[2:05:36]
at district eight and I stand in support of moving this item
[2:05:40]
forward. Our city hall has served dallas with honor and distinction
[2:05:45]
and its place in our history is secure. But every generation
[2:05:49]
is entrusted with a responsibility greater than preserving
[2:05:53]
the past alone. And years from now, future generations
[2:05:58]
will not ask whether we protected a building. They will ask whether
[2:06:02]
we had the vision to strengthen our city, the courage to embrace opportunity
[2:06:06]
and the wisdom to leave dallas better than we found it. And
[2:06:11]
today, the dallas we cherish was built by the visionary leaders
[2:06:15]
who dared to think beyond their own time. I respectfully
[2:06:19]
asked you to do the same and thank you very much.
[2:06:24]
thank you mark nunley.
[2:06:29]
thank you, uh, mayor, members of the council. My name is mark nunley.
[2:06:33]
I am a cpa. I've spent my 50 year career reading financial
[2:06:38]
statements, stress testing, projections, and cutting through numbers to find the truth inside
[2:06:42]
them. The numbers on the city hall decision are the clearest I've
[2:06:46]
ever seen. Here are the numbers, the fully loaded cost to stay, 1.49
[2:06:50]
to 1.6 billion. The cost to relocate using the most expensive
[2:06:55]
scenario, 482 million as a cpa. I can tell
[2:06:59]
you what that means. Over $1 billion in savings
[2:07:03]
to the taxpayers. We cannot afford to do anything else. I
[2:07:07]
did not come here to push a predetermined outcome. I came here because I looked at the numbers
[2:07:12]
and the numbers are unambiguous. Please vote no on item three.
[2:07:16]
thank you. I will now call the next group. When I call your name,
[2:07:20]
please come forward and have a seat on the first three rows in this intersection.
[2:07:26]
kirk presley, jim schutz, janie
[2:07:30]
schultz, matthew bach, andrew cola, karen
[2:07:35]
muncy, jamie jolly, rudy kami, michael
[2:07:39]
wiseberg, sarah crane, stephanie dka,
[2:07:44]
jessica stewart liny, john eichman,
[2:07:50]
issa terranova, melissa martinez,
[2:07:54]
mary francis young has canceled. Matthew mabel and
[2:07:59]
mike davis. And I will ask if you're virtual to have your video
[2:08:03]
and audio ready. Kirk presley.
[2:08:07]
good evening, mayor and council. My name is kirk presley and my wife and I live at 46 0 3
[2:08:12]
west university boulevard in district six. I'm here to speak in opposition
[2:08:16]
to agenda item three. In 2017, boston began repairing
[2:08:21]
its city hall in a 30 year phase repair plan. It is also a brutalist
[2:08:25]
style building of almost exactly the same size and age as our city hall.
[2:08:29]
at the time, they thought it would only cost 225,000,008
[2:08:34]
years later. Just the parts they have priced so far, which is only the first decade
[2:08:38]
of work, will cost them over $440 million
[2:08:42]
with financing costs. They're on pace to spend over a billion dollars on the building.
[2:08:47]
we cannot afford to make the same mistake. Thank you
[2:08:51]
for voting no on agenda item three. Thank you
[2:08:55]
jim schutz.
[2:09:04]
jim schutz is not present. Honorable janie schultz.
[2:09:11]
janie schultz is not present. Matthew bach.
[2:09:18]
matthew bach is not present. Andrew sla.
[2:09:22]
andrew sla is not present. Karen muncie.
[2:09:29]
karen muncie is not present. Jamie jolly
[2:09:36]
can I have afternoon mayor and council. I'm jamie jolly, president and ceo of the real
[2:09:40]
estate council and I appreciate the opportunity to address you this evening. Trek
[2:09:45]
does not support moving forward with a plan to renovate our current city hall.
[2:09:49]
instead, we support the redevelopment of the current city hall site as a once in
[2:09:53]
a lifetime opportunity to unlock one of dallas's most strategically
[2:09:57]
located properties. The current city hall site sits at the heart
[2:10:01]
of an area of downtown dallas that has faced challenges for decades and has never
[2:10:05]
reached its full potential. Redeveloping this site presents a generational
[2:10:10]
opportunity to connect the southern edge of the downtown core
[2:10:14]
to the ultimately to southern dallas. This kind of catalytic
[2:10:18]
investment can bring the city together and create a more vibrant, walkable,
[2:10:23]
and economically competitive city center. We've closely monitored the public
[2:10:27]
briefings, we've reviewed the comprehensive facility assessments and data-driven cost
[2:10:32]
estimates provided by experts and considered the broader conversation.
[2:10:36]
we respect that there are different views on this issue, but we hope that you will vote against
[2:10:40]
item three. Thank you. Thank you rudy kami.
[2:10:48]
good afternoon everyone. Rudy kami, the council district 14.
[2:10:52]
I am still not a finance or real estate person. So let's hear from someone
[2:10:57]
who is, it kind of sucks to be a tenant in a lot of cases. Triple net. Triple
[2:11:01]
net, is that what you said? Triple net used in a lot of commercial real estate deals, but
[2:11:05]
if the roof leaks cost is passed along to the tenant, if something breaks a pipe, breaks
[2:11:09]
a cost is passed along to the tenant repairs and maintenance, a cost is passed along to the
[2:11:13]
tenant. If a piper's cost is passed along to the tenant, if a window breaks cost
[2:11:17]
is passed along to the tenant, somebody shoots it out, cost is passed along to the tenant
[2:11:22]
flooding, a lot of times that cost is passed along to the tenant. Real estate taxes go
[2:11:26]
up $500 in the year. The tenant's gotta absorb. That kind of sucks to
[2:11:30]
be a tenant in a lot of cases. Um, but if you've got the right building, they're willing to pay it.
[2:11:35]
shame on you. You wouldn't do this with your house, but you'll do it with ours. Thank you.
[2:11:40]
michael wiseberg.
[2:11:45]
I'm a native dallas side retired from a long career promoting cities and
[2:11:49]
areas for corporate relocation, including the old american
[2:11:53]
airlines when they moved here from new york. About 80% of my work was outta
[2:11:58]
state. I'm a student of cities. The idea that it's somehow more prudent
[2:12:02]
to scrape an iconic I am pay landmark than it is
[2:12:06]
to refurbish it as an insult to our taxpayers. The forced timetable
[2:12:10]
is reckless and suspicious in itself. A string of losing
[2:12:15]
football seasons or sports team relocation or normal parts
[2:12:19]
of a big city's ebb and flow recklessness in large matters is
[2:12:24]
not. I hope and I trust that our city council will not do
[2:12:28]
anything that would make dallas a laughing stock in the highest circles
[2:12:32]
of other american cities and perpetuate the stereotype of
[2:12:36]
a city run by bankers and developers for their private good. We
[2:12:40]
are better than that, but we must show it. Thank you. Thank
[2:12:45]
you, sarah crane.
[2:12:55]
hello? My name is sarah crane and I'm the executive director of preservation dallas.
[2:12:59]
and I'd just like to remind everybody that we actually are making this decision today
[2:13:04]
in light of no additional information when it comes to the cost of
[2:13:08]
abandoning this building. Um, I'd also like to say that this building is neither
[2:13:12]
an albatross nor a magic bullet for downtown. Saying
[2:13:16]
yes to downtown redevelopment should not mean having to say no to repairing this
[2:13:20]
building. I mean, this is dallas. We have the old right next to the new across the
[2:13:25]
city. It's actually what makes our city so rich and our community so
[2:13:29]
unique. Dallasite deserve to to have it all a vibrant downtown and
[2:13:33]
this dallas city hall. But this process to renew downtown will take time.
[2:13:38]
a thoughtful, comprehensive business strategy and investment, city of dallas investment.
[2:13:43]
and it starts right here because you can say yes to investing in downtown. And
[2:13:47]
you can start by saying yes to repairing this dallas city hall. Thank you.
[2:13:51]
thank you stephanie dka.
[2:14:02]
I am pe once said, architecture is the very mirror of life. Mayor
[2:14:06]
johnson, you called this building obsolete. A reflection of your disdain
[2:14:11]
for what? It represents the will of the people. Resilient, unyielding,
[2:14:16]
concrete pay design, city hall to withstand the test of time,
[2:14:21]
the test of people like you who view sentimentality as a weakness when
[2:14:25]
in fact it's our greatest strength. The capacity to connect
[2:14:29]
to counter false narratives intended to divide. Before this, many didn't
[2:14:33]
know who im pay was and what this building truly meant, but your miscalculation
[2:14:38]
taught us what a treasure we have to protect here. Do the right thing, restore
[2:14:42]
the people's house to its full glory. Otherwise, future generations will remember what
[2:14:46]
they were robbed of, how we fought to keep it. And you'll be the one
[2:14:51]
cemented in history as obsolete.
[2:14:55]
thank you, jessica stewart lin.
[2:15:02]
good evening everyone. Um, the numbers issued for
[2:15:06]
repairs by the consultant to date, consultants to date are rough
[2:15:11]
planning numbers. Even their own documents say that these are numbers that are
[2:15:15]
in a rough order of magnitude. They are not meant to make these
[2:15:19]
types of decisions. I'm here to ask you to vote
[2:15:24]
yes to the repairs, yes to downtown, but also yes to
[2:15:28]
the process. To me, this building is a model of our democracy.
[2:15:34]
and the democracy piece and the building piece
[2:15:39]
are both being threatened in this process.
[2:15:43]
um, the building teaches us that the heart
[2:15:48]
of our city is our government center. This
[2:15:52]
is the center of a vibrant downtown. You cannot remove
[2:15:56]
the heart and have this ai generated, um,
[2:16:01]
vibrancy. It doesn't exist without the heart. That's your time. This is the center.
[2:16:05]
thank you. Thank you, john eichman.
[2:16:12]
john eichman is not present.
[2:16:18]
risa terranova.
[2:16:22]
theresa terranova is not present. Melissa martinez.
[2:16:32]
melissa martinez is not online. It's not present.
[2:16:37]
mary francis young is counsel. Matthew mabel. Matthew
[2:16:41]
mabel is not present. Mike davis,
[2:16:55]
mike davis. Uh, good evening, uh, mayor. Present members
[2:17:00]
of the city council. I'm here to rally you.
[2:17:04]
I'm here to also remind you though that as we look towards
[2:17:09]
redevelopment of this downtown environment,
[2:17:13]
it must include strong opportunities
[2:17:18]
for the hospitality restaurant and nightlife uses
[2:17:22]
that will make downtown vibrant. I'm in support
[2:17:27]
of using city hall as a down payment
[2:17:32]
on the future. I'm representative of my generation of millennials
[2:17:37]
and I grew up with my mom around my, with my mom while she was working here for over
[2:17:41]
35 years. So I know all about city hall. I I've been and
[2:17:45]
played down in l three, so I know it very well. This needs to be
[2:17:49]
a down payment on the future. We deserve it.
[2:17:54]
vote that's your time against those repairs. Thank you. Thank you.
[2:17:58]
I will now call the next group of speakers. When I call your name, please come forward and have a seat
[2:18:03]
in the first three rows of this intersection. Mark grace,
[2:18:07]
joanna hampton, abigail clawson, bell betson,
[2:18:12]
dolores leve, soroka, debbie orka soli,
[2:18:17]
pj moton, mckayla watkins, kristen atwell,
[2:18:24]
alicia tis has canceled, will let forsyth li, kate
[2:18:28]
parrish, sean buckley, ruben land
[2:18:33]
ed zara, benjamin boyer, george aranda,
[2:18:37]
marcel quimbee, jose pena has canceled. Sidney walker,
[2:18:42]
yvonne walker, jed ulrich,
[2:18:46]
andrew bieri, and arianna smith.
[2:18:51]
mark grace may
[2:19:00]
begin. This is a good time to breathe.
[2:19:05]
you know, uh, um, this is kind of a, we we're,
[2:19:09]
uh, acting out a psychodrama here, the citizenry. One
[2:19:13]
minute, one minute, one minute. Uh, and we're rushing
[2:19:17]
to make our points. Uh, I want to give my gratitude to everybody who's
[2:19:22]
endured this long day to have their say as citizens.
[2:19:26]
and I just want to add to my colleagues, especially
[2:19:30]
sarah crane's remarks. Uh, the numbers are not
[2:19:34]
as solid as people want them to be. This building
[2:19:39]
is a legacy and can be a legacy. It doesn't have to be a
[2:19:43]
false dichotomy between our future and this building.
[2:19:48]
as a matter of fact, sometimes constraints are what,
[2:19:52]
uh, help us to move towards creativity. So I'd
[2:19:56]
encourage you, I would challenge you. That's your time to move
[2:20:01]
forward in leadership and vote yes for this, uh, proposal.
[2:20:05]
thank you. Thank you joanna hampton.
[2:20:10]
good afternoon, honorable mayor, members of the city council, joanna hampton, 5 4 0 8
[2:20:15]
swiss avenue. The current debate is a patch for the
[2:20:20]
multiple issues that are facing downtown, and it does not provide a
[2:20:24]
cohesive solution for downtown or our full city.
[2:20:28]
this is a 200 to 400 year building. It's reflecting the quality of
[2:20:32]
the investment by our city. And I note this not to set the building
[2:20:37]
in amber, but to recognize the robust and lasting
[2:20:41]
framework provided to this city and its citizens for our city government.
[2:20:46]
I asked this council, what is the compelling reason for this site
[2:20:50]
in this building? I haven't heard a vision provided to us or
[2:20:54]
to you that would pro on the proposed relocation.
[2:20:58]
well, I believe city, cal city hall can and should be a part of our
[2:21:03]
revitalized and vibrant downtown. We must
[2:21:07]
start the work to create a shared vision that supports long
[2:21:11]
term solutions your time. Thank you. Thank you. Abigail clawson.
[2:21:20]
hello. Dallas city hall has become a kind of civic, civic scapegoat.
[2:21:25]
this building has been blamed for problems it did not create, and its destruction
[2:21:29]
cannot resolve. It is not why people are leaving downtown. It is
[2:21:33]
not why corporations relocate. It is not the cause of homelessness,
[2:21:37]
public distrust, or government dysfunction. Unless this council addresses
[2:21:42]
those actual challenges, those problems will remain regardless of what
[2:21:46]
happens to this building. My kids have attended five and
[2:21:50]
soon six different disd schools in our eight years here. Most
[2:21:54]
of these schools are decades older than city hall and somehow
[2:21:59]
thousands of children learn in them every day. If our schools can be maintained
[2:22:03]
and used for generations, why should the standard for city hall be different?
[2:22:08]
a building that is younger than I am dallas taxpayers paid
[2:22:12]
for this building, they deserve better than to watch it be discarded for the latest shiny
[2:22:16]
idea. It is simple. You have been elected to do good things and to
[2:22:21]
avoid doing bad things, vote yes on agenda number
[2:22:25]
three. Thank you. Thank you, bill betson,
[2:22:31]
howdy. It's an honor to be here and I want you to vote yes.
[2:22:36]
and the reason I want you to vote yes is I raised four kids in the
[2:22:40]
home I bought 51 years ago in south oak cliff, and I've
[2:22:44]
got nine grandkids and six great grandkids. And we need
[2:22:48]
this building to give an example of stability.
[2:22:53]
now, south oak cliff in 2016, we voted
[2:22:57]
to put $52 million to rebuild that school that
[2:23:01]
was old and torn up in a mess. We did it. The kids moved
[2:23:05]
into the school in 20 and in 21, they were the
[2:23:10]
first disd school to get a texas
[2:23:14]
state football five a championship in 50
[2:23:19]
some odd years. And then they did it again in 22, and
[2:23:23]
they did it again in 25. And in 25,
[2:23:28]
they also got the highest school effective that your
[2:23:32]
time indices score of all 37 high schools in
[2:23:36]
the city. Academic performance. That's your time in a fixed
[2:23:40]
school. Thank you dolores. Leve soroka,
[2:23:45]
I mean it. We're not gonna do the outburst thing. Okay, we're gonna start asking people
[2:23:50]
to leave
[2:23:55]
dolores levy soroka. I'm in district two.
