City leaders are one step away from adding a series of charter amendments to November’s ballot.
Officials announced on Wednesday during a City Council meeting that the City secretary’s office validated signatures for four citizen-driven petitions to amend the City charter. Councilmembers have one week to finalize ballot language for each of the four proposed amendments.
Dallas HERO, a local nonprofit, drafted three of these proposed charter amendments and obtained the necessary signatures from residents to add them to the ballot. The amendments require the City police department to increase staff and pay, establish incentives for the City manager based on resident approval, and authorize citizens the power to sue City leaders.
Several Dallas residents spoke during the City Council meeting in favor of the Dallas HERO petitions.
“To me, to feel safe is to know that someone can be there in your time of need,” said resident John Rouse. “For the Dallas HERO initiative, I think it’s very important for us to really consider increasing the number of police officers here in the Dallas city area.”
Rouse noted that increasing police salaries is essential to attracting talented officers away from areas outside the City and receiving better pay.
“If we want to make Dallas the safe city we want it to be, we need to make sure we can recruit the best police officers possible,” added Rouse.
City leaders often attempt to alter the ballot language of amendments they oppose, as previously reported by The Dallas Express. For example, the Texas Supreme Court ruled in 2021 that the Austin City Council adopted misleading ballot language, ruling that the council needed to clarify the language.
Pete Marocco, the executive director of Dallas HERO, testified at the City Council meeting that his group would not tolerate any efforts from City leaders to counter the proposals.
“We have reached a precipice that has threatened our future,” Marocco said. “We cannot wait until Dallas looks like other degenerate cities that have made irreversible mistakes — devaluing their police force and destroying their city center. They will not recover for decades, if ever.”
“Dallas citizens know we should be the gold standard,” Marocco continued. “And by any means necessary, we are here today that ensure the ballot language reflects the citizen intent to take care of the heroes who take care of us.”
