Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson appoints council members he opposed in May election to lead committees

Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson released his latest roster of City Council committee appointments Wednesday. And in a departure from his first two years in office, he appointed all 14 of his colleagues to leadership positions.

The move echoes recent statements the mayor has made about trying to be more collaborative with the latest iteration of the City Council, which includes incumbents with whom he has occasionally been at odds during his two years as Dallas’ top elected official. And some of them were council members he openly opposed during municipal elections this spring.

In a memo Wednesday, Johnson cited his call for city officials to “get back to basics” during the council inauguration earlier this month. He said that he was assigning new Mayor Pro Tem Chad West to help him ensure City Manager T.C. Broadnax is moving forward with plans to address issues related to public safety, the 911 call center, permitting and others. The mayor said that he planned to be in touch with committee chairs about “our common agenda for the next two years.”

“There is no time to waste at this momentous point in our city’s history,” Johnson said in the memo.

The mayor’s goals with the latest appointments were to “have the most boring and most productive City Council we’ve ever had because it’s time to get to work,” said Tristan Hallman, Johnson’s spokesman.

The 12 committees weigh in on city policies, projects and initiatives and can recommend items be sent to the full council for possible adoption. Selecting who serves on the committees, which have from five to seven members, is at the sole discretion of the mayor. He also can strip council members of chair or vice chair status at any time, which has happened on several occasions over the last two years.

When Johnson announced his first committee appointments in October 2019, council members Adam Bazaldua and Paula Blackmon did not have roles as chair or vice chair. They remained out of those positions as of this week, along with Carolyn King Arnold, who had been chair of the Quality of Life, Arts & Culture Committee but at some point was removed from that position by Johnson.

Council member Casey Thomas chaired three committees until Wednesday, and Cara Mendelsohn chaired two committees and was vice chair of two others.

Bazaldua — who represents District 7 and ran against Donald Parish Jr., whom the mayor had supported — is now chair of the Quality of Life, Arts & Culture Committee, taking over from former council member Adam Medrano. Blackmon now chairs the Environment & Sustainability Committee. Arnold is the vice chair of the Economic Development Committee, which Tennell Atkins leads.

Johnson also publicly supported an opponent of Jaime Resendez during the May election. But Resendez is now chair of the Judicial Nominations Committee. The mayor also had appeared to favor an opponent of Blackmon.

Bazaldua, Resendez and Blackmon said Wednesday that they were happy with their committee appointments and were eager to start when meetings resume in August.

“I think we’re all ready to move forward and get some good things done for the residents of Dallas,” said Resendez, who will be the new deputy mayor pro tem. In April, he called Johnson “the most divisive and combative political figure in city politics in a generation,” after the mayor endorsed his challenger in the election.

New council member Jaynie Schultz will lead the Workforce, Education and Equity Committee. She is the only freshman member to be appointed as a committee chair.

Here is the full memo with all council committee appointments.