[2:24:00]
the question is whether dallas will responsibly address the
[2:24:04]
needs of city hall or abandon a public asset that
[2:24:08]
taxpayers already own. No one has
[2:24:12]
really presented this council or the public with a complete
[2:24:17]
accounting of what it will cost to leave city hall. Therefore, the only
[2:24:21]
way you should vote today is yes or don't vote at all.
[2:24:25]
a phase repair strategy is the responsible fiscal conservative,
[2:24:31]
taxpayer focused solution. We paid for dallas city hall.
[2:24:35]
the responsible thing is to take care of it, not to walk
[2:24:39]
away from it. Thank you, debbie
[2:24:43]
orozco solis,
[2:24:49]
the deliberate garden, and the west warren heights neighborhood association. Let my dr.
[2:24:53]
pat stevens. I am here to tell you we do not
[2:24:57]
want city hall to leave. We want you to fix it. We need transparency
[2:25:02]
in all civic affairs when it involves a place that we call home and
[2:25:06]
is fully paid for that we own. We voted for each of you
[2:25:10]
to be a democracy for us. This design at city hall was structured
[2:25:14]
to last over 200 years. It was completed in 1978.
[2:25:19]
it decided to come to city hall and feel you have no voice because you
[2:25:23]
do not have a million dollars in the bank. I live in a
[2:25:27]
house that was built in 1924, requires constant maintenance and has undergone
[2:25:31]
three major res renovations. I pray you have good
[2:25:35]
principles and do not ent and do not be enticed by wealthy developers
[2:25:40]
because this is what I see today. Give us a voice, let us
[2:25:44]
speak, give us a what we need, give us more information, have meetings
[2:25:48]
with us. That's your time. And ignore, please don't ignore
[2:25:53]
us anymore. Thank you pj moton.
[2:25:58]
good afternoon. Uh, here joining you virtually, um, vote against
[2:26:03]
item three. This is bigger than a building. Relocating dallas city hall is
[2:26:07]
about whether dallas is willing to build for the future, not keep pouring money
[2:26:11]
into the past. See, the employees deserve a modern, clean, safe, and
[2:26:15]
innovative work environment. These people are the ones who serve us
[2:26:19]
our residents every day. And they should be expected. They should not be expected to do 21st
[2:26:24]
century work in a facility that no longer meets the needs of the 21st
[2:26:28]
century city dallas residents deserve better too. We deserve a
[2:26:32]
civic home that is accessible, welcoming, inspiring and worthy
[2:26:36]
of the city we are becoming. This past week we hit, uh, we faced
[2:26:40]
a, a number of major blows, including the dallas stars and the dallas mavericks.
[2:26:45]
both institutions were making bold decisions about their future. And dallas city hall must
[2:26:49]
do the same. A new city hall can be a more than a office building. It can be a
[2:26:53]
symbol of pride, progress, service, and possibility. I urge you to move
[2:26:57]
forward, forward with voting against item three. Thank you,
[2:27:02]
mikayla watkins.
[2:27:09]
good afternoon, mikayla watkins of district two. It is imperative to be understood
[2:27:14]
that our dedication and desire to save city hall is not merely sentimental in nature.
[2:27:19]
we, your constituents deserve full transparency rather than concepts of a plan
[2:27:23]
with no comparative data provided. How can one guarantee that demolition would be
[2:27:27]
less costly than preservation? We have heard little to no factual data regarding a
[2:27:31]
new or temporary location or the potential financial responsibilities that could accompany,
[2:27:36]
accompany, said relocation with numerous large scale projects pending,
[2:27:40]
including the bond supported improvements to the convention center and the $5 billion
[2:27:44]
replacement and relocation of ert. I find it necessary that you consider the
[2:27:48]
logistical nightmare of the concurrent pursuits of these projects, coupled with the pre-existing
[2:27:52]
construction and congestion of the affected areas. It is also important that we
[2:27:56]
do not overlook our unhoused brothers and sisters whose voices cannot be heard
[2:28:01]
in forums such as these with many of their shelters and resources existing in the area
[2:28:05]
which is planned to be redeveloped. We must be mindful of how these actions will displace them
[2:28:09]
and how we plan to continue your time providing this. Your thank you so much for your time. Thank
[2:28:13]
you. Kristen atwell.
[2:28:22]
hello, uh, my name is kristen atwell and I've lived in dallas for exactly 40
[2:28:26]
years. This is my first time to speak before city council. Um, I
[2:28:30]
own a marketing firm that turned 35 years this year. And, uh,
[2:28:35]
in 1999 we worked on this big vision downtown
[2:28:39]
dallas to 2005. Took five years and
[2:28:43]
visioned it out back when we used to print things on paper. Um,
[2:28:47]
and it took a really long time to work on. It was, it had in-house housing,
[2:28:52]
office renewal, hospitality development, transportation, entertainment,
[2:28:57]
parks and rec. We branded the pegasus project. We re-lit the horse
[2:29:01]
on top of the magnolia building. Uh, we marketed the 1954
[2:29:05]
republic tower. We watched the mercantile redevelop next to
[2:29:10]
our office. That was two blocks from here for 15 years. Um,
[2:29:15]
I'm gonna cut this as short as I can, but we are in support of
[2:29:19]
downtown vitality. The last time I was here, that's your time. There
[2:29:23]
were green shirts and they did not know why they were here. Thank you.
[2:29:27]
that was very interesting. Thank you. Alicia. Canceled
[2:29:32]
honorable tta forsyth lil it's is not
[2:29:36]
present. Kate parrish.
[2:29:48]
good evening. Kate parrish from district two. I'd like to echo a sentiment
[2:29:52]
of one of my colleagues back from march if city hall can't be saved, what does that mean
[2:29:56]
for the rest of us? Dallas likes to disinvest in most of
[2:30:00]
our public assets. Don't let city hall be another one of those. This is
[2:30:04]
our house. We pay for it. We continue to pay for it, and we're happy to pay for
[2:30:08]
it because it is an icon of looking forward. This is the
[2:30:12]
testament of dallas's future ever facing forward. Don't
[2:30:16]
tear it down. Continue to invest in it, please. Thank you. Thank you.
[2:30:21]
sean buckley. Sean buckley
[2:30:26]
is not present. Ruben landa,
[2:30:33]
honorable mayor, city manager, city council or council members. My
[2:30:38]
name is ruben landa. I live in victory park in district two, and I am the president
[2:30:42]
of the great dallas plan council. I recognize the historical importance of this building and
[2:30:46]
understand why some of you want to preserve it, but the council has a fiduciary responsibility
[2:30:50]
to spend public funds wisely and by any measure, the cost to
[2:30:54]
renovate and repair this building is simply too high and does not make physical sense.
[2:30:59]
saving this building will not save downtown. Your focus should be
[2:31:03]
on how to strengthen downtown today and position for the future. This
[2:31:07]
council voted 14 to one to approve the k bailey hutchinson master plan
[2:31:11]
voters didn't approve funding by 70 to 30% margin. That
[2:31:15]
plan is what you should be focused on, implementation of that plan, fully
[2:31:19]
full implementation of that plan. I ask this body to rise
[2:31:23]
above politics. Stop attacking those with different views and lead
[2:31:27]
with vision. But most importantly, stop wasting time. Dallas
[2:31:31]
needs leadership and it needs it. Now we need visionaries that are looking at the that's your
[2:31:35]
time and what's best for the city as a whole. Thank you. Thank you. It's
[2:31:40]
zara.
[2:31:49]
hello, ed zara, district of 14. It's better to own than rent
[2:31:54]
keep city hall taxpayer owed, owned and paid for no
[2:31:58]
rent. Save 148 million, no broker commission. Save
[2:32:02]
8.6 million no property taxes. Save 79 million
[2:32:07]
city hall is purpose built for 9 1 1 3 1 1. It's
[2:32:11]
a civic landmark preserved taxpayers will then pay
[2:32:15]
property tax. If you leave city hall, there's a $60 million demolition
[2:32:20]
cost. There's a quality of life cost of 20,000 truckloads
[2:32:24]
of debris being put on our streets. All lease
[2:32:28]
options that you're looking at have the same end of
[2:32:32]
service life concerns as city hall.
[2:32:37]
don't put your taxpayers on the hook for $157 million
[2:32:42]
in rent every 10 years into eternity. Thank
[2:32:46]
you. Thank you. Benjamin boyer.
[2:32:56]
thank you. Uh, before dallas commits billions of taxpayer dollars
[2:33:01]
to a new municipal complex, the city should first determine whether the
[2:33:05]
assumptions underpinning such an investment remain valid. In the 21st
[2:33:09]
century, advances in technology have enabled private sector to successfully
[2:33:13]
decentralize many administrative, financial, legal,
[2:33:18]
and customer service functions, um, have moved, uh,
[2:33:22]
to work from home and have improved and maintain productivity.
[2:33:29]
dallas has an opportunity to lead nationally by modernize, modernizing service
[2:33:33]
delivery and demonstrating responsible stewardship of public resources
[2:33:38]
in in increasingly digital age. Thank you.
[2:33:42]
thank you. George anda
[2:33:48]
george anda is not present. Marcel quimbee.
[2:34:03]
um, good afternoon, mayor and councilmen council
[2:34:07]
members. My name is marcel quimbee and I live in district 14. I'm
[2:34:11]
stunned at today's occurrence. And
[2:34:15]
as my first question is, what happened to the comparison of all the
[2:34:20]
options? The city has not provided anybody
[2:34:24]
with numbers for the other options as
[2:34:28]
promised, how can a city make any decision in a silo without understanding
[2:34:32]
the pros and cons and financial impact of all the options?
[2:34:37]
I just, it, it boggles my mind and I cannot understand that. You
[2:34:41]
know, and I urge city council to vote yes
[2:34:45]
to, to repair city hall or if you wanna take some more time
[2:34:49]
to, you know, address these issues and bring the numbers that
[2:34:53]
were promised, just put it on hold and we'll come back and talk about it when
[2:34:58]
we can have a realistic discus discussion with all of
[2:35:02]
the that's your time with all of the information needed to actually
[2:35:06]
make that your time discussion. That's your thank you. Jose pena is
[2:35:10]
canceled. Sidney walker
[2:35:18]
greetings. Sidney walker district seven. I just have a few questions
[2:35:22]
for you guys to ponder. So why was the commercial
[2:35:26]
class a office, the standard for the renovation estimate?
[2:35:31]
was the lease space option that was included in the report class
[2:35:36]
c or was it class a? 'cause there is a big price difference between those
[2:35:40]
two. Isn't class a the most expensive
[2:35:44]
to renovate to? So why would a government agency renovate office
[2:35:48]
space to class a? That's
[2:35:52]
not wise. So councilman west spoke last
[2:35:56]
night during his meeting. Um,
[2:36:01]
he would vote to stay if we have money to pay for the fixes.
[2:36:05]
do y'all have the money to pay to move? Where is that coming
[2:36:09]
from? What services and programs
[2:36:14]
and buildings and community sitters? Are you gonna close? That's
[2:36:18]
your time to move. Thank you. Thank you. Yvonne walker.
[2:36:26]
thank you. Yvonne. Walker's not present. Chad ulrich.
[2:36:33]
hello, chad ulrich, district one and I'm with the democratic socialist
[2:36:37]
america north texas chapter. These days we have a scam economy. Everything from ai that
[2:36:41]
isn't returning to on investment to presidential crypto. Just earlier this year, the city of
[2:36:45]
plano was adamant to leave dart to cut off their constituents from the region as well as the region from
[2:36:49]
plano to likely pay first half, a hundred million dollars arena. So a sports franchise,
[2:36:54]
cut up infrastructure and become a local landlord of the businesses at a time when 1600
[2:36:58]
pennsylvania avenue has a giant crater in it. Without congressional approval and a possibly permanent
[2:37:02]
octagon in front of it, I employed you to keep this building at 1500 marilla street. This
[2:37:06]
will not solve your budget or the downtown problem, but it will be a step in the right
[2:37:10]
direction. The time is now for us as a city to define what we are. Times
[2:37:14]
change in corporations and sports teams go running for the next handout they
[2:37:18]
can find under the cover story of a rundown downtown. The time is now to
[2:37:23]
get creative with our city hall in a space around it, make it an anchor and form of our
[2:37:27]
city with housing built, nearby housing or a grocery store downtown will do more to
[2:37:31]
bring businesses than some genocidal owned basketball team. What will
[2:37:35]
happen to that? That's your time will be the most sterile corporate owned thank you entertainment. Thank, thank you.
[2:37:39]
yes to yes. Uh, yes to three. Thank you. Andrew
[2:37:44]
zui is not online, it's not present.
[2:37:49]
ariana smith. Good afternoon, mayor
[2:37:53]
and city council members. My name is ariana smith and I'm a downtown homeowner.
[2:37:58]
I'm opposed to repairing city hall on the dime of taxpayers and urge you
[2:38:02]
all to vote no to item three. Downtown dallas should be the
[2:38:06]
economic and cultural heart of our city. Instead, it has become increasingly
[2:38:10]
defined by vacant storefronts, underutilized land, and growing concerns
[2:38:15]
about crime. For too long, downtown has fallen short of its potential.
[2:38:20]
you all have an opportunity to change that by, by, by voting no to item
[2:38:24]
three and support a redevelopment of the land in and around city hall.
[2:38:29]
redeveloping this property will attract investment, great jobs and bring new
[2:38:33]
residents, businesses and energy to downtown. This is more than
[2:38:37]
a redevelopment project. It is an opportunity to revitalize
[2:38:41]
downtown dallas as a thriving destination to live, work, visit, and
[2:38:45]
invest with your leadership downtown can once again become the heart
[2:38:50]
goal for them. Thank you. Thank you.
[2:38:54]
I'll now call the next group of speakers. When I call your name, please come forward and
[2:38:58]
have a seat on the first three rows of this intersection. And also
[2:39:02]
that ask that virtual speakers, please have your video and audio ready.
[2:39:07]
iani ume. Sean jensen. Betty neil,
[2:39:12]
venton jones, sam williams, ronnie mees,
[2:39:17]
jim anderson, claudia fowler, joe
[2:39:21]
tave, yolanda williams, charles williams
[2:39:25]
ii david voss, mary lou, paris, sean todd,
[2:39:31]
kevin pfeiffer and erica cole. Ani je
[2:39:39]
ani je is not present. Sean jensen.
[2:39:46]
sean jensen. Okay. Sean jensen
[2:39:51]
is not present. Betty neil.
[2:39:58]
betty neil.
[2:40:06]
betty neil. Hi. Thank you for having me today.
[2:40:11]
uh, to the mayor and to the council. For 46 years, I've been a dallas resident
[2:40:15]
and I respect our city's history and the importance of preserving iconic
[2:40:20]
buildings when it makes financial sense. But good stewardship is not
[2:40:24]
about preserving a building at any cost. It's about making responsible
[2:40:28]
decisions with taxpayer dollars. The
[2:40:32]
reality is dallas city hall is an aging facility designed for a whole different
[2:40:37]
era. 600 million is only repairing deferred maintenance,
[2:40:41]
not renovating. The result would be the same old stained carpet, the
[2:40:45]
same outdated restrooms. The stone aged furniture spending hundreds
[2:40:49]
of millions would force difficult choices about real priorities, including
[2:40:53]
animal service, street maintenance, parks, recreation centers, libraries,
[2:40:58]
and other service we residents rely on daily. We also have to think
[2:41:02]
about the future of downtown dallas, redeveloping the city hall site to
[2:41:06]
generate new private investment, expand the tax base, create jobs, and bring
[2:41:10]
new energy to our urban core. That's your time. Dallas compete.
[2:41:14]
thank you. Thank you. Benton jones is not present.
[2:41:19]
sam williams. Hello.
[2:41:24]
sam williams, district nine. Not a part of citizens council or the regional chamber.
