Dallas City officials began the long-awaited process of reviewing the City Charter on Wednesday.
The Charter Review Commission held its first official meeting at 6 p.m. at City Hall. Future meetings are scheduled to take place at 6:30 p.m. on October 12, October 24, and November 7.
The commission comprises 15 members — one from each council district plus a commission chair.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, Mayor Eric Johnson nominated military veteran and former state lawmaker Allen Vaught to chair the commission. The City Council approved his appointment in August.
Wednesday’s meeting mostly consisted of an orientation and some housekeeping items. City staff gave presentations on the commission’s administration and Code of Ethics. They also went over Robert’s Rules of Order.
The commission will continue meeting through next spring to discuss potential updates to the Dallas City Charter. After the commission finalizes its proposed amendments, it will present them to the Dallas City Council.
However, amendments to the charter must be approved by Dallas voters before taking effect. The Dallas Express reached out to the City for more information about the charter review process but did not receive a response by press time.
Vaught said he looks forward to the upcoming charter discussions, but he questioned whether any amendments will actually be enacted.
“I don’t believe there’s going to be a whole lot of appetite for anybody to want to change the form of government, just based upon what I’ve read from other charter reviews the City has gone through and without us having a meeting yet,” he said, per The Dallas Morning News. “I guess anything can happen. Somebody might want to raise it, but I don’t know how far it’ll get.”
In 2005, Dallasites voted against two separate proposed changes to the charter. Both measures would have given more power to the mayor. The Charter Review Commission reviewed a similar measure in 2014 that did not make the final list of amendments on the ballot.
The charter amendments approved by voters in 2014 can be found here. Among the approved amendments were raises for the mayor and council members. Council members used to get paid $37,500 per year, and the mayor earned $60,000 per year. Since 2014, council members have been getting paid $60,000 annually, while the mayor makes $80,000.
In 2022, council members voted to give themselves a $12,000 yearly car allowance, as reported by The Dallas Express. The City Council approved the measure without putting it before Dallas voters.