Mayor Johnson outlines policy priorities for Dallas City Council committees
DALLAS — Mayor Eric Johnson has sent a memo to the City Council outlining his legislative program for 2022.
In his annual State of the City Address last month, Mayor Johnson promised to release the priorities for each City Council committee. The mayor’s program includes 48 priority areas — six for each of the eight standing committees — that he wants the committee chairs to address in the year ahead.
“Focusing on these priorities will make our city stronger, safer, healthier, more vibrant, and more equitable,” Mayor Johnson said. “Together, we can ensure our dynamic and growing city reaches its full potential by getting back to basics at City Hall and laying the groundwork to build for our future.”
In Dallas, the mayor creates the committees and selects the chairs to help shape policies.
Among the priorities outlined in the mayor’s memo:
- Implementing the comprehensive economic development policy, especially the recommendations of the Mayor’s Task Force on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and ensuring the success of the Economic Development Corporation.
- Reviewing our city codes, policies and procedures that allowed for environmental threats such as Lane Plating, “Shingle Mountain,” and others to occur, and recommending to the Dallas City Council new codes, policies, and procedures — including zoning changes — to prevent such occurrences in the future.
- Developing and recommending a plan to meaningfully reduce the property tax rate to make Dallas more competitive with surrounding cities.
- Monitoring and assessing progress on the city manager’s plan to improve the city’s permitting processes.
- Creating a formal sunset review process of city departments, offices, and programs to help eliminate waste, redundancies, and inefficiencies in city government.
- Supporting proper implementation and providing oversight of all public safety strategies, including the violent crime reduction plan, the RIGHT Care program, 911 staffing improvements, Dallas police officer hiring, the KPMG civilianization study, and the programs recommended by the Mayor’s Task Force on Safe Communities.
- Developing sensible regulations for short-term rental properties in Dallas.
- Guiding and shaping the process to determine the future of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center and surrounding area as it pertains to transportation infrastructure.
- Working with the mayor’s workforce czar to implement recommendations from Upskilling Dallas: How to Modernize the City’s Workforce for the Jobs of Tomorrow and other upskilling efforts, including at the city’s new Small Business Center.