[2:41:28]
and in support of keeping the building, I only have a short time. Uh, I've got financial
[2:41:32]
concerns based on current understanding and don't feel like we have enough data. There's
[2:41:37]
blank and unknown figures in the original agenda around relocation, lack of
[2:41:41]
research around renting estimates and tear down costs. If we were to leave,
[2:41:45]
why are we listening to business interests here, but not to their disinterest from lack
[2:41:49]
of private investment in the police facility? Maybe we should be a bit more selective
[2:41:53]
with assigning them credibility. Not to mention the convention center already delaying
[2:41:58]
investments across the city. Economic analysis, including the st. Louis federal reserve,
[2:42:02]
consistently supports the conclusion. Investment in large stadiums does not
[2:42:06]
significantly approve financial outcomes of the area. Is a hotel really
[2:42:10]
what we want at the center of our city? A casino? This does not mean
[2:42:14]
we must keep a current status quo. When the city solicited designs to reimagine the area.
[2:42:19]
we received hundreds of designs and ideas. Some of the most exciting of said designs
[2:42:23]
came time from student organizations. That's your time. Thank you. Thank you. Ronnie
[2:42:27]
meus.
[2:42:35]
good afternoon, mayor. Uh, ronnie meus, west dallas, texas. You know that already.
[2:42:39]
um, district six. Um, this has just, it's
[2:42:43]
it's been horrible. This whole process has been non-transparent. Uh,
[2:42:48]
you having meetings yesterday for the first time over this issue?
[2:42:52]
um, dallas has a problem with identity. A lot of these people
[2:42:56]
here that are, are, are for the change. Uh, wouldn't sell
[2:43:00]
their homes to come and live downtown. You know, downtown should be a vibrant, and
[2:43:04]
I think we all agree on that. It should be vibrant. Should be someplace you want to go?
[2:43:09]
where wrigley field built 1914. I feel sorry for the people that don't
[2:43:13]
understand or, or just refuse to understand that what history's about. You know, when
[2:43:17]
you see a something that's like that, you know, it is just, I,
[2:43:21]
I, I don't, I can't grasp it, but, uh, it's an identity process.
[2:43:26]
you know, you only have where kennedy got shot or either
[2:43:30]
state fair, one of those two. That's what you used to come to dallas for. And you wanna make it vibrant
[2:43:34]
for everybody to come to dallas. That's your time. Thank you. Thank you.
[2:43:38]
jim anderson. Jim
[2:43:42]
anderson is not present. Claudia fowler.
[2:43:47]
claudia fowler is not present. Joe
[2:43:51]
tve,
[2:44:09]
mayor council joe tve, district three council members.
[2:44:13]
I am a long lifelong dallas resident and former disc history teacher.
[2:44:18]
I value and appreciate historic buildings. As a former city council
[2:44:22]
candidate, I also understand our responsibility to taxpayers
[2:44:26]
and the importance of sound fiscal stewardship. Spending hundreds of
[2:44:30]
millions of dollars to repair a city hall at any cost is not good.
[2:44:35]
governor cu essential, uh, city services to preserve an outdated
[2:44:39]
building will not solve the underlying problem. Dallas needs the city hall that meets
[2:44:43]
the needs of mor of a modern city, not a facility designed for a different
[2:44:47]
area. Relocate city hall, unlock redevelopment opportunities and put valuable down,
[2:44:52]
uh, downtown property back on the tax roads. Use that redevelopment to
[2:44:56]
generate new, uh, revenue. Strengthen downtown, create economic growth.
[2:45:00]
most importantly, invest those resources and neighborhoods that need them most particularly
[2:45:05]
southern dallas or those, uh, areas south of the mason. D that's your time. That's your
[2:45:09]
thank you. Thank you. Yolanda williams.
[2:45:18]
yolanda williams.
[2:45:24]
okay. Sorry. I've been waiting all day for this, but hello everyone. I gotta
[2:45:28]
make this quick and short. It's insulting for the, the three or
[2:45:32]
the four, the five to try to say there's not enough data. You know, that was the
[2:45:36]
second consultant. The numbers were there, first number was low, then they
[2:45:41]
were high. So now that you're not receiving the information that you want, you
[2:45:45]
use taxpayer dollars to, uh, file a lawsuit.
[2:45:49]
oh, hold on one second. I don't know what happened. I'm sorry. You used
[2:45:54]
taxpayer dollars to file a lawsuit. Please. I'm asking you, council member
[2:45:58]
rescind this. I'm sorry. District five, please vote against item number three.
[2:46:02]
just like they filed a lawsuit today. We are gonna file a lawsuit to
[2:46:06]
get this vote done. We're not gonna keep waiting. Y'all are gonna be in recess in july.
[2:46:11]
then you're gonna try to wait till august. So we're asking you all to please
[2:46:15]
vote against item three. It is just a waste of time. And to
[2:46:19]
keep insulting the consultants with all the expertise. Now,
[2:46:23]
y'all said y'all don't have enough data. What more do you want? That's your time.
[2:46:27]
so much data, so many people speaking out. That's your time. Oh, no. Thank you. Thank you.
[2:46:32]
charles williams. Ii charles williams
[2:46:36]
ii. It's not present. David voss.
[2:46:45]
my name is david voss. I live at 6 5 4 6 oral drive, dallas, texas
[2:46:49]
council district number two. I'm here in support of the most financially
[2:46:53]
responsible and environmentally viable option for this dallas city hall
[2:46:58]
at save it and fix it. However, approving agenda item number three is
[2:47:02]
not a good answer. The plan you're voting on today is not a
[2:47:06]
repair plan. It's a construction project that's too extensive
[2:47:11]
and too expensive. The new proposed city hall
[2:47:15]
repair program, the contingency allowances alone
[2:47:19]
are $91 million. That's a
[2:47:23]
project that doesn't know what it's doing. The proposed numbers are not realistic.
[2:47:28]
however, the vote today is to vote yes and then
[2:47:32]
deliver a better plan. This building's not broken. The
[2:47:36]
way it's being used and managed is broken and the way it's being presented
[2:47:41]
is very broken. Save city hall. Thank you.
[2:47:45]
mary lou paris.
[2:47:50]
mary lou paris is not present. Sean todd.
[2:47:56]
sean todd is not online, not in the audience. Not present. Kevin pfeiffer.
[2:48:13]
thank you, mayor. Starting with something inspirational. Change
[2:48:17]
will not come if you wait for some other person or some other time. We are
[2:48:21]
the ones that have been, we have been waiting for. We are the change we seek. Nobody
[2:48:25]
is going to give you anything that you have not earned. I'm skipping weight forward.
[2:48:30]
my understanding. There's roughly four $52 million of arfa funds available
[2:48:34]
to repair city hall. Appendix beam funds are still
[2:48:38]
available. These are unencumbered funds until the end of this fiscal year.
[2:48:43]
no more deferred spending spent, uh, sent to individual
[2:48:47]
district. No more delayed project allowances. Everyone on this council
[2:48:52]
was at one point inspired to do their civic duty and you in
[2:48:56]
turn inspired fellow citizens to go to the voting booth and vote you into office.
[2:49:01]
those are your constituents. They own this building
[2:49:05]
and the surrounding property. Do the right thing. Vote to save city hall.
[2:49:09]
vote yes on item three. Thank you erica
[2:49:13]
cole.
[2:49:24]
my name's erica cole. I, um, am really
[2:49:28]
surprised at what you're doing. I came with my mother when I was a
[2:49:32]
little girl to city hall. I've been doing every year. I've been coming to city
[2:49:36]
hall. I've never had one minute to speak. And I think that
[2:49:41]
I was told to get here at nine o'clock this morning. I've been here for like eight
[2:49:45]
or nine hours. And I don't think it's fair to us to
[2:49:49]
speak up. You work for us and I, you know, you
[2:49:53]
don't, you don't. You won't tell us where we're moving, how we're moving.
[2:49:58]
you won't tell us. You don't tell us what we need to know
[2:50:03]
and how much it's gonna cost. It may be more
[2:50:07]
expensive to do so we don't even know anything. We don't
[2:50:11]
know what's gonna happen to nine 11. What, why can't you tell
[2:50:15]
us what you know and how you know it and
[2:50:19]
treat us like with respect? One minute is not
[2:50:24]
enough for anybody that, that's your time. And after waiting for nine
[2:50:28]
hours, that's your time. I think we're pretty unhappy. Thank
[2:50:32]
you. I will now call the next group of speakers.
[2:50:36]
when I call your name, please come forward and have a seat on the first three rows
[2:50:40]
of this intersection and virtual speakers. Please have your audio
[2:50:44]
and video ready. James depetris. Christopher
[2:50:49]
kates, jlo cummings,
[2:50:54]
rosie kurtz, catherine thomas, adam
[2:50:58]
gaddis has canceled. Mary cook, michael mo,
[2:51:03]
ann harrington, james hill, sylvia
[2:51:07]
lagos, mckayla kins, anthony jones,
[2:51:12]
diana hayes, aubrey morris, andre
[2:51:17]
tr way, caraway. Diane birdwell.
[2:51:21]
jeanette bridges, isaiah alvarez,
[2:51:25]
meredith jones, donna denson, brett ship,
[2:51:29]
patty walker and naomi green.
[2:51:33]
james depetris.
[2:51:42]
hi, my name is jim dris. I've been in native of dallas all my life.
[2:51:47]
I lived downtown. I worked downtown. My kids went to school downtown. Um,
[2:51:51]
I chaired dallas city center association in 1990s. Um, the
[2:51:56]
jewel hotel building sold for $500,000 that year,
[2:52:00]
and that's how bad it was. There was no retail open after five o'clock. After
[2:52:04]
six o'clock. Um, we've come a very, very long way. We've
[2:52:08]
all worked very hard. I've helped raise over a hundred million dollars in tax
[2:52:12]
credits and tiff grants treaty buildings, including the magnolia,
[2:52:17]
the jewel, not the jewel, the statler ltv tower and the
[2:52:21]
national. Um, three of these went bankrupt in the process.
[2:52:26]
cost way more money, cost a lot more money
[2:52:30]
to redo old buildings than it does to build a new one. Um, these numbers
[2:52:34]
are, are lots of numbers are here, but they're probably gonna be less than they will really
[2:52:38]
cost. City hall could get into the bank america tower for four. That's
[2:52:42]
your time. A building, like $400 million. Anyway, steve bartlett and that's
[2:52:46]
your time. Lee jackson are both in support of this as well. One is all both. Mayor, thank
[2:52:51]
you. Thank you. Christopher cates.
[2:52:55]
christopher kates is not present. Jlo calmings.
[2:53:03]
jlo calmings is not present. Rosie
[2:53:07]
kurtz. Rosie kurtz is
[2:53:12]
not present. Catherine thomas.
[2:53:17]
catherine thomas is not present. Adam gaddis is canceled.
[2:53:21]
mary cook. Mary cook
[2:53:26]
is not present. Michael mo.
[2:53:30]
michael mo is not present. Ann harrington.
[2:53:41]
good evening council. My name is anne harrington and I'm proud to call
[2:53:45]
dallas home. I'm here today because dallas city hall belongs to the people.
[2:53:50]
it is where important decisions are made about our neighborhoods, our families, and our future.
[2:53:55]
before any plans are made to move, sell, or replace city hall, the people
[2:53:59]
of dallas deserve to know exactly what is happening and how it,
[2:54:03]
how it will affect our city and our tax and
[2:54:07]
our taxes. Our youth city, city hall is more
[2:54:11]
than just a building. It is, it is a part of dallas history. For many years,
[2:54:15]
it's, it has been a place where people come to have their voices heard.
[2:54:21]
I believe our city leaders should listen to the community before making big decisions.
[2:54:26]
we need to protect what belongs to the people because it's free.
[2:54:30]
today I ask our leaders to slow down, listen to the residents, and do
[2:54:34]
what's best for dallas. Let's say city hall. Let's protect
[2:54:38]
our history and let's keep the people's voice at the center of every decision. Thank
[2:54:43]
you. Thank you. James hill.
[2:54:51]
james hill. It's not online, not present.
[2:54:57]
sylvia lagos. Sylvia lagos is not online
[2:55:01]
and not in the audience not present.
[2:55:05]
mckayla kins. Mckayla
[2:55:10]
wakens is not present. Anthony jones.
[2:55:14]
anthony jones is not present. Diana hayes.
[2:55:20]
diana hayes is not present. Aubrey morris.
[2:55:25]
aubrey morris is not present. Andre
[2:55:30]
ue caraway. Andre trwe
[2:55:34]
caraway is not present. Diane birdwell. Yep.
[2:55:43]
is what? Sorry. You all, you walk when you're 65.
[2:55:52]
before I forget, I'm diane birdwell. I vote for item three. It's the best we've
[2:55:56]
got. Whenever somebody's rushing me, I know they're crooked and we know the
[2:56:00]
vote's already in. But, uh, for south dallas, for the astroturf green
[2:56:04]
shirts, um, let me tell you something. Cotton bowl never, uh, despite
[2:56:08]
the being developed, never helped. South dallas reunion arena was built and torn down, never helped. South
[2:56:12]
dallas. American airlines arena was built, never helped south dallas. Now they're going abandon it.
[2:56:17]
uh, deep elm comes and goes. Elm street theater district of my childhood
[2:56:21]
is not being used the way it should be. West end came and went.
[2:56:26]
if the omni hotel hasn't spurred much more development, the astro
[2:56:30]
tife, uh, turf green shirts are too young to know that whoever paid for
[2:56:34]
their shirts doesn't care anything about south dallas. Let's stop with that. Lie
[2:56:38]
right now. And they would invest in south dallas. They would live
[2:56:42]
in south dallas. They would work in south dallas. It's
[2:56:46]
a lie. But y'all have been bought off and we know it. And maybe I'll
[2:56:50]
just run for city council and we'll have some fun. That's your time. Thank you
[2:56:55]
janet bridges.
[2:57:01]
okay, y'all, this is about physical
[2:57:05]
responsibility of each and every one of you. You are responsible
[2:57:10]
to the taxpayers for making sure that, um,
[2:57:14]
it's, you're making the right decision with taxpayer dollars. I just wanna put that
[2:57:18]
out there. That is your job. Um,
[2:57:22]
so the public needs to have an apples to apples comparison
[2:57:28]
between every alternative that's being considered.
[2:57:32]
um, so here's some questions and I'm going to submit these, um, also,
[2:57:37]
um, for a public information request. But here's some questions for you. Sorry.
[2:57:42]
um, what is the, what is the projected
[2:57:46]
30 year cost of renovation? What is the projected
[2:57:51]
30 year cost of leaving? What is the projected
[2:57:55]
30 year cost of budgeting? I mean, of buying another
[2:57:59]
building? What is the projected 30 year cost of cons? That's
[2:58:03]
your time of, uh, of, um, that's your time. Okay.
[2:58:08]
constructing a new city hall, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. The public needs
[2:58:12]
answers thank you. Period. Thank you. As they
[2:58:16]
alvarez.
[2:58:30]
good afternoon, mayor and council. I'm one of the younger people in this room today,
[2:58:34]
and that concerns me because many of the people who will live with this decision for the next 30
[2:58:38]
or 40 years aren't here. Over the last few weeks we've heard detailed
[2:58:42]
presentations about the cost of repairing city hall. We've seen estimates ranging
[2:58:46]
today. We just saw it from roughly 532 million to over 600 million
[2:58:51]
in repairs and more than 1.5 billion in long-term occupancy costs.
[2:58:55]
but when it comes to relocation, we're still talking about possibilities. It's not
[2:58:59]
as detailed. It's about potential savings, potential redevelopment, potential
[2:59:04]
economic growth. So my question is simple. If this is truly a
[2:59:08]
generational decision, why are we comparing a detailed repair plan against
[2:59:13]
a concept? What is the land acquisition cost? What properties would be affected? What
[2:59:17]
is a 30 year cost? And a lot of private developers are trying to rush this process. But
[2:59:21]
you know, when we consider an investment of this size, we need those answers before
[2:59:25]
we move forward on this plan. So what is the rush task that your time serve?
[2:59:29]
the same. Thank you. Thank you. Meredith jones.
