September 29, 2024- Candy’s Dirt- April Towery
From a once-pristine building that was overtaken by squatters to a multimillion-dollar structure intended to house code inspectors but wasn’t up to code, the City of Dallas has failed in its efforts to manage 5,800 real estate assets, council members agreed at a recent committee meeting.
Director of Facilities and Real Estate John Johnson reviewed several case study properties during Monday’s Government Performance and Financial Management meeting and offered suggestions on how Dallas can address challenges like “inadequate communication, siloed acquisitions, and unfunded operations.”
Councilman Chad West, who chairs the GPFM Committee, said the City can and must do more through a strategic plan for its real estate assets.
Councilwoman Cara Mendelsohn suggested that some departments overseeing real estate assets aren’t qualified to do so. She also balked at the notion of “siloed acquisitions.”
“No, it’s not siloed. It’s all under the city manager. Period,” she said. “None of these have happened without the city manager. The city manager has put them on the agenda … If it’s on the agenda, I’m assuming they’re recommending it … There is somebody who is connected to this. Unfunded operations? No. Again, the city manager is funding these operations, and if they’re not, that person is not doing their job. That is literally part of their job.”
Dallas’ real estate section has not been managed properly, Mendelsohn added.
“I don’t think it’s the fault of somebody who’s literally doing the work in real estate,” she said. “It’s part of a broader picture of, why do we even have this many assets, why haven’t we monetized the land that we have, why haven’t we built the housing in the places we can and sold it so we can pay some of our other obligations? That’s why we hire a professional city manager.”
A nationwide search is currently underway for Dallas’ top administrator. T.C. Broadnax left for Austin earlier this year and Kimberly Bizor Tolbert has been serving in the interim. Tolbert has not said publicly whether she is seeking the permanent post.
711 S. St. Paul
Family Gateway Shelter and Resource Center has not only been plagued by problems in the building it currently leases from the city, but operators are still dealing with fallout from a building they haven’t occupied since last fall.
CEO Ellen Magnis recounted at Monday’s GPFM meeting how a May storm damaged the roof at the nonprofit’s current building on Preston Road and mold prompted the temporary closure of Family Gateway’s childcare center.
Magnis said she questioned whether delays in repairing the roof were caused by city officials trying to determine how they would pay for it.
“I think it may be appropriate looking forward to determining whether there are sufficient emergency funds in place to empower city staff to activate quickly in the face of weather or other urgent crises,” she said. “It may also be worth an exercise in tagging city assets as to whether or not they are critical to emergency services, which our facility certainly is.”
Mendelsohn said “the entire episode” was shameful and disappointing.
Interim Assistant City Manager Donzell Gipson publicly apologized for how Dallas handled the storm damage at Family Gateway.
“The bottom line is this: We weren’t responsive enough at the front end,” he said. “There are lessons learned here. Hopefully, we’ll do a better job of contract management … This was not our finest moment.”
The committee also talked briefly about the former Family Gateway building at 711 S. St. Paul in downtown, which was overrun by squatters and vandals while vacant after the nonprofit’s departure last year. The building is set to be auctioned on Oct. 2 and could be demolished.
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