The day after Tuesday’s election, Dallas officials say they’re still sorting out the ramifications of 16 approved propositions, including two widely panned by city leaders. Some say the results could be seen as an indictment of how residents feel about their council representation.
“Maybe this is a reality check on the leadership of this council, what that looks like to our public and are we truly meeting their needs,” said council member Paula Blackmon. “I think this election showed there’s a lot of data points that need to be triangulated to really understand what people think of our City Council.”
Headed into Election Day, the entire council and dozens of other current and former city, county and state elected officials publicly urged voters to reject propositions S, T and U or endorsed campaigns against the proposals. The charter amendments made it onto the ballot through a petition campaign led by the nonprofit Dallas Hero, with more than 20,000 voter signatures on each proposal.
Opponents said the Dallas Hero amendments would undermine the authority of elected officials and be detrimental to nearly every city service in the name of boosting public safety. Proponents said the amendments were necessary to improve police recruitment, address delays in emergency response times and further empower residents to hold public officials accountable.
Two of the measures passed: Proposition S requires Dallas to waive its governmental immunity and allow any resident to sue alleging the city isn’t complying with the charter, local ordinances or state law; and Proposition U mandates the city spend half of its excess revenue each year on boosting the police and fire pension, maintaining a police force of at least 4,000 — an increase of around 900 officers — and increasing police starting pay and benefits. Proposition S received support from 55 percent of the voters, and Proposition U received 51 percent, according to unofficial results in Dallas, Collin and Denton counties.
“We are thrilled about this referendum for the people of Dallas, and we hope to partner with the police and city leaders for responsible implementation of the people’s will,” said Pete Marocco, Dallas Hero’s executive director. “The people have spoken decisively, and we hope that some of those who supported the opposition join with us in helping city officials deliver results and accountability to the people of Dallas.”
Any challenges from the city of propositions put onto the ballot through a voter signature campaign could be tricky, said Matthew Wilson, an associate professor of political science at Southern Methodist University.
“Under the city charter, a citizen-initiated referendum is the highest authority, and it cannot be overruled by an act of the City Council, and the charter is pretty clear about that,” Wilson said. “So trying to circumvent something that was duly and properly put on the ballot by a citizen initiative and then approved by a majority of citizens at a major election, there just doesn’t seem a lot of wiggle room to get around that.”
Proposition T was the only Dallas Hero measure that residents voted down. It would have subjected the city manager to a yearly community survey of at least 1,400 residents. The city manager could have been terminated or received a bonus, depending on the results.
Wilson said he believed Proposition T failed because it likely wasn’t as engaging to voters.
“The other two are pretty clearly either for voter empowerment or for law enforcement, and those are things that resonate well with a lot of voters,” Wilson said. “I think a lot of voters don’t even really know what the city manager is or what that position does, and so I think that was a little lower salience than the other two issues.”
The election results also showed that the overwhelming opposition of city leaders to Propositions S, T and U wasn’t as big of an advantage as hoped.
“Everybody who had been in Dallas’ officialdom was telling people, ‘Don’t vote for these propositions,’ and people said, ‘Yeah, well, thank you for your opinion, but I don’t care. I’m going to vote the way I want to,’” Wilson said. “And so it really did point out the limited power of the establishment in directing electoral choice.”
Council member Cara Mendelsohn, who joined Mayor Eric Johnson to urge voters to reject all 18 propositions on the Tuesday ballot, said voters “sent a very powerful message.”
“It was a very clear message that they want their laws enforced, and they want more public safety,” she said. “I hope City Hall will hear the voters and act accordingly.”
About 58 percent of voters also rejected Proposition C, which would have increased the mayor’s salary to $110,000 and council members’ salaries to $90,000. The council currently earns $60,000 annually, and the mayor gets $80,000. Voters, however, approved Proposition E, which bans term-limited former mayors and council members from being elected again. The proposal received 69 percent of voter support.
When asked if the city planned to challenge any of the propositions legally, interim City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert said, “While we wait for the final, certified results of the election, we will continue to review our options.” The city secretary’s office can certify the election results as early as next week.
Tolbert told city staff in an email Wednesday to give that same statement when the public and media asked about the impacts of Propositions S and U.
“At the appropriate time, we will work through the challenges presented by Propositions S and U as we continue to deliver the services our residents need and deserve,” Tolbert said in an email obtained by The Dallas Morning News. “Our city is strong and the opportunities ahead are numerous. Together, we will continue to raise the bar as we move Dallas forward.
The Dallas Hero propositions are historic.
In the case of Proposition S, of Texas’ five largest cities, none have language in their charters declaring a waiver of governmental immunity, which is provided by the state to protect cities from lawsuits and liability. The law does allow people to sue the state and cities for damages in some cases of negligence, but Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Fort Worth and Dallas all have sections in their charters laying out scenarios where the government won’t waive its immunity.
Dallas’ charter has the same language. One section covering required notice for certain breaches of contract says, “Nothing in this section may be construed as waiving the city’s governmental immunity from suit or liability.” Another section on insurance and indemnity requirements and exceptions related to permits to perform construction within a public right-of-way has a section stating, “Nothing in this paragraph may be construed as waiving any governmental immunity available to the city under state law.”
Together for Dallas, one of two political action committees that raised more than $1 million to campaign against the Dallas Hero propositions, in a statement, said the results suggested “citizens of Dallas are not happy with City Hall,” and voters were “sold on the false promises of more accountability and more police.”
“Propositions S and U and the citizen petitions that preceded them were drafted and sold with language intended to appeal to frustrated voters who do not feel that City Hall is responsive to their needs,” the PAC said. “These propositions will likely face legal challenges, but the democratic system worked. We lost.”
The PAC added that the election results “should be a wake-up call for everyone who cares about local government and aspires to create a better Dallas for all.”
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