[2:59:44]
hello, my name is meredith jones and I'm in support of pursuing a repair plan
[2:59:49]
for the iconic im pay design, building and plaza.
[2:59:53]
leasing a city hall forever does not make financial sense for future generations.
[2:59:57]
renting from a landlord opens both our budget and governance up to outside
[3:00:01]
manipulation. We have not proven we can manage assets. So why should
[3:00:05]
we buy a new building? The root issue is that we have not taken care of our assets.
[3:00:10]
we need to fix that pattern, or we will be stuck in a cycle of these conversations forever
[3:00:15]
and we'll never truly move on. To be a city of the future, while individual
[3:00:19]
numbers presented may be accurate, the story does not seem complete with
[3:00:23]
an incomplete story. I wonder who is it serving? Why has the
[3:00:27]
cost of demolition not been presented? Why hasn't the environmental impacts of tearing
[3:00:31]
down been explored? What about the impacts of losing the plaza, which is a downtown
[3:00:36]
park? Each public meeting has proven that more residents want to save
[3:00:40]
city hall, serve the people and save our house. Thank you.
[3:00:45]
donna denson.
[3:00:53]
good afternoon, mayor and city council members, I ask you to vote yes
[3:00:57]
on agenda item three. I urge you to reconsider any decision
[3:01:02]
to abandon city hall before a full and transparent evaluation
[3:01:06]
of the cost between repairing, not gutting, but repairing
[3:01:10]
it and moving is known. It's the taxpayers
[3:01:14]
need to know their most. The most financial
[3:01:19]
opt option, long term financial impact on taxpayers
[3:01:23]
is still unknown. It's difficult to justify abandoning a structurally sound public
[3:01:27]
asset when the full costs have not been made clear to the public each
[3:01:32]
week. Equally concerning is the speed in which this process has moved forward.
[3:01:36]
a building that belongs to the people of dallas should not be abandoned without giving
[3:01:41]
complete accounting of the cost between staying and moving. I respectfully
[3:01:46]
ask the council to slow this process, process fully disclose all costs
[3:01:50]
and alternatives and engage the public. That's your time. Thank you.
[3:01:54]
thank you. Brett ship.
[3:01:59]
brett ship is not present. Patty walker.
[3:02:05]
patty walker is not virtual. Not in the audience not present.
[3:02:10]
naomi green. Naomi green
[3:02:15]
is not present. I will now call the next group
[3:02:19]
of speakers. When I call your name, please come forward and have a seat on the first three rows
[3:02:23]
in the intersection. And I ask that virtual speakers
[3:02:27]
have their audio and video ready. Catherine garrison,
[3:02:32]
sanford, denison, gail grace,
[3:02:36]
alex scott, ronald parrish, sean peace,
[3:02:42]
harrison. Blair, christopher weiss, margot posey, peter young,
[3:02:47]
tommy hamilton, peter may, anthony jones, jr.
[3:02:52]
and harold holland. Catherine garrison.
[3:02:57]
yes. Careful.
[3:03:05]
I've had a love affair with this city for as long as I can remember.
[3:03:09]
save dallas city hall. I attended a town hall meeting last night
[3:03:14]
in my district. My councilperson said that we don't have all of the numbers
[3:03:18]
regarding the cost to repair the land value, the cost to
[3:03:22]
build a new building or retrofit an existing building,
[3:03:26]
demolition costs, moving costs, scope of time involved and where and
[3:03:30]
how the debris would go. This worries me greatly
[3:03:34]
if my counsel person doesn't know. I assume that no one
[3:03:38]
sitting at this horseshoe knows either.
[3:03:43]
how do your cons do your constituents? How
[3:03:47]
are they able to disseminate the information on such short notice
[3:03:51]
and without time to review and let you the horse, you know, their thoughts
[3:03:55]
without hard numbers? This seemed rushed. Transparency
[3:04:00]
matters and we aren't seeing it today. The city
[3:04:04]
cfo stated that the cost of a tax increase would be, that's your time. $212
[3:04:09]
annually. That's 58 cents. That's your time a day.
[3:04:13]
thank you. San sanford, denison. It's
[3:04:17]
not online, not in the audience not present.
[3:04:22]
gail grace? Yes. Hello. I'm here. Can you hear me?
[3:04:26]
y yes, you may continue. Alright, thank you. And, um, good afternoon
[3:04:31]
and thank you for allowing me to speak, uh, today. I'm gail
[3:04:35]
grace and I'm a resident of district one. I'm here today because I'm against the efforts
[3:04:39]
to abandon our historic and architecturally significant city hall.
[3:04:43]
I understand that you've inherited this quagmire, but here we are, the
[3:04:48]
result of years of purposeful neglect at the building. This building
[3:04:52]
and the campus on which it stands is tied directly to the history of dallas
[3:04:56]
since late 1960s. Dallas city hall on the campus in which
[3:05:00]
it sits isn't keeping businesses from thriving. That
[3:05:05]
property isn't keeping the shady elements in the neighborhood. It isn't
[3:05:09]
keeping properties vacant in its area. A lack of
[3:05:13]
planning and follow through that has played dallas since I moved here over 30
[3:05:17]
years ago. Uh, is the
[3:05:22]
problem. What other properties are next? Daley plaza,
[3:05:26]
pioneer park cemetery. Alex scott. I'm talking. Pardon?
[3:05:31]
I'm sorry. Your time is up. Oh, okay. Thank
[3:05:35]
you. Thank you alex. Scott. Hey,
[3:05:39]
y'all. 64 72 trimble drive. Alex, scott, I'm your neighbor in
[3:05:43]
district nine. So I'm gonna come here with some solutions. We've talked about how we can't afford things,
[3:05:47]
right? So I worked for gartner for eight years, the world's leading research and
[3:05:51]
advisory organization that helps c-suite executives achieve their mission critical priorities. And we have
[3:05:56]
strategic contracting. Y'all have accounts with gartner.
[3:06:00]
you can do strategic contracting with gartner. Every single software contract that you have
[3:06:04]
here, you should be running that through gartner's strategic contracting. You can save
[3:06:08]
multiple millions of dollars. Do you know why? I know because I've done that with my clients.
[3:06:13]
I saved a 50 million human services organization, $5 million
[3:06:18]
on their workday contract. You don't think that we have bloated budgets
[3:06:22]
here? We are getting screwed out the ass. And it's
[3:06:26]
about time that our city manager steps up and actually does some strategic contracting because
[3:06:30]
pepsi now has control of, uh, of
[3:06:35]
fair park and more specifically the cotton bowl. And we did not
[3:06:39]
renegotiate that contract. I came up here last year and talked to y all about that s**t.
[3:06:43]
I'm sick and tired of this. Nope. That language is unacceptable
[3:06:47]
to use in the city council chamber. Okay? Yeah. Thank you. Thank
[3:06:52]
you. Roland parish, well in parish
[3:06:56]
is not present. Sean, peace.
[3:07:03]
I stand before you today, not just as the president of the dallas police association, but
[3:07:07]
someone who has spent my life living in the city and serving this city.
[3:07:11]
over the last few weeks, dallas has been forced to make some uncomfortable
[3:07:15]
conversations. Every headline has sparked the same question. How
[3:07:20]
did we lose our grip? For too long, dallas has been
[3:07:24]
slow to act. We have allowed studies to replace decisions.
[3:07:28]
we have allowed debate to replace execution. We
[3:07:33]
have made promises that have taken years to fulfill, if fulfilled at
[3:07:37]
all. I signed up to speak on item one because
[3:07:41]
you have the opportunity to support and build out
[3:07:45]
the complete project of the dallas police academy on the unt campus
[3:07:51]
and include the public safety training complex. We are
[3:07:55]
the ninth largest city in america, one of the most recognized
[3:07:59]
cities in the world. Host city for the fifa world cup. But we're
[3:08:03]
training our people. That's your time in a 30 5-year-old facility
[3:08:07]
build these academies. Thank you. Thank you.
[3:08:12]
harrison. Blair?
[3:08:17]
okay. Can y'all see me? Can y'all hear me? Yes, we can see you and hear you. You may
[3:08:21]
continue. Okay. Thank you. I'm harrison blair. I wanna just
[3:08:25]
say, uh, first and foremost, uh, please vote against this item.
[3:08:30]
please don't spend our hard earned tax dollars on this particular project.
[3:08:34]
there are hundreds and hundreds of things that the budget actually needs for the city of dallas.
[3:08:38]
and I can guarantee you that young families like mine who are, uh, raising their
[3:08:43]
family in dallas, don't want to be stuck with a 600 thou, uh, $600 million,
[3:08:47]
uh, or plus bill to fix one asset. And there's so many infrastructure
[3:08:52]
projects in the southern sector, um, including the one that the gentleman before me just talked
[3:08:56]
about with the police, uh, in the training facility. There's so much we can do.
[3:09:00]
let's not waste that money. And in fact, I've already got my hard hat, uh, hardhat here.
[3:09:04]
I don't know if you can see what it says, but it says save downtown. Thank you.
[3:09:09]
thank you. Christopher weiss.
[3:09:20]
good afternoon, mayor, city manager and council members. I'm christopher weiss, 1419
[3:09:24]
griffin street southeast district two resident and business owner in the
[3:09:28]
cbd. We are at the point in this discussion where because of a forced
[3:09:32]
timeline and widely divergent economic data, people have lost trust in the process.
[3:09:36]
this can be fixed. Defer the vote on three and complete
[3:09:40]
the evaluation of all options. Schedule and hold a public bond referendum
[3:09:45]
on the vote. Put this to the people over the year. Dallas has had several
[3:09:49]
bond referendums, including approval of this building, american airline center and convention
[3:09:53]
center and others. I wanna ask the people in the crowd here who here is not
[3:09:57]
for economic revitalization in the city. Anyone raising their hand? They're not for economic revitalization.
[3:10:02]
who here doesn't want the mavericks or the stars to stay? I think
[3:10:06]
we're all on the same side. It doesn't matter if you're wearing green or blue. We
[3:10:10]
want to see revitalization. Don't do this at city council. Do it as a referent and vote. Move
[3:10:15]
it forward. Thank you. Thank you. Margo
[3:10:19]
posey. Margo posey is not
[3:10:23]
present. Peter young.
[3:10:30]
um, hi. I come here to speak in support of repairing and maintaining
[3:10:34]
city hall. Uh, I'm a resident of highland park. I have spent so much of my time over the last six months
[3:10:38]
knocking on doors and lock walking to keep, to talk to my neighbors in favor
[3:10:42]
of keeping dart in my neighborhood. I, I mentioned this because I believe that dallas
[3:10:47]
is something that is important. I think that our region needs
[3:10:52]
to come together and work to make the metro better, uh, and make it work for everybody.
[3:10:56]
I I find it really impressive the solidarity that all the money to interest in the metro have, uh,
[3:11:00]
have shown coalescing to call for more handouts from the public coffers. Business
[3:11:04]
owners are not privileged class. You represent the dallas citizens. Stop listening
[3:11:08]
to the oligarchs and developers. They've created the current condition and are trying to sell
[3:11:12]
you the cure by knocking down a monument to our city. Stop listening.
[3:11:17]
uh, I know many of you are turned out next year, and usually politicians care about legacy.
[3:11:21]
you represent your vote, uh, voters, not business charters. Vote like it.
[3:11:26]
thank you. Tommy hamilton.
[3:11:31]
tommy hamilton is not present. Peter may,
[3:11:38]
peter may is not present. Anthony jones,
[3:11:42]
jr. Anthony jones, jr. Is not present.
[3:11:47]
harold holland. Harold holland is not online,
[3:11:51]
not in the audience, not present. I will now call the
[3:11:56]
final group of speakers. When I call your name, please come forward
[3:12:00]
and have a seat on the first three rows of this intersection and virtual
[3:12:05]
speakers. Please have your video and audio ready.
[3:12:09]
harold, laura epso.
[3:12:15]
cynthia michaels, edward stone. Michael
[3:12:19]
anette. Andrew
[3:12:23]
cia. Bot toru. My apologies.
[3:12:29]
sara gupta, sylvester hayes,
[3:12:35]
preti gupta, patricia les and
[3:12:39]
bruce richardson. Laura eon.
[3:12:44]
laura ep epso is not virtual
[3:12:48]
and not in the audience. Not present. Cynthia michaels,
[3:12:57]
I'm speaking for myself. And here at joe cliff as president, it's to sad
[3:13:01]
state of affairs that it took a court order to make city officials follow their own rules.
[3:13:06]
I beg you to read and digest david voss report that he mailed to each and
[3:13:10]
every one of you. It specifically shows using nfpa. I'm sorry to interrupt you.
[3:13:14]
we need to take a, a brief recess so that folks can have
[3:13:18]
a break to take care of business. So we'll reconvene in 15 minutes.
[3:13:22]
thank you.
[3:13:26]
alright. Recess has, uh, ended
[3:13:31]
and we're back in, in session our special call
[3:13:35]
meeting. And, uh, we were with, we had a speaker. Yes. We're
[3:13:39]
gonna start back with cynthia michaels. We'll bring cynthia. We'll
[3:13:44]
bring ms. Michaels back up. Ah, there you are
[3:13:48]
ma'am. We apologize, but it's just a that's okay. Okay. Part of the
[3:13:52]
process. So thank you. But you're welcome to continue. We're ready to start. Yes. You? Yes, you
[3:13:56]
may. Yes. Speaking for myself and heritage joe cliff as president. Sad state
[3:14:00]
of affairs that it took court order to make city officials follow their own rules. I beg you
[3:14:04]
to read and I I'm gonna ask you to stop just one second because I'm gonna ask the people in the gallery
[3:14:09]
to sit down and be quiet if they're gonna stay in here or they can step outside and keep
[3:14:13]
your conversations going, but outside and come back if you need to. But I wanna make sure we
[3:14:17]
can hear you. So go ahead ms. Michaels, you want me to start again or start work? Whit, you can
[3:14:21]
start, if you'd like to start over again. You can start over again. We'll, I'll start.
[3:14:25]
we'll do your time again. Okay. Thanks. I beg you to read and digest david
[3:14:30]
voss report that he mail each and every one of you. It specifically shows using nfpa
[3:14:34]
as to when a repair will be, will be required to upgrade to current codes. Not all
[3:14:38]
repairs will be required to do that. Therefore, cost projected to
[3:14:42]
repair city hall are false because they include bringing everything up
[3:14:46]
to the current code, which is not required. This process has been rushed from the get go.
[3:14:51]
a quote we've gotta get outta city hall was made several months ago
[3:14:55]
and no cost repairs were known at that time and all council members were not aware
[3:14:59]
that there was a push to leave city hall after november 22nd, 1963.
[3:15:04]
dallas was known as a city where president kennedy was assassinated in,
[3:15:09]
in, uh, 2026. Do we really want to be known as the city that moved out and
[3:15:13]
tore down an iconic impa historic building in a city that does not own
[3:15:17]
city hall. Please vote yes for item three. Thank
[3:15:21]
you, edward stone.
[3:15:25]
edward stone is not present. Michael
[3:15:30]
anette.
[3:15:34]
michael anette, 2210 west 10th. I'm also a commercial property owner in bishop arts.
[3:15:39]
last night, I, a district one meeting. 95% wanted this building saved
[3:15:43]
95% cbre representatives blame this space for
[3:15:47]
50 years of area stagnation. Government buildings are not economic engines.
[3:15:52]
that's not their function. What's been around about as long as city hall and takes up three
[3:15:56]
times. The area is the empty convention center next door. Empty convention centers are urban
[3:16:00]
dead zones for downtowns. And that is what has happened here for years. Owners of empty
[3:16:04]
office towers want guaranteed rent and triple net in perpetuity. They want
[3:16:08]
tax dollars for their aging towers. Cbre mentioned rent to own. It's
[3:16:12]
not enough to rent these empty towers. Now. They want us to buy one regardless of how much
[3:16:16]
it costs to fix this building. In no world is it a better deal to give up an
[3:16:21]
I and pay built to last for hundreds of years for an abandoned 1980s
[3:16:25]
mediocre office tower. You will reach and surpass the amount it costs to fix this
[3:16:29]
building in no time and have nothing to show for it. Tear down this building and you'll unleash
[3:16:33]
a toxicity on this city that will linger for decades. That's your time only financially
[3:16:38]
motivated real estate vipers want this to public. Adamantly opposed. Thank you.
