The vast majority of this article was written by Preston Hollow staff writer Emily Capetillo, with short paragraphs on D10 CM Kathy Stewart and the city budget added by Lake Highlands editor Austin Wood.
The Dallas City Council was inaugurated by Mayor Eric L Johnson in a ceremony on Monday.
The ceremony took place at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center with all new and current members in attendance. Mayor Johnson addressed the city council and people in attendance.
“First, I want to say to our newly inaugurated city council members, congratulations,” Mayor Johnson said. “Maxie Johnson, Laura Cadena, Lorie Blair, and Bill Roth, your journey in city elected office begins today. For the other 10 of our city council members, today is the first day of the next chapter of your city service,” he said.
Each council member received a certificate of election at the ceremony. Entering her second term, District 10 council member Kathy Stewart was sworn in after receiving over 90% of the vote in the May election.
After each council member received the certificate, they each took an oath of office, and Mayor Johnson delivered his mayoral address.
“All of you recently elected and re-elected councilmembers have ideas for how to move Dallas forward and capitalize on this momentum; the people of our city spoke in recent weeks when they elected you,” he said. “But we must not forget: the voters also spoke very clearly back in November when they amended our City Charter and said yes to stricter term limits, no to City Council pay raises, and a definitive ‘yes, please’ to more police officers.”
He emphasized how City Hall isn’t meant to fix every single minuscule problem but rather keep the city safe and maintain law and order.
“I want to continue to achieve real results, as we’ve done these past six years, and I want to play to win for the people of Dallas,” Mayor Johnson said. “This is a city of clear-eyed dreamers – people who have bold ambitions and the will and the nerve to turn their dreams into reality. Our people are what make our city great, and they deserve nothing less than our tireless commitment to a Dallas that is safer, stronger, and more vibrant.”
The new council will navigate the city’s budgeting process in the coming months. At a May 7 council briefing, city staff told the council that property tax revenues are expected to fall short of previous projections by at least $6.7 million.
“It is going to be a painful summer,” City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert said at the briefing. “There have been multiple meetings already with our department directors, and so they are preparing. I am confident and extremely excited that we will be able to deliver to the city council with a budget that is balanced on August 12, and our goal will be to deliver that budget sooner.”
