Two influential groups in Dallas have been silent on a series of charter amendments that aim to empower citizens over their government.
Dallas residents will vote on three citizen-led petitions in November organized by the nonprofit Dallas HERO. The petitions would boost the police department, tie the city manager’s bonus pay to a resident survey, and allow residents to sue City leaders who violate local ordinances. Dallas HERO gained the necessary citizen signatures to add the proposals to this year’s ballot.
Two prominent groups in the City — the Real Estate Council (TREC) and the Dallas Citizens Council — have yet to take a public position on the Dallas HERO amendments. The Dallas Express reached out to the leadership team of each group, but no one responded.
TREC is a membership group for real estate professionals that aims to shape public policy in the DFW area. It consists of more than 2,000 members from more than 600 companies. The group claims to represent 95% of commercial real estate business in North Texas.
The TREC leadership members who did not respond to a request for comment include: Mike Geisler, chairman; Rick Perdue, chair of the TREC community investors; Trey Morsbach, past chair; Heidi Barath, treasurer; Lee Small, membership chair; Steve Aldrich, Fightnight committee chair; and Michael Blackwell, TREC PAC chair.
The Dallas Citizens Council has worked to develop the city for nearly 100 years. Notable areas of advocacy include supporting the construction of the American Airlines Center, developing the downtown Arts District, and backing the Dallas Police and Fire Pension System.
The Dallas HERO amendment on boosting the police department would require the City to prioritize funding to the Dallas Police and Fire Pension System.
The Dallas Citizens Council members who did not respond to a request for comment include: Arcilia Acosta, chairwoman; John Gates, chairman-elect; G. Brint Ryan, secretary and treasurer; Rob Walters, immediate past chairman; and W. Kelvin Walker, CEO.
Several Dallas City Council members attempted to counter the Dallas HERO amendments, as previously reported by DX. This included introducing three additional charter amendments that contradict the Dallas HERO amendments.
The conflicting amendments sparked a series of lawsuits from Dallas HERO. The Texas Supreme Court ruled this month that the Dallas City Council members had to remove their proposed charter amendments.
“[T]he propositions contradict each other, and the ballot language as a whole will confuse and mislead voters because it does not acknowledge these contradictions or address the effect of the primacy provisions, which are chief features central to the character and purpose of the council-initiated propositions,” wrote Justice J. Brett Busby for the court.
“Because the citizen-initiated propositions must appear on the ballot and the parties have agreed to the ballot language for those propositions, we conclude the proper remedy is to direct the city council not to include its duplicative propositions on the ballot. …[W]e conditionally grant mandamus relief in part and direct the City to remove Propositions K, M, and N from the ballot,” the ruling states.