[3:16:42]
thank you andrew charu.
[3:16:52]
good afternoon. I'm here to urge everyone to, uh,
[3:16:56]
remind everyone to reconsider. You know, we must remain at city hall
[3:17:01]
and repair because it is the right thing to do. But I must remind everyone
[3:17:05]
that the, the numbers released recently of 500 to 600 million to
[3:17:09]
repair are artificially inflated in order to wrongfully
[3:17:13]
justify, uh, an agenda. Uh,
[3:17:17]
and we, we must not make this mistake.
[3:17:22]
we must remain at city hall. And, uh, I'm, I'm gonna read a
[3:17:26]
quote of why I'm paid the architect. I am unhappy about the fact that our society seems
[3:17:30]
to be much more inclined to build something for a short time and then tear them down.
[3:17:35]
this mentality of short lifespan does not apply to this unique building.
[3:17:39]
it is built here to last. It is not falling apart. There is no rush to vacate.
[3:17:43]
and, uh, this is not about political shenanigans. It's
[3:17:47]
not about worshiping outdated buildings from a bygone era. That's your time.
[3:17:53]
thank you, sir. Rob gupta.
[3:17:58]
hi, uh, the city hall move helps economic development
[3:18:02]
help south dallas with contagious development.
[3:18:07]
and let's face the cold hard facts. The building, the current
[3:18:11]
building was built in 1970s, the city financial experts.
[3:18:16]
they have presented clear, undeniable data showing that
[3:18:21]
this building operation in the next decade, uh, by
[3:18:25]
doing the renovation to, uh, keep it operational, will cost between
[3:18:29]
532,000,600 and 611 million in
[3:18:33]
maintenance and infrastructure overhaul. Think about that. Figure
[3:18:37]
that is over half a billion dollars just to patch up leaky roofs
[3:18:41]
replace failing hvac system and fix deteriorating concrete.
[3:18:45]
it is financially responsible to sink that kind of capital into an obsolete
[3:18:50]
building when neighborhoods are crying out for street repairs, park improvement and enhanced public
[3:18:54]
safety. Every dollar spent propping of the past is a dollar stolen from the
[3:18:58]
future of the community. That's your time. This movie is a historic economic opportunity. Thank you.
[3:19:03]
thank you. Sylvester hayes.
[3:19:08]
sylvester hayes is not present. Priti gupta.
[3:19:18]
ms. Ms. Gupta, your, um, your audio is, we can not hear you.
[3:19:23]
please unmute your audio .
[3:19:29]
ms. Gupta,
[3:19:34]
I'll come back. Yes. I I'm there. I'm sorry. Yes. Thank you.
[3:19:38]
you may continue. Yes. Relocating dallas city hall from its current marla
[3:19:42]
street location is a forward thinking path. By avoiding the
[3:19:47]
costly repairs we can protect the tax players while
[3:19:51]
unlocking downtown redevelopment opportunities, the, the debate
[3:19:55]
or whether to stay or to go is no longer just
[3:19:59]
preserving a 50-year-old building. It is about making smart, sustainable
[3:20:03]
financial choices. Today we face a harsh reality. Maintaining the
[3:20:07]
current city hall is a mess, massive financial burden. City financial
[3:20:12]
experts have our client that simply modernizing the aging infrastructure
[3:20:16]
at 1500 ola will cost upwards of half a billion dollar over the
[3:20:20]
next decade. This is hundred of millions of taxpayers dollars poured into
[3:20:24]
a building that simply no longer meets the need of modern municipal, uh,
[3:20:28]
workforce selling or reimagining the prime piece of
[3:20:33]
real estate with spark new economic growth right in the heart of the city.
[3:20:37]
um, it'll allow us to create modern, efficient, and that's time
[3:20:42]
government. That's time or workspace that truly solves the public. That's your time. Moving
[3:20:46]
city hall is a bold step. Thank you. But it is exactly the kind of leadership we needed
[3:20:50]
in 2026. Thank you.
[3:20:54]
patricia bowles. Patricia bowles.
[3:20:58]
it's not present. Bruce richardson.
[3:21:03]
bruce richardson,
[3:21:17]
the great eric johnson. Our most consequential
[3:21:22]
mayor would've had the list of
[3:21:26]
professionals who put this document together on
[3:21:30]
speed dial. I urge you to read it. I urge you to
[3:21:34]
consider it no matter what you do today, because we will continue to press
[3:21:38]
the case that professionals profoundly disagree
[3:21:43]
with the process we have been through. And
[3:21:48]
we believe there are rounding error
[3:21:52]
level possibilities for funding the rehabilitation of this
[3:21:56]
building. I urge you never to invoke
[3:22:00]
the name of eric johnson I's great
[3:22:04]
founder in any sort of
[3:22:08]
relationship to the decision you are calling today.
[3:22:13]
we did not elect you to do this. That's your time.
[3:22:18]
thank you. We did not. Thank you. There are three speakers
[3:22:22]
that I'm gonna go back to. Jim anderson.
[3:22:29]
I wanna talk about a, a number that we haven't talked about before. That is
[3:22:34]
actually renting land for city hall. The building interior
[3:22:38]
is about 770 square feet. We take out all the goodies. Take out the city council chambers,
[3:22:42]
the flag room, the lobby, and the great hallway left with 400,000 square feet.
[3:22:46]
join 400 square feet in downtown dallas today. According to the fox news,
[3:22:50]
you can get boring office space for 19 to $25 million
[3:22:54]
a year. That's 195, 200 50 million a year.
[3:22:58]
and if you go for 20 years, it's 400 to $500 million a year.
[3:23:03]
you scoff at fixing up the building for $500 million, a half a billion,
[3:23:07]
yet it may cost that much to move it. Then you also have the demolition cost
[3:23:11]
of a building that is not going to come down easy. You need to look at the demolition
[3:23:16]
cost, the relocation cost moving, 9 1 1 3 1 emergency
[3:23:20]
preparedness. You need to have all the numbers. Please look at the numbers. We have plenty
[3:23:24]
of time now. The masks not coming around. Thank
[3:23:28]
you. Naomi green.
[3:23:35]
hello? Can you hear me? Yes, you may continue. Thank you. Vote
[3:23:39]
against item three. Do not fund to, uh, do not
[3:23:43]
vote to fund the repairs for the building. As a community advocate
[3:23:47]
for some of the most marginalized neighborhoods in dallas, I understand the importance
[3:23:52]
of city resources and the impact that they have on people's daily lives.
[3:23:56]
feelings about a building will not create opportunities for our neighborhoods, improve
[3:24:00]
quality of life, or help communities grow. Our taxpayer dollars
[3:24:05]
deserve to be spent wisely and responsibly.
[3:24:09]
it is not fiscally, fiscally responsible to invest hundreds of millions of
[3:24:13]
dollars into an outdated aging building that will never
[3:24:17]
meet modern standards and most importantly does not
[3:24:22]
provide a quality of life and safe work environment for the employees who serve
[3:24:26]
our residents every day. I cannot stand here today and say that cutting city
[3:24:30]
services to repair the building is the right thing to do. We
[3:24:34]
must pay our communities. We must put our
[3:24:39]
emotions aside. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, sylvia
[3:24:43]
lagos. It's not online.
[3:24:48]
mr. Mayor, this concludes your speakers for this item.
[3:24:55]
is there, um, chairman west for what purpose? Uh, to make
[3:24:59]
a motion you recognize for that purpose,
[3:25:04]
I move to deny this item, and because the city manager has completed
[3:25:09]
subsection one sub paragraphs, numbers 1, 2, 4,
[3:25:13]
and five of resolution number 2 6 0 4 9 9. Direct
[3:25:18]
the city manager to continue following resolution number 2 6 0 4 9 9
[3:25:23]
subparagraph three to explore options for the disposition of city
[3:25:27]
hall site and bring these options back to city council no later
[3:25:31]
than august 26th, 2026. Second, it's been moved in
[3:25:35]
second. Is there any discussion? Chairman west, you recognize for five minutes for the public, we are
[3:25:39]
on agenda item three. Motion by
[3:25:44]
chairman west. You re us for five minutes. Thank you, mayor. So this motion
[3:25:48]
pauses any, uh, move to begin the renovation process
[3:25:52]
at this point. And it does. It's intended to do exactly what
[3:25:57]
many speakers, including those who spoke today from the safe city hall
[3:26:01]
coalition, have asked for, which is to get us a full picture of the numbers,
[3:26:05]
including the lease options, um, and, and the cost
[3:26:09]
of leasing to own, um, a different building. That one of the main
[3:26:13]
things that have been asked for from my residents in my town hall and from many
[3:26:17]
of the speakers over the course of this last several months, is to have a true
[3:26:21]
side-by-side comparison. We cannot do that if we stop the process
[3:26:25]
today. A few questions for staff and I'd like to go ahead and bring up slide
[3:26:29]
38, please.
[3:26:44]
good evening. And I don't think the presentation's available to pull back up right now.
[3:26:48]
okay. Well, if we can work on that, I think it's, it's helpful. Um, so the
[3:26:52]
deck that was presented by you a few hours ago discussed the costs of renovating
[3:26:57]
city hall in a phased re repair plan between five and 10 years.
[3:27:01]
um, my first question is to, um,
[3:27:05]
on slide 38, walk me through the, the
[3:27:09]
highlighted, um, figures there I see under the gresham
[3:27:13]
smith option number two, which you used jack to,
[3:27:18]
um, really base all the other slides and, and the,
[3:27:23]
the, the, you know, what we'd have to do to pay for the phase repair. Um,
[3:27:27]
what it, what are the, the major figures here mean when I see
[3:27:31]
subcap subtotal capital of 769 million and
[3:27:35]
then I see, um, you know, subcapital plus interest
[3:27:39]
1.225 million billion. What does that mean?
[3:27:44]
good evening. John johnson, chief of real estate. So the gresham smith option
[3:27:48]
number two item that you've referenced is around $556.8 million
[3:27:53]
for corrective repairs. That includes repairs that are necessary to the building
[3:27:57]
as well as a da and code required upgrades. Um, as
[3:28:01]
I mentioned, so the a da compliance is included in that number. The interiors piece
[3:28:06]
of 107 million, that's walls, ceilings, floorings, finish
[3:28:10]
out, uh, ff and e furniture fixture and equipment desks, chairs,
[3:28:14]
storage workstations. Technology would be for network systems,
[3:28:19]
av systems, broadcast chambers, technology, and then soft costs would
[3:28:23]
be the design, construction administration, permitting, and those things that
[3:28:27]
are necessary for us to deliver the project with a flat $10 million contingency.
[3:28:36]
okay. What would generally be in the 20 year o and m budget of
[3:28:40]
$229 million? So the 20,
[3:28:46]
sorry. Uh, we use the actual number, it's around $8 million a year
[3:28:50]
that we have for this building. That's things like electricity, gas, water security,
[3:28:54]
custodial, uh, landscape pest, power washing, window washing. And so that's
[3:28:59]
an $8 million fee or an $8 million expense with a 3% escalation
[3:29:03]
over a 20 year period, which is how you get to the $229 million that's
[3:29:07]
listed for an apples to apples comparison on the slide for slide 38.
[3:29:12]
okay. This total cost figure that's in option two,
[3:29:16]
um, would be paid out over 20 years. Right. So this is where I'm gonna need
[3:29:20]
the chief financial officer's help. The amount of the
[3:29:24]
1.5 is that paid out over 20 years.
[3:29:30]
the question regarding, um, the $1.5 million
[3:29:35]
in this scenario, the scenario does assume that the $769 million
[3:29:41]
for corrective repairs and modernization, so the total
[3:29:45]
$769.8 million of capital improvements
[3:29:50]
would be financed over 20 years. The financing cost
[3:29:54]
in this scenario is $456 million. And then
[3:29:58]
in addition to paying the capital principle and interest back over 20
[3:30:02]
years, the operating cost that's in the, uh, o
[3:30:06]
and m line operation and maintenance line, 229 million is
[3:30:10]
the cost over 20 years of custodial utilities security.
[3:30:14]
so yes, the $1.5 billion total is a 20
[3:30:18]
year, uh, cost of occupancy repair.
[3:30:23]
okay. Interest on the debt and operations of the facility.
[3:30:27]
got it. So I'm gonna come back in a second to the apples to apples comparison, but I
[3:30:31]
do want to know if we did vote in support of this,
[3:30:35]
if this ended up being a yes vote for this item. When does staff foresee
[3:30:40]
beginning the renovation process? When would that kick off?
[3:30:45]
so all of the numbers that we have from aecom, from gresham smith, and
[3:30:49]
from wm two company are based in 2020 $8 because that would be the
[3:30:53]
very earliest that feasibly we could do anything for construction. However,
[3:30:58]
it's really important that the city council identify the direction
[3:31:02]
and the funding and the scope that they want to include. And we would need that upfront because we have to do
[3:31:07]
design work. We need to, uh, ensure that we procured architects and
[3:31:11]
engineers who will actually do the construction documents, come up with the phasing. We have permitting, we
[3:31:15]
need to bid out for the general contractor, allow time for the swing space
[3:31:19]
for the actual construction commissioning, and then move back in. So it would be a very complex
[3:31:24]
and very complicated situation. So it would likely take at least 28,
[3:31:29]
likely, probably a year or two past that. And I think that question is really important,
[3:31:33]
um, that we, you know, when we get the question, what's the rush? I mean,
[3:31:37]
part of what I've been told by the city manager is she needs to plan her budget. Now
[3:31:42]
that's, I assume that's still correct for this next fall, but what's the risk
[3:31:46]
to this building? Um, if we do nothing, if this council says, well,
[3:31:50]
we don't want to put the money into it to fix it, we don't wanna move to another
[3:31:55]
location, what happens if we kick it down the road another five or 10 years? You know, other
[3:31:59]
than putting council staff and the public through this yet again,
[3:32:03]
when, when my time's done. So I think that it's the cost
[3:32:07]
increase with every month with every day it costs more for stuff in the future. Uh, we expose
[3:32:12]
ourselves to additional risks. We would potentially see additional failures that would occur over
[3:32:16]
time, broken pipes, systems that fail that we have not maintained or replaced,
[3:32:20]
and they would probably become more prevalent over time.
[3:32:24]
so jack, um, you presented three options on how we're gonna pay for this, uh,
[3:32:29]
a tax rate increase, a bond election, and there were a lot of good questions
[3:32:33]
by, uh, councilor stewart and, and some others. Um, our cuts
[3:32:37]
in staff or services or, or both, um, do you see any other options
[3:32:42]
on how we would pay for city hall repairs
[3:32:46]
other than those three options? Uh, certificate
[3:32:50]
typically for these types of improvements? Uh, for the general fund,
[3:32:54]
we have two basic sources. Uh, either we, um,
[3:32:59]
use cash to pay for it or we issue debt. And the cash
[3:33:03]
scenario would involve potentially reducing
[3:33:08]
services, cutting services, or increasing property tax to accomplish
[3:33:12]
it. Um, there's really not another large enough source
[3:33:16]
of funds. We would take advantage of cost sharing with the
[3:33:20]
other, uh, occupants in this building, such as the water utility department and
[3:33:25]
others. However, the, the bulk of the cost is gonna fall on
[3:33:29]
the general fund portion of the city government. And so you either then
[3:33:33]
use cash in the general fund, or you use debt through the debt service fund.
[3:33:39]
so if we, if we end up relocating to a different
[3:33:43]
location, there's obviously gonna be costs with relocating too. It's
[3:33:48]
not gonna be free. There's gonna be, we're gonna have additional, we're gonna have other costs.
