Those of us who have spent years watching the performance of the Dallas City Council know that even by its, let’s say, loose standards, there has been a slip in how meetings are run.
Meetings too often haven’t started on time. There has been confusion for city staff and other council members as specific items are pulled from the agenda at the last minute by some council member with a particular concern. Others, with no knowledge of the issue, are left to scramble to catch up.
There are too often times when council members, particularly our mayor, decide that the meeting is over hours before it actually is. Council members sometimes wander around, in and out of the chamber, breaking quorum and stopping the action.
These aren’t end-of-the-world problems, but they aren’t an especially good way of doing business either. That’s why we are supportive of a discussion about ways to change the rules around council meetings to tighten things up.
Five council members from around the city proposed as much in a memo earlier this month, and some of the ideas they brought forward deserve consideration.
That includes being able to start a council meeting even if the mayor hasn’t shown up on time, an event that has been too common in our experience. They are also interested in pushing a requirement that council members submit an early departure memo to the mayor and city secretary if they need to leave a meeting before it has ended. If you attend council meetings, you know Mayor Eric Johnson has a habit of calling it a day around 3 p.m., prior to the meeting’s end.
Many of the changes proposed here reflect the concern that the mayor isn’t running a tight ship in presiding over council meetings, and we agree. We reached out to Johnson’s office, but, per usual, got crickets in response.
Not every change being proposed is worth supporting. Some are aimed at taking power away from the mayor as it relates to committee assignments. We understand a number of council members are frustrated because they believe, with reason, that the mayor uses committees as leverage or punishment.
But taking away the already scant powers of the office is not the solution to concerns around the performance of a single mayor. We need to be thoughtful about the office itself and hopeful that a better spirit of collaboration and hard work will again be seated in the office.
Getting the conversation started on how council meetings run and how the council operates feels like good medicine, however. And we look forward to reporting back on what we hear and see. We just hope every member of the council sticks around for what is said.
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