When City of Dallas officials met with a company to discuss homelessness solutions, Councilman Adam Bazaldua and Councilwoman Paula Blackmon snapped a photo, sent it to the press, and claimed an ethics violation.

Mayor Pro Tem Jesse Moreno, Councilman Zarin Gracey, and Councilwomen Lorie Blair and Cara Mendelsohn were meeting with third parties to strategize about addressing homelessness.

The officials are members of the Housing and Homelessness Solutions committee, making up four of its seven seats.

Bazaldua and Blackmon “crashed the meeting,” according to WFAA, entered the room, snapped a photo, and shared it with local media. The duo alleged that officials were breaching the Texas Open Meetings Act by convening a majority of the city’s Housing and Homelessness Solutions Committee in private without providing adequate public notice.

Bazaldua and Blackmon claimed that since the majority of the committee constitutes a quorum, the officials were violating the Texas Open Meetings Act.

Breaking the Texas Open Meetings Act by participating in a walking quorum or conducting an unauthorized closed meeting is classified as a misdemeanor. This offense carries a penalty of a fine ranging from $100 to $500, imprisonment of 1 to 6 months, or potentially both, as outlined in the Texas Open Meetings Handbook.

“The public has every right to expect decisions to be made openly, where they can take part in the policymaking process, and not behind closed doors on the fifth floor, especially on an issue as critical as homelessness,” the duo relayed to the press in a statement, according to KERA.

Mendelsohn suggested Bazaldua and Blackmon had ulterior motives.

It’s just “petty politics,” Mendelsohn told WFAA. “These are people who have a grudge because they aren’t a chairman or vice chairman of any committee.”

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“An outside group of philanthropists was pitching an idea for homeless services,” Mendelsohn said, as quoted by WFAA. 

Representatives from the homeless nonprofit Transition Resource Action Center (TRAC) were reportedly present, according to Mendelsohn. However, TRAC’s board chair disputed that account, telling WFAA no one from the group attended the meeting.

Mark Nunneley, who compiles frequent homeless counts in downtown Dallas, also attended the meeting.

The following day, after Bazaldua and Blackmon alleged an ethics violation, the Dallas City Council, including Bazaldua and Blackmon, voted unanimously to approve $7.8 million in contracts for homeless services. The largest share, $5.9 million, went to The Bridge Homeless Recovery Center, which CEO David Woody III said had served more than 6,300 people in the past year, housed 400 nightly, and helped 900 secure housing.

What The Law Says

Bazaldua and Blackmon suggested city attorneys, and potentially the Dallas County district attorney, could investigate, according to KERA.

The Texas Open Meetings Act applies to groups including a “municipal governing body,” or a “deliberative body that has rulemaking or quasi-judicial power.” 

The Housing and Homelessness Solutions committee is simply an advisory committee, without direct governing, rulemaking, or quasi-judicial power. The council also often debates and sometimes rejects the committee’s proposals. As such, the committee may not be subject to the act. 

The gathering was not a committee meeting, and council members often meet with third-party groups, Mendelsohn said, according to KERA. “There were no meeting material[s] discussed while a quorum was present.”

Mendelsohn said she “inadvertently” invited Gracey to the meeting because she did not realize he was a newly-appointed member of the committee, according to WFAA. To be safe, when Bazaldua and Blackmon claimed the violation, she dismissed herself, and the meeting continued. By that point, she said they had only made it through introductions.

Mendelsohn emphasized that her committee does not make final policy decisions, so it does not fall under the statute’s requirements that Bazaldua and Blackmon are claiming.

Bazaldua appears to be having transparency troubles of his own, as he recently took a trip to Japan while the council was debating next year’s budget, as The Dallas Express reported. He missed the budget vote in person, instead attending virtually. At the time, Mendelsohn criticized the trip as a “huge contrast” with members who tried to cut waste.

This was Bazaldua’s second trip to Japan, reportedly on the taxpayer’s dime. The Dallas Express filed a public records request for expenses associated with the trip, but has not received a response in time for publication.

The Dallas Express reached out to Mendelsohn, Bazaldua, and Blackmon, but they did not comment in time for publication.

The controversy comes as the council moves forward with millions in renewed funding for shelters and services, underscoring the tension between political disputes and the ongoing challenge of addressing homelessness in Dallas.