[3:33:52]
um, we of course don't know what those numbers are because we haven't
[3:33:56]
turned loose our brokers to go out and talk to and, you know, negotiate a
[3:34:00]
final deal, which is what the motion, my motion is intended to allow us to do.
[3:34:04]
um, but would relocating in your understanding
[3:34:09]
trigger one of those three funding mechanisms, do you think under
[3:34:13]
a re a relocating scenario? Um, we're still going
[3:34:17]
to need to increase the tax rate issue, bonds or cut services.
[3:34:24]
so based on the market exploration that our partners have been through
[3:34:29]
and looking at what's available, um, they have made it
[3:34:33]
clear that there are material savings to the city
[3:34:37]
by relocating from, uh, 1500 marilla. And
[3:34:41]
so that savings is, um, they've described in the
[3:34:45]
hundreds of millions of dollars, don't know an exact amount, uh, because they're
[3:34:50]
still working through, uh, with the potential properties,
[3:34:55]
what, what there might really be. Uh, and those will get refined
[3:34:59]
over time if we relocate. There are other options
[3:35:03]
for financing. You can work financing through a lease to own,
[3:35:07]
you can, uh, work with the property that would
[3:35:11]
be purchased, uh, on how that is structured. There's the opportunity,
[3:35:16]
uh, in some of the properties that are available to have excess space
[3:35:20]
that could be rented to, uh, a third party or a private tenant
[3:35:24]
that would provide an additional revenue stream. Um,
[3:35:28]
there would be the opportunity to consolidate some of our operations
[3:35:32]
from some of our leased space that we currently have from some of our
[3:35:37]
other owned space that we have, bringing those together in a
[3:35:41]
consolidated, uh, city hall and divest of those other
[3:35:45]
real estate assets. So there's a lot of other tools in the tool
[3:35:49]
chest, so to speak, uh, for relocating than I
[3:35:53]
see possible, uh, in the options to repair.
[3:35:58]
you touched on this, but in the relocating options, are there options
[3:36:02]
in there for a lease to own? So we wouldn't just be necessarily a
[3:36:06]
tenant if we went in that option? So there is
[3:36:10]
no anticipation that we would, uh, be a permanent tenant somewhere.
[3:36:15]
every option that we're looking at would be, uh, to, um,
[3:36:19]
I, if we did go with the lease, it would be a lease to own option. Our, our goal
[3:36:24]
is to own city hall, not to lease city hall. Okay.
[3:36:28]
and I, I guess I just want to really get, I, I really want to
[3:36:32]
get this answer out there for, from people at my town hall. Were concerned about
[3:36:36]
the fact that we really don't have the apples to apples comparison. We don't
[3:36:40]
have it today to be able to talk about, um, when will the public get to
[3:36:44]
see the true comparison of the cost between staying
[3:36:48]
in city hall and renovating and going out to lease in the market
[3:36:54]
lease to own. So c-b-r-e-d-I want to give
[3:36:58]
more answer or I can answer this. Okay. So, um,
[3:37:02]
if, if counsel at some point, um, gives
[3:37:06]
the, uh, our partners with cbre the authorization
[3:37:11]
to do additional work and
[3:37:15]
work with the market and fine tune the, the proposals we received,
[3:37:20]
then we would be able to bring something back. But until then
[3:37:24]
the, um, the consultants are not able to get any finer, uh,
[3:37:29]
tuned numbers than we've already received, is my understanding. And I'll ask cbre
[3:37:33]
if they have anything to add to feel free. No, I I I, I agree with
[3:37:37]
that. Uh, the, the one thing when you were asking the question about savings and lease to own options,
[3:37:42]
uh, our market exploration, uh, has determined, uh, that there are really some
[3:37:46]
unique opportunities within the central business district to not only lease lease with
[3:37:50]
a purchase option, buy outright and, and, and other, uh, uh, financing
[3:37:55]
options that that, that were mentioned earlier from that perspective. But in terms of the savings
[3:37:59]
and, and the true opportunity in particular in downtown, uh, I wanna quantify
[3:38:03]
that there are hundreds of millions of dollars worth of savings just from our
[3:38:07]
market expiration at this point. Um, and you know, that that's accomplished.
[3:38:11]
as again, jack mentioned, uh, the, the opportunity to reduce operating
[3:38:16]
expenses and capital expenses, uh, the opportunity to, uh, secure
[3:38:20]
the benefit of lease revenue presently in some of those properties. And
[3:38:25]
I that laugh. Uh, and then, uh, lastly the consolidation,
[3:38:29]
uh, of city, uh, city owned assets is, is a tremendous opportunity there. So,
[3:38:34]
so the motion, as I read it, would allow you to go out
[3:38:38]
and continue negotiating, come back with final numbers that the city could
[3:38:42]
then look at. Correct. So if I could jump in for just
[3:38:46]
a second, 'cause I wanna go back to a couple things that I think mr. Ireland and our,
[3:38:51]
uh, partner with cbre, um, they've responded to. Um, so
[3:38:55]
we currently have operating expenses here at
[3:38:59]
city hall, right? And when you take those operating
[3:39:03]
expenses, the opportunity that we don't have now to create that revenue
[3:39:07]
stream for other leases that might be a part of a location,
[3:39:12]
the consolidation of other city departments that are
[3:39:16]
currently in other buildings, city owned, and some with lease space
[3:39:20]
and the potential opportunity to colo locate within another governmental entity.
[3:39:25]
those are ways that would allow for us to have, um,
[3:39:30]
a new model for whether it's a lease to own
[3:39:34]
purchase outright that we don't have currently. What you just
[3:39:38]
read from my perspective, and I'll let the attorneys jump in,
[3:39:43]
there is an item that still remains in the march 4th resolution that
[3:39:47]
allowed for us to continue to review options
[3:39:51]
to dispose of the site. What's not before you today
[3:39:56]
is the authorization for us to go do the pre-development
[3:40:00]
work that will allow for us to bring you back more
[3:40:04]
details around the numbers to truly get you to the side by side. That
[3:40:08]
is not what's on for today. And I think what you read
[3:40:12]
into the record on the motion is the explorer options to do
[3:40:16]
the dispose of the site. And that's what I think I heard. Okay. So I'll just, I'll
[3:40:21]
lean over to the attorneys and make sure that I didn't say that incorrectly.
[3:40:34]
point of order, mr. Mayor, state your point of order chair
[3:40:38]
mayor, this motion is out of order in that in part authorizes
[3:40:42]
the city manager to pursue opportunities for the redevelopment of the
[3:40:47]
property located at 1500 marilla street, which is outside
[3:40:51]
the scope of agenda item three that we are now discussing.
[3:40:55]
and in fact is the subject of agenda item four, which we
[3:40:59]
are expressly prohibited from discussing at today's meeting by the tro
[3:41:04]
issued by the 14th district court yesterday.
[3:41:08]
thank you for making your point of order. I will let the, uh, city
[3:41:13]
attorney slash arian address that issue first before I
[3:41:17]
rule on that. Thank you, mr. Mayor. Um,
[3:41:22]
this motion, all it references is, is
[3:41:26]
item number four. Lemme make sure I have the right one. Uh, item number
[3:41:31]
one three off the original march 4th resolution.
[3:41:36]
it's already in effect, it's already what the, uh, city manager's required
[3:41:40]
to do per your resolution. It just puts a date that that information is due
[3:41:44]
to the council. It's, it lists the items that have already been accomplished
[3:41:48]
in the resolution, the march 4th resolution, including this one, which was
[3:41:53]
to bring the phase two, at least two phased, uh, repairs, back
[3:41:57]
repair, repair programs back. And now that those have all been done, it just asked to finish
[3:42:01]
the resolution, it does not do anything new. It does not add any new
[3:42:05]
activities. It merely references the previous resolution, but
[3:42:09]
that resolution is not on the agenda today. That portion of it is not on
[3:42:14]
the agenda. It, I'm, I'm ruling it that the, the
[3:42:18]
point of order is overruled for the reason that it, it doesn't actually,
[3:42:23]
it doesn't do anything other than give a date certain for when that has
[3:42:27]
to be completed. That's it. So it's
[3:42:31]
overruled.
[3:42:36]
okay. I think the city man, did you have any thoughts to complete on that? 'cause before you
[3:42:40]
were point of order out of there n no, mr. Um,
[3:42:44]
uh, chairman wesley, it was just to make sure that we are
[3:42:48]
completing an item and it would be the only remaining
[3:42:53]
item that we've not completed from the march 4th resolution. I've been asked several times
[3:42:57]
about the additional work, and we kind of did it in a logical step.
[3:43:02]
we started with, uh, making sure that we did the repair plan, which you've
[3:43:06]
had, we brought it in phases. And then this was one of the items that's
[3:43:10]
currently still on that march 4th resolution that we've not completed. And
[3:43:14]
the way I understand it is that you, you are giving me a timeframe that you want
[3:43:18]
me to return to counsel with that final step. Alright. So what is your understanding
[3:43:22]
that you will be bringing back to us by august 26th, 2026, based on
[3:43:26]
the motion that you just read? We would do the options
[3:43:31]
to look at what with potential, a way to look at the site. Mm-hmm
[3:43:35]
. It's not making the decision, it's not finalizing anything. It's
[3:43:39]
bringing you those options back and then given the council an opportunity to weigh in
[3:43:43]
on what those options might be. Okay. And when can council expect
[3:43:48]
to get, um, more refined numbers
[3:43:52]
from cbre on potential relocation options? Because that's the apples
[3:43:56]
to apples a lot of people are asking for. That is, that is not the item before you
[3:44:00]
today. And we would be seeking hopefully, future
[3:44:04]
guidance from the city council. But that is not the item that is on the agenda for today. That's
[3:44:08]
part of the reason why the tro has prevented that from happening, correct? That's exactly right. Yes, sir. Okay.
[3:44:12]
thank you. You were you finished? Yes.
[3:44:17]
okay. Chairman, ridley, you recognize for five minutes, you,
[3:44:23]
I'm opposed to the motion in that
[3:44:27]
it eliminates any repair option for city hall. The
[3:44:31]
repair options that we have received today greatly exaggerate
[3:44:36]
repair costs. Indeed, they don't address repair costs so much as
[3:44:40]
replacement costs, including upgrades
[3:44:45]
and improvements to the existing building, which exceed the scope
[3:44:49]
of what this council requested in the march 4th resolution.
[3:44:54]
as a result, they have included all kinds of costs, totaling
[3:44:59]
over $200 million for improvements in the building that
[3:45:03]
we never asked for, and therefore exaggerates
[3:45:07]
greatly the cost to repair as outlined
[3:45:11]
in the item three, uh, repair
[3:45:16]
strategy. And so because this item,
[3:45:20]
uh, falsely exaggerates the cost of the repair
[3:45:25]
costs, and we don't have a reasonable repair plan
[3:45:29]
in front of us, it is premature to consider this
[3:45:34]
item as a result. Uh, although
[3:45:38]
I am in favor of a repair strategy, unfortunately
[3:45:42]
we don't have a reasonable repair strategy at this time
[3:45:47]
in front of us. Uh, but I would offer an amendment
[3:45:51]
at this time to, uh, create
[3:45:56]
a, uh, to authorize the city manager to create
[3:46:00]
a repair plan of just critical repair needs,
[3:46:06]
not including any enhancements of the building
[3:46:10]
as the current repair plan does. Second,
[3:46:17]
I need the, uh, city attorney to sit down, but it's been moved and second, and I seconded. Yeah, it's been moved.
[3:46:21]
it's seconded. And you recognize for five minutes on
[3:46:26]
your amendment, mr. Ridley, what we need is a reasonable repair plan
[3:46:30]
that addresses both our financial capabilities and the
[3:46:34]
critical repair needs of the building. We don't have that yet. And
[3:46:39]
it's time that we focused on what this council
[3:46:43]
directed the city manager to do on march the third, which was
[3:46:47]
develop at least two repair plans for critical repairs.
[3:46:52]
that's something I'm quoting from that resolution. We don't
[3:46:56]
have that yet. And I think it's time that we
[3:47:00]
insisted that we get that from the city manager along
[3:47:05]
with a reasonable financing plan for that cost,
[3:47:09]
which I believe is substantially less than the currently
[3:47:14]
exaggerated quote repair plan.
[3:47:22]
anyone else wish to speak on for or against the amendment by chairman
[3:47:26]
ridley chairwoman mendelssohn, you recognize for five minutes on the amendment by chairman ridley.
[3:47:31]
well, actually, he said it so beautifully. I don't have a lot more to say.
[3:47:36]
the motion that I made in march that you quoted
[3:47:40]
from is exactly what we didn't get. And I think I said
[3:47:44]
that when we had that briefing. And we are
[3:47:48]
hearing briefing after briefing that's building on an incorrect
[3:47:52]
premise. And that's why all the numbers are so outrageous.
[3:47:58]
and we've never, ever had a public
[3:48:02]
input like this for any topic. There's
[3:48:06]
a reason. It's not that these are all the preservationists in our city.
[3:48:11]
it's because they know there's a problem here. There's a problem
[3:48:15]
with the contrived way this has all been rolled out
[3:48:20]
and how it's been presented. The process is not transparent.
[3:48:26]
instead, a yes no answer gets a 10 minute
[3:48:31]
circular mouthful of words that
[3:48:35]
sound really nice, but don't mean anything. We need spreadsheets
[3:48:40]
with documented costs, who, who they are. And
[3:48:44]
apparently we need to understand what the scope is because that seems
[3:48:48]
to be the key here where some folks are looking for,
[3:48:52]
for the four seasons for their city hall.
[3:48:56]
and, you know, I'm not saying that it, it should
[3:49:01]
be anything, um,
[3:49:05]
even nicer than the airport. But when I hear people talk about,
[3:49:10]
oh my gosh, the bathroom's in city hall, you know what? They're not fancy, but they're
[3:49:14]
still better than dfw. So I'm not
[3:49:18]
sure what people are expecting, but we need to have
[3:49:22]
a serviceable building. People should be able to come to work
[3:49:27]
and do their job. But some
[3:49:31]
of the things that I have heard around this horseshoe and
[3:49:35]
not around this horseshoe, are very disconcerting.
[3:49:39]
and if you wanna be in private
[3:49:44]
business and have lots of really rich amenities, you should go work
[3:49:48]
for a different company. But if you wanna work for the public, you wanna
[3:49:52]
be a public servant, whether it's elected or non-elected, come be
[3:49:56]
here. You can make a huge difference. But sometimes that difference
[3:50:01]
is actually saying something really hard and sometimes you're maybe the only one, or
[3:50:05]
maybe you're one of six, but I'm telling you that
[3:50:09]
the public knows what's going on here and it's not okay.
[3:50:14]
and we want real numbers about what is
[3:50:18]
actually needed to be done here. The first six years I was on
[3:50:22]
council, this wasn't ever briefed. Not even once. And suddenly
[3:50:26]
it's a crisis. And this entire building
[3:50:31]
is absolutely, um, paralyzed with this conversation.
[3:50:37]
and mayor, I'm sorry, the people up the tollway don't have knives out
[3:50:41]
for us. They're laughing at us and they're
[3:50:46]
laughing about exactly what's happening. They want the best for us, but we need
[3:50:50]
to get serious about the fact that 15 acres is not going to
[3:50:54]
be what is the catalyst for downtown. The issues are
[3:50:58]
obviously much more complex. Thank you, ms.
[3:51:02]
cena. You're recognized for five minutes on the amendment by chairman ridley.
[3:51:07]
as an employee, I worked here for eight years and I, um, have seen council
[3:51:11]
members vote against repairing this building. I've seen mayors not supported
[3:51:15]
as well as a council member. I have to vote to
[3:51:20]
invest in this building and invest in our employees
[3:51:25]
until we have a plan on where we're gonna go. What if something happens
[3:51:29]
in this building? We have to be financial stewards and take
[3:51:33]
care and advocate for the employees that they have safe working conditions
[3:51:37]
here. And so I would definitely support any amendment
[3:51:42]
that allows for repairs to continue and for us to continue
[3:51:46]
to explore that. Thank you. And also wishing to speak on
[3:51:50]
for or against the amendment by chairman ridley. I do.
