Paula Blackmon says enough members were present to constitute a quorum, but no public notice was given.
DALLAS — Dallas City Council Member Paula Blackmon has requested that the Dallas County District Attorney open an investigation into whether four of her city council colleagues violated the Texas Open Meetings Act.
The four council members were reportedly meeting with folks from the Ashford Hospitality Trust, founded by hotel magnate Monty Bennett, who also spearheaded to the effort behind the controversial city propositions S, T and U, which among other things, require Dallas to hire more police officers.
Blackmon tells us they were discussing a proposal to possibly move The Bridge Homeless Recovery Center out of downtown to a new facility in the southern part of the city at the Dallas Executive Airport.
The problem, according to the District 9 council member, is that the presence of four members constituted a quorum, which means the majority was met to conduct official public business. But there was no notice to the public, thus Blackmon’s contention that they violated the Open Meetings Act.
We asked Blackmon if this could all have been a simple mistake.
“It could be. But I’ve been told since I’ve been at City Hall you’ve always got to be counting whether it’s eight to get something through, nine of a quorum of a council, know your committees and know how many people are on it and know who makes a quorum. I’ve been told that since 2007. And so, to say it’s an innocent slip-up, okay, then maybe they should learn to count,” Blackmon told us on Inside Texas Politics.
The Bridge is currently located in downtown Dallas near the Farmers Market and City Hall. But there has long been discussion about possibly moving the facility to a different part of the city so Dallas can redevelop that area of downtown.
Blackmon says the four council members from the Housing & Homelessness Solutions committee who were present in the meeting were Chair Cara Mendelsohn, Vice Chair Lorie Blair, Mayor Pro Tem Jesse Moreno and Zarin Gracey.
After Blackmon and fellow council member Adam Bazaldua learned about the meeting and walked into the room to confront their colleagues, Blackmon says Mendelsohn left, something Mendelsohn confirmed to the Dallas Morning News.
She also told the publication no meeting material was discussed while a quorum was present and that Blackmon and Bazaldua have a grudge because they aren’t a chair or vice chair of any committee.
For his part, District 3 council member Gracey, where the Dallas Executive Airport is located, said moving The Bridge to the airport isn’t something “the community or I support.”
Blackmon says the district attorney is considering an investigation, but they first have to find an outside law enforcement agency because of possible conflicts of interest. It is not clear at this point whether any investigation will even be launched.
“If it’s an innocent mishap, so be it. But what needs to happen is people need to realize that we have laws in place, and we need to follow them,” Blackmon said. “It’s basic respect for our public to understand what we’re discussing and to have an opportunity to participate in that, and that’s all we’re asking.”