[3:51:54]
mr. Roth, you recognize for five minutes. Thank you. Um,
[3:51:59]
uh, I'm, I'm in support of the motion. Um, I think that,
[3:52:03]
um, it's really important, uh, that, that
[3:52:07]
we have the opportunity to, um, to
[3:52:12]
create a plan for repairs. Uh, I'm concerned that,
[3:52:16]
uh, that if we do not allow for a repair plan
[3:52:20]
to be thoughtfully introduced, uh, that we will not be
[3:52:24]
able to pursue that option. Uh, as
[3:52:28]
a result, uh, I'm concerned that there are
[3:52:32]
absolutely significant challenges to any relocation
[3:52:36]
option that we're talking about. And that, uh, these are
[3:52:41]
very complex, uh, problems that are gonna be difficult to achieve.
[3:52:45]
and that, uh, potential savings that we're talking about are
[3:52:50]
not absolutely guaranteed. Therefore, I think we absolutely
[3:52:54]
need to have a, an opportunity to create
[3:52:58]
a planned, uh, thoughtful measured,
[3:53:03]
uh, action plan for working out, uh, repairs
[3:53:07]
and, and, and required renovation to the, to the
[3:53:11]
serious systems that, uh, we need, uh, in a
[3:53:15]
priority based, uh, approach. Um, I
[3:53:19]
think that, uh, if we don't do this, we're going
[3:53:23]
to be forced, uh, into, into a very, very difficult
[3:53:28]
situation without other alternatives. I think it's poor planning. I think it's
[3:53:32]
fiduciarily irresponsible, and I think it's, it's
[3:53:37]
a, a lack of, of, uh, sensitivity and respect to our citizens
[3:53:41]
if we do not explore an interim, uh,
[3:53:46]
situation, which allows us flexibility to, uh, to pursue
[3:53:51]
repairs. It, it's, doesn't require any firm amount
[3:53:55]
of money. It allows us to look at value added,
[3:53:59]
uh, repairs at a, at a strategic, on a strategic process.
[3:54:04]
uh, and I, and I think it gives us a lot of opportunities to,
[3:54:08]
to retain and maintain this building properly.
[3:54:13]
uh, and I would strongly recommend that we vote for the
[3:54:17]
amendment, and that we approve a motion that includes that amendment,
[3:54:21]
uh, which gives us more alternatives and opportunities to,
[3:54:26]
uh, to pursue a, a more concerted, thoughtful, and effective
[3:54:30]
plan. Thank you. Anyone else? I'd like to request a record
[3:54:34]
vote, please. I'm gonna have a record vote for everything for all of these items.
[3:54:39]
so, duly noted. Uh, anyone else wants speak on for against the
[3:54:43]
amendment? Mr. Basal? Do, you're recognized for five minutes.
[3:54:47]
thank you, mayor. Um, I will support this, uh, motion.
[3:54:52]
I believe one of the things that we have, um, got is exhaustive numbers.
[3:54:57]
I don't believe that it has gotten as technical as, uh, the, um, uh,
[3:55:01]
most critical needs as we've asked for it to be prioritized. I think this is
[3:55:05]
absolutely something that we should, um, know before taking a
[3:55:09]
vote of this magnitude. Um, I want to just highlight one of the
[3:55:13]
statements that was made from our amazing cfo. Uh,
[3:55:17]
our goal is to own city hall. Guess what we do?
[3:55:23]
so, um, let's do what we can to make right by the city hall
[3:55:27]
that we own. That is the people's house. Thank you.
[3:55:32]
and also wanna speak on for against the amendment by chairman ridley.
[3:55:37]
seeing none. Record votes are gonna be held on all of these. Thank you. Chairman mendelson.
[3:55:41]
uh, mad secretary. You can call the role. Thank you. Mr. Mayor, when
[3:55:45]
I call your name, please state yes, if you in favor? No. If you oppose
[3:55:49]
council member west. No. Council member gracie? No.
[3:55:54]
council member johnson? No. Council member resendez? No. Council
[3:55:58]
member ana? Yes. Council member basel doa. Yes.
[3:56:02]
council member blair? No. Council member blackman?
[3:56:08]
yes. Council member stewart? No. No.
[3:56:12]
sorry. Thank you. Council member roth? Yes.
[3:56:16]
council member mendelson? Yes. Council member ridley. Yes.
[3:56:20]
deputy mayor prote willis? No. Mayor prote moreno?
[3:56:25]
no. Mayor johnson? No. With six.
[3:56:29]
voting in favor. Nine. Opposed? The motion fails. Mr. Mayor, we're
[3:56:33]
back on item three as moved by mr. West. Okay. Um, mr.
[3:56:38]
bazel, for what purpose? I have a motion. What's your motion? I move to
[3:56:42]
amend the underlying motion to include, um,
[3:56:47]
the price for demolition, the environmental
[3:56:51]
impact, and the, um, disposal
[3:56:55]
plan to be added to what council member west's original motion
[3:57:00]
asks for deliverable. It's
[3:57:04]
been moved and seconded. Mr. Basil dua, you're recognized for
[3:57:08]
five minutes on your amendment. Thank you. Um, if, if you notice this was
[3:57:12]
not to change the, uh, intent of the motion, um,
[3:57:16]
it is still a motion to deny, uh, that is on the floor. Um,
[3:57:21]
but in the denial that council member west has put on the floor, he's asked for
[3:57:25]
some specific deliverables from our city manager. I think that this is
[3:57:29]
my last opportunity to try to get some numbers that we have yet
[3:57:33]
to have included in any of, uh, the numbers that have been given to us. And that is
[3:57:38]
what I believe gonna be a substantial cost, which is the demolition of this, uh,
[3:57:42]
building. So, um, if we are going to move ahead with a denial,
[3:57:46]
and this doesn't change that materially, uh, but we have also asked for more
[3:57:50]
information to make, uh, better and sound decisions on what the next steps of this
[3:57:54]
process will bring. I would like it to be exhaustive of all the information.
[3:57:58]
and this is something that we've asked for, for several months now. So, uh, I believe that by
[3:58:03]
the august 26th date that, um, council
[3:58:07]
member west put in his motion, it should be something that, that, uh, the staff
[3:58:11]
could accomplish. Thank you, mr. Mayor. Mr. Cena, you recognize for five minutes on
[3:58:15]
the amendment by mr. Basel doa, I will support the amendment. The most
[3:58:19]
sustainable building is one that's already built. We're working against
[3:58:23]
our own carbon goals and our ca plan if we do not include
[3:58:28]
this information, this is of concern to me because the materials have
[3:58:32]
historically been dumped in district six and eight, and so we need
[3:58:36]
to know what the plan is for
[3:58:40]
the demolition and environmental assessment.
[3:58:45]
how do we know if we have material cost savings when we don't know the demo and environmental
[3:58:49]
assessment costs? Crossley tower at the university of cincinnati was estimated
[3:58:53]
at $47.3 million. So how can
[3:58:57]
I be a prudent overseer of taxpayer dollars without a vision?
[3:59:01]
this decision mirrors one that happens every day in district six. Sell your
[3:59:06]
land. But where can we move? It's happening in elm thickett, north park, west dallas
[3:59:10]
design district in midway hollow. I would also say that
[3:59:14]
costs such as demo permits, site cleanup, hauling costs, landfill,
[3:59:18]
landfill costs, and dumpster rental are also left out. And we don't know what those costs
[3:59:22]
might be. Thank you. Anyone else
[3:59:27]
wanna speak on for, against the amendment by mr. Basel? Do aye.
[3:59:32]
general menzel you recognize for five minutes. Um, I would like to ask mr.
[3:59:36]
baa if he would like to amend his motion or accept, um, an
[3:59:41]
amendment to his amendment. It'll have to go through the
[3:59:45]
process. Um, okay. I move to amend
[3:59:49]
the motion to include how long demolition would take,
[3:59:54]
where the, um, material would be dumped,
[3:59:59]
the impact on the life of the landfill, assuming it goes to mamos,
[4:00:03]
and the cost implication of, of that,
[4:00:08]
um, the exact move out costs. I would
[4:00:12]
like to understand why there's new furniture
[4:00:17]
in the plans for the new building. Instead of using
[4:00:21]
the furniture we already have, I'd like a parking analysis for any new
[4:00:25]
facility that's both for 9 1 1 and office. And
[4:00:30]
I would like to understand the redundancy plan for the nine one one call center
[4:00:35]
as part of the report back.
[4:00:56]
I'm trying to get a, I'm trying to figure out if the entire motion is in order. I think parts of
[4:01:00]
it are, possibly parts of it are not, but I want to get the parliamentarians ruling on
[4:01:04]
that before we even go through the process. Let's make sure it's
[4:01:08]
in order. Mr. Mayor, I was, I admit
[4:01:13]
I didn't quite get every item. Um, most of it seemed to be in order. Some of it seemed
[4:01:17]
to be for offsite parking garages, et cetera. But this is the
[4:01:21]
motion. The addition to the motion was for the disposition of the city hall
[4:01:25]
site, not things outside of city hall.
[4:01:31]
if you'd prefer, I'm happy to take off the, um, parking analysis
[4:01:36]
and the furniture. It's not a preference, we're just trying to make sure it's, it's within bounds. So
[4:01:41]
if you, I'll let you restate the motion in the way you would like to, but it's not
[4:01:45]
to satisfy a preference, it's just to make sure it's okay. It's
[4:01:49]
proper. So the question is how long I would like to have
[4:01:53]
reported back to us with this motion. How long demolition would
[4:01:57]
take, where the material would be dumped, the impact on the life
[4:02:01]
of the landfill and the cost implications. Um, what the
[4:02:05]
move out cost would be, because if we are leaving this building,
[4:02:10]
that's fair game. And, um, of course leaving
[4:02:14]
this building also means we're leaving 9 1 1 center. So I'd like to understand
[4:02:19]
plans for that point of order. I mean,
[4:02:24]
the tro stopped the discussion about the move out costs, right? I mean, that's
[4:02:28]
the whole problem with this situation is we can't get the move out
[4:02:32]
costs. So we're now trying to add that back in to this motion
[4:02:36]
for that reason. I think it's actually not quite properly
[4:02:40]
still. Okay. Then we'll take another crack at, well, we'll take the 9 1 1 center item out, but we'll do the
[4:02:45]
how long demo will take, where it'll be dumped, the impact on the landfill.
[4:02:51]
do you believe those are all in order? Sorry.
[4:02:55]
say, say what's remaining in the motion and then I'll let the department chair sure.
[4:02:59]
how long demolition will take, where the material will be dumped,
[4:03:04]
the impact on the life of the landfill and the cost implications to the landfill.
[4:03:14]
that's, that's actually an order. So is there a second for that? Second? It's
[4:03:18]
been moved and seconded. You reckon for five minutes on your amendment to the amendment by basel, mr.
[4:03:22]
basil doa. Okay. So we're on an amendment to the amendment. We can have two pending at, at
[4:03:26]
any given time. So we're maxed out on amendments right now. We cognize for five minutes, chairwoman. Sure.
[4:03:30]
it's as simple as understanding what all the information is. If you're gonna take
[4:03:35]
down this giant building with all the concrete and steel,
[4:03:39]
it's gotta go somewhere. I don't know if you guys have visited the landfill, but if
[4:03:43]
you haven't, you should. Um, there's limited space,
[4:03:47]
limited years. It's very, very costly to,
[4:03:51]
um, close a landfill and open a new one. And by the way, you know where
[4:03:55]
the new one's planned to be, right next door. So,
[4:04:00]
um, all the folks who are advocating for southern dallas as a good
[4:04:04]
move of tearing down this building, this building will be closer to you than
[4:04:08]
you can imagine. Thank you.
[4:04:17]
mr. Ba. Do you recognized for five minutes on the amendment to the amendment?
[4:04:21]
thank you. I just to give clarification, I will support this. Uh,
[4:04:25]
but I believe it to be somewhat redundant. This is, uh, essentially I think you, you articulated
[4:04:29]
maybe clearer, but that was what I, I was intending, um,
[4:04:33]
uh, on what it was that I asked for. So I guess with more specificity,
[4:04:37]
I'm fine with supporting this. Um, because my intent was
[4:04:42]
with I said disposal plan. I would hope that we would be able to know, uh,
[4:04:46]
how we're going to accomplish, um, a demolition of this scale. Um,
[4:04:50]
and, and I believe that where we would put, uh, the,
[4:04:54]
uh, debris is, is absolutely a part of that. Um,
[4:04:58]
and so it was beyond just the cost of, uh, so I, I guess to
[4:05:03]
provide clarity, I'm fine to support this, but just for the body, that
[4:05:07]
was my intent, um, as well, uh, with the, uh, original amendment
[4:05:11]
on the floor. Thank you, mr. Mayor. Ms. Ana, you recognize for five minutes on the amendment to
[4:05:15]
the amendment. Um, I would definitely be supporting, um, in looking
[4:05:19]
at just other articles that I found online. So there's probably an estimated 10,567
[4:05:26]
trucks that may end up taking debris. Usually concrete
[4:05:30]
is either recycled or sent to the landfill. That includes the
[4:05:34]
rebar and, um, the other materials. And the majority of those,
[4:05:39]
um, recycle for concretes are located in district six and
[4:05:43]
district eight. So I feel that this is extremely important for my district,
[4:05:47]
um, especially with all of the environmental issues that we have. Thank
[4:05:51]
you, ms. Blackman, you recognize for
[4:05:55]
five minutes on the amendment to the amendment. Um, thank
[4:05:59]
you. My question is related to permitting and, uh, will that
[4:06:03]
be also included in the, uh, cost
[4:06:08]
estimate and the plan as well for permitting? For di uh, for disposition of
[4:06:12]
the concrete?
[4:06:16]
when you go through tceq, like, you know, when we dredge right? Rock lake, all that stuff has
[4:06:20]
to be basically, um, cleared from tceq
[4:06:24]
and there's uh, there's fees that go with it
[4:06:30]
and I'm just wanting clarity to know that that will be in the, the plan.
[4:06:44]
thank you for the question. Councilwoman, uh, blackman? Um, I'm not a demolition
[4:06:49]
expert, neither is anyone on my team. That would be part of what we would
[4:06:53]
be asking for, and it would be in our scope. Okay. Just wanted
[4:06:57]
to make sure that it was not overlooked. Thank you.
[4:07:07]
was that all ms. Blackman then mr. Roth, you recognized for five
[4:07:11]
minutes on the amendment to the amendment. Uh, thank you. Um, I,
[4:07:15]
I'll support, I would like to support the, the amendment. The amendment.
[4:07:19]
um, I do think it's critical that we do understand the,
[4:07:24]
the overall impact and cost associated with any kind of
[4:07:28]
a dramatic, um, uh, action that would
[4:07:32]
be taken in the event that, that this, uh, proceeds. And,
[4:07:36]
and I, I'm really distressed over the fact that, uh, we
[4:07:40]
are not, uh, considering the, the lesser impact
[4:07:44]
of a phased in, uh, potential, um,
[4:07:49]
repair and, and thoughtful, uh, preservation of this, of
[4:07:53]
this property. Uh, but, and so as a result, I am going to support,
[4:07:57]
uh, the amendment to the amendment. Thank you. Anyone else wishes to
[4:08:02]
be on for, against the amendment? To the amendment? Seeing none. Record
[4:08:06]
votes are being held on everything. So madam secretary, please call the rule. Thank
[4:08:10]
you, mr. Mayor, when I call your name, please state yes, if you in favor? No. If you oppose
[4:08:15]
council member west. No. Council member gracie?
[4:08:19]
no. Council member johnson? No. Council member resendez? Yes.
[4:08:25]
council member kaena? Yes. Council member basil doa?
[4:08:29]
yes. Council member blair. Council member blackman?
[4:08:35]
yes. Council member stewart? No. Council member
[4:08:39]
roth? Yes. Council member mendelson? Yes.
[4:08:44]
council member ridley? Yes. Deputy mayor pro tem willis?
[4:08:49]
no. Mayor prote moreno? No.
[4:08:53]
mayor johnson? No.
[4:08:59]
with seven voting in favor. Eight. Opposed? The motion fails. Mr. Mayor,
[4:09:04]
we're back on the amendment by mr. Basil dua. Chairwoman mendelsohn,
[4:09:08]
you're recognized for three minutes. I'd like to move to amend the amendment
[4:09:12]
to include, um, a reported, estimated number of
[4:09:16]
trucks that would be used to carry away the materials and the impact
[4:09:21]
on the roadway.
[4:09:32]
that that is a, that is a, what I would consider to be a dilatory motion that,
[4:09:36]
that we've just addressed through the last amendment. This very issue. So
[4:09:41]
I don't believe there was anything about the roadway in my last amendment. And, um,
[4:09:45]
it wasn't about the number of trucks, it was about the, it was about the demolition
[4:09:49]
process and the plan and the demolition. Was it not his motion, which
[4:09:54]
I don't believe we've considered yet, was about the demolition plan. Mine
[4:09:58]
was specifically how long it would take and where it would be dumped and
[4:10:02]
the, um, cost implication of the landfill. So this, this particular amendment
[4:10:06]
is different. In what way? From the one, this one is the number of trucks it would take
[4:10:11]
to carry away the material and the impact on the roadway.
[4:10:18]
okay, we'll let this one go. But what I mean by donator
[4:10:22]
is when, if we're taking the same subject matter, I'm familiar with subject, the word subject matter. Thank you. Subject matter. I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm
[4:10:26]
actually the rulings aren't for you. They're for the whole body. So subject matter. Okay,
[4:10:30]
subject. That's what we're doing. We're not going to have the same amendments addressing
[4:10:35]
the same topics over and over again. So at some point
[4:10:39]
they're gonna become out of order. So you recognize for if
[4:10:43]
it's seconded for five minutes, you recognize for five minutes.
[4:10:49]
well, our residents have said on survey
[4:10:53]
after survey, their number one priority is public safety
[4:10:57]
and their streets. And when we're talking about, um, council
[4:11:01]
member ena said, 10,000 trucks. I've actually seen it with a much higher number.
[4:11:06]
but these are very big trucks full of concrete and rebar. They're
[4:11:11]
very heavy and they damage the roadway. I've seen this firsthand
[4:11:15]
with the silver line. We have streets that were in great condition, that now
[4:11:19]
we have to have a roadway plan on how we're gonna fix. So I
[4:11:24]
frequently hear that the streets are bad everywhere,
[4:11:28]
but can you imagine what they're gonna be from here down to macombs?
[4:11:32]
very bad. And I don't think that's a good idea,
[4:11:37]
but I definitely wanna know what is that impact? How many are we actually talking about?
[4:11:41]
and what is the cost to repair those roads so that our
[4:11:46]
residents aren't suffering? So I'd like to know this information.
[4:11:50]
I think it's gonna be important for a decision. So I hope that you will also want
[4:11:54]
to know this. Thank you, ms. Cade. You recognize for five minutes
[4:11:58]
on the amendment to the amendment, I will support the, um, motion, um,
[4:12:02]
in the area where some of these companies are located.
[4:12:06]
the road has not been made it onto any bonds and
[4:12:11]
they are in severe need of repair. We have parkland that is also up in that area.
[4:12:15]
so I would definitely support this. So if we do need to include this in a future bond and repair
[4:12:19]
those roads. Thank you mr.
[4:12:24]
bazel. Do, you're recognized for five minutes on the amendment to your amendment.
[4:12:28]
thank you, mayor. Um, I will, uh, second
[4:12:32]
what our city manager mentioned. And I'm, I'm also not a demolition
[4:12:37]
expert. And, um, I, I think that I've seen several,
[4:12:41]
I what I would say worst case scenarios or, or just,
[4:12:46]
um, hypotheticals of what a
[4:12:50]
demolition of this scale would look like. And I, I truly do not know what that would
[4:12:54]
look like. So I'm asking for genuine information, uh, that does
[4:12:58]
not materially change the outcome of what it is that there's
[4:13:02]
a clear majority on this council to do. Uh, for
[4:13:06]
the, the denial of council members to seek
[4:13:11]
more information that doesn't change the outcome of
[4:13:15]
what you as a council member are voting for. To me, just speaks to the
[4:13:19]
nature of the divisiveness that this issue has ensued on us.
[4:13:23]
uh, we, uh, I I'm, I, I know I'm gonna take an l
[4:13:27]
today 'cause I think it's pretty clear where there's nine
[4:13:31]
in support of doing what is going to be done. But
[4:13:36]
as we consider that, I would hope that we would have enough professionalism to give
[4:13:40]
a courtesy to each other as colleagues to get the necessary information
[4:13:44]
that we believe we need to answer questions that our constituents have come forward
[4:13:48]
with. I want to reiterate that this motion, in addition,
[4:13:52]
this amendment in addition to the motion, I mean the, uh, amendment
[4:13:57]
that I have on the floor, that this has amended both, um,
[4:14:01]
offer more information. That's all I'm asking for. And
[4:14:05]
it doesn't delay this and it doesn't give it. So I do believe that this is, uh,
[4:14:10]
uh, is a part of that horror story that I heard of what this
[4:14:14]
could be, uh, a demolition of this scale. And so I would think that it's
[4:14:18]
valuable information for us to learn. It does nothing to the ability
[4:14:22]
to, uh, continue to push this forward at the rapid pace that, uh,
[4:14:26]
my colleagues are already willing to do. But I hope that doesn't mean that we're gonna stifle
[4:14:31]
information from coming to, uh, the, the body. Thank you.
[4:14:36]
anyone else wishing to speak on for against the amendment to the amendment?
[4:14:41]
seeing none. Madam secretary, please call the roll. Thank you mr. Mayor,
[4:14:46]
when I call your name, please state yes if you're in favor. No. If you oppose council member west.
[4:14:51]
no. Council member gracie? No. Council member johnson? No.
[4:14:55]
council member resendez? No. Council member kaena? Yes. Council
[4:14:59]
member basel doa. Yes. Council member blair?
[4:15:03]
no. Council member blackman
[4:15:08]
is absent when vote taken. Council member stewart?
[4:15:12]
no. Council member roth? Yes.
[4:15:16]
council member mendelson? Yes. Council member ridley? Yes. Deputy
[4:15:21]
mayor pro tem willis? No. Mayor prote moreno?
[4:15:25]
no. Mayor johnson? No.
[4:15:32]
with five voting in favor. Nine opposed? One absent vote.
[4:15:36]
taken. The motion fails. Mr. Mayor, we're back on the amendment
[4:15:40]
by mr. Basil dua. Anyone else wishing to speak on for against the amendment?
[4:15:44]
ms. Cini recognized four, three minutes.
[4:15:48]
I just wanna thank um, council member basil dua for making the motion.
[4:15:54]
district six has dealt with environmental racism for many,
[4:15:58]
many years. The president had to declare
[4:16:03]
alleged melter a fun site.
[4:16:08]
and so environmental issues are near and dear
[4:16:12]
to me. It's something that I will fight to fight for, for
[4:16:17]
my community because we've had to endure a lot.
[4:16:21]
and so this is of great concern to me.
[4:16:25]
we have a lot of, um, industrial area in
[4:16:29]
district six because of the zoning that has been passed that was also
[4:16:33]
in part of environmental racism. And so I plead with you
[4:16:38]
to vote for this amendment for the good of
[4:16:42]
west dallas for the good of district six. Thank you
[4:16:47]
joe mendelson. Thank you. You recognized for three minutes. Thank
[4:16:51]
you. Well, I can't imagine anybody's gonna vote against this because who wouldn't
[4:16:55]
want to have more information about the demolition? Like
[4:16:59]
even if you want to, to, to knock this building down,
[4:17:04]
why wouldn't you want more information? That doesn't even make sense.
[4:17:09]
there was a point where the city council unanimously me included,
[4:17:14]
voted for a ccap 'cause we cared about the environment. This is exactly
[4:17:18]
the kind of environmental thing that I cared about. Meaning there will
[4:17:22]
be debris in the air, we're all gonna breathe it.
[4:17:26]
so this isn't like some conspiracy kind of environmental stuff
[4:17:30]
that sometimes we hear about or some meaningless
[4:17:35]
certificate program that we're promoting and paying ads for.
[4:17:39]
no, this is actually how people will breathe and
[4:17:44]
what the impact is. Why would you not wanna know more information? Why
[4:17:48]
would you not support this? It doesn't make any sense. So
[4:17:52]
when you see people who regularly say, well I have to support something
[4:17:56]
like counting the trees, I'm sorry, tree inventory
[4:18:00]
for $6.3 million. But then are voting against getting more
[4:18:04]
information about what'll happen in the very real instance of what
[4:18:09]
if this building is taken down that doesn't make sense? And
[4:18:13]
maybe it's just a message that we have the votes to do whatever we want. If that's
[4:18:17]
the message, shame on you for not getting all the information and letting the public know it.
[4:18:21]
thank you mr. Bazel. Do you recognize for three minutes on
[4:18:26]
your amendment? Thank you mayor. Um, I would also like to thank
[4:18:30]
you, um, council member. Ena, I think that you and I share a lot
[4:18:34]
of the same, um, issues that have plagued our communities for
[4:18:38]
a long time. I, uh, truly do, um, believe that
[4:18:42]
this is some very I important information for us
[4:18:46]
to gather. Again, it doesn't change what, uh, the outcome is, but
[4:18:50]
I I, I do want to know, um, to council member mendelssohn's point, you
[4:18:54]
know, one of the emails that we all received from someone who does have credentials
[4:18:59]
of being an expert in this field, um, gave a layout of what he
[4:19:03]
believed to be, um, uh, uh, the demolition of this
[4:19:07]
site. And I'm curious because we haven't gotten any information at all
[4:19:11]
on it. Um, how accurate that was. Uh, one of, of the lines
[4:19:16]
in particular stood out to me and is one of the reasons why I could feel the
[4:19:20]
emotion from my colleague in district six. And one of the reasons why environmental
[4:19:24]
impact, um, specifically on brown and black communities is something that is passionate,
[4:19:29]
uh, that I'm passionate about as well. And that line said that the
[4:19:33]
um, debris and the particulate matter that would come
[4:19:37]
from a demo of this size and scale would be the equivalent
[4:19:41]
of opening a, uh, concrete batch plant in the center of
[4:19:46]
downtown dallas. So I'm telling you right now that if this does not materially
[4:19:50]
change whether or not this building is coming down, if the wheel is already
[4:19:54]
there, I think that one thing we can agree to on both sides
[4:19:59]
of this issue, including you all in the green shirts that say yes to downtown, it's
[4:20:03]
not saying yes to downtown and not being informed on what we're going to do to impact
[4:20:07]
the businesses that are here downtown. So we would need to know
[4:20:12]
a little bit more information and I think that that scale is gonna be very helpful. So we
[4:20:16]
know how to proceed in the next phase of this process. Um, again,
[4:20:20]
I I would, I would hope that this is something, uh, that is just looked at as an information
[4:20:25]
exercise and would not be opposed out of spite or politics. Thank you mr.
[4:20:29]
mayor. Chairman johnson, you
[4:20:34]
recognize for five minutes on the amendment by mr. Basel. Doa. Thank
[4:20:38]
you mr. Mayor. I'll take 30 seconds. Um,
[4:20:42]
city manager is demolition going on for kay bailey hutchins center? Center right now?
[4:20:50]
yes. A portion of the convention center is currently, um, demolition is currently
[4:20:55]
underway. Okay. I was just asking 'cause it's downtown and I don't
[4:20:59]
remember any of my colleagues asking the same questions. Point of order. Mr. Mayor, what relevance does
[4:21:03]
that have to the amendment on the floor? We're talking about demolition,
[4:21:08]
aren't we? Yes, totally different building it. I'm
[4:21:12]
gonna overrule the point of order that, that's all I have to say. Mr. Mayor.
[4:21:16]
demolition is underway right now for kay bailey hutchinson, and I don't remember any of my colleagues
[4:21:21]
have any same questions. Thank you. Chairwoman men. Uh,
[4:21:25]
actually yeah, we're the same round. So, uh, chairwoman mendelson
[4:21:29]
you recognize for one minute. Well, I'll just add this one item that came to mind,
[4:21:34]
which is this. We've heard a whole lot of questions about asbestos
[4:21:39]
and the asbestos questions have been about the environment and
[4:21:43]
about people's health. And right now we're only asking for more
[4:21:47]
information about the environment and people's health. Thank you
[4:21:52]
ms. Kadana. You recognize for one minute this building is
[4:21:56]
different than the convention center. The material and the way it's built is
[4:22:00]
extremely different. The cost is
[4:22:04]
different. We have not torn down a building like this and
[4:22:08]
the materials will most likely end up in district six
[4:22:13]
or district eight because that's where the concrete crushing companies are.
[4:22:17]
and so I don't think that it's an apples to apples comparison
[4:22:22]
for both of these buildings. That's all. Thank you mr.
[4:22:26]
bazel dooley. You recognize for one minute on your amendment? Thank you, mayor. It's not apples
[4:22:30]
to apples. We haven't been dealing with that now for months. In fact,
[4:22:34]
uh, I think that it's very rich to hear from the same source
[4:22:39]
such horror stories of what would happen to this building from the asbestos
[4:22:43]
and the remediation and what this is going to do to all of the people in the building.
[4:22:48]
and we really care about what's happened because of the experience that we've seen
[4:22:52]
with the disd schools. But now all of a sudden we're just gonna tear the
[4:22:56]
whole building down and we're gonna expose the asbestos to the general public and we don't care about it anymore.
[4:23:01]
thank you mr. Mayor. Anyone else wants to speak on
[4:23:05]
for against the amendment by mr. Basil duo? Madam secretary, please
[4:23:10]
call the roll. Thank you. Mr. Mayor, when I call your name, please state yes if you in
[4:23:14]
favor? No. If you oppose. Council member west. No. Council member gracie?
[4:23:18]
nope. Council member johnson? No. Council member resendez? Yes.
[4:23:23]
council member ena? Yes. Council member basel doa. Yes.
[4:23:27]
council member blair? No. Council member blackman?
[4:23:32]
yes. Council member stewart? No. Council member roth?
[4:23:37]
yes. Council member mendelson? Yes. Council member ridley?
[4:23:41]
yes. Deputy mayor pro timm willis? No. Mayor pro
[4:23:45]
timm moreno? No. Mayor johnson?
[4:23:49]
no. Wow. Would seven
[4:23:53]
voting in favor? Eight. A. Opposed? The motion fails, mr. Mayor.
[4:23:59]
okay, we're back on the original motion by
[4:24:03]
chairman west. Anyone else wishing to speak on for or against the motion
[4:24:07]
by mr. West? Seeing none, madam
[4:24:11]
secretary, please call the roll. Thank you. Mr. Mayor, when I call your name, please
[4:24:15]
state yes. If you're in favor. No. If you're opposed. Council member west.
[4:24:20]
yes. Council member gracie? Yes. Council member johnson?
[4:24:24]
yes. Council member resendez? Yes. Council member kaena?
[4:24:28]
no. Council member basel doa. No. Council member
[4:24:33]
blair? Yes. Council member blackman? No. Council
[4:24:37]
member stewart? Yes. Council member roth?
[4:24:41]
no. Council member mendelson? No. Council member ridley
[4:24:46]
deputy mayor pro tem willis? Yes. Mayor
[4:24:50]
prote moreno. Yes. Mayor johnson? Yes.
[4:24:58]
with nine voting in favor. Six. Opposed? The motion passes
[4:25:03]
mr. Mayor. Okay. The time is 7:46 pm
[4:25:08]
and the special call meeting of the city council is adjourned.
[4:25:12]
it's 7:46 pm and the regular,
[4:25:16]
we need to switch over. So we'll wait to declare the time it starts,
[4:25:20]
but we have a technical switchover to go back to the regular voting
[4:25:24]
agenda meeting.