Former Dallas mayors campaign to change Dallas City Charter

A growing push to give the Dallas Mayor more power has backing from three former mayors: Ron Kirk, Tom Leppert and Mike Rawlings.

Former mayors Ron Kirk, Tom Leppert and Mike Rawlings are preparing to ask Dallas voters to give future mayors more power.

"The biggest question is ‘who’s in charge'?” said Kirk, explaining that in Dallas, the answer may not be the mayor.

A growing push from the three former mayors would increase power, and they say it would also increase accountability.

Right now, the mayor is one of 15 votes on Dallas City Council, and aside from appointing committee chairs, has little other formal power.

The three former mayors shared with NBC 5 why they say a proposed charter amendment could change that.

“When you get into setting strategy," said Rawlings, "When you get into being held accountable for the performance of the city, 1 out of 15 votes can’t do it.”

Instead, they want to give the mayor's office the power to hire and fire the city manager and bear responsibility for the city's budget.

"Future mayors may not like it," said Kirk, "but it gives the mayor more, as we like to say, than the power of please and thank you."

Two decades ago, Dallas voters rejected a strong-mayor proposal. This time around, Rawlings and Kirk call this a "stronger-mayor" proposal, because this initiative preserves the city manager position in handling day-to-day operations.

It is unclear if the current mayor, Eric Johnson, will support the endeavor, though the proposal would take effect after he leaves office.

Johnson told NBC-5 in a statement Tuesday that he is focused "on the issues that have the greatest impact on Dallas residents, strengthening public safety, making our government more efficient and more effective, and supporting Y’all Street’s continued growth."

"Dallas has accomplished a great deal on these fronts, and my priority is to build on that progress and continue delivering results for Dallas residents," Johnson said.

Rawlings told NBC 5 that the idea has already polled well and he wants a stronger mayor charter amendment to unite the city to "make the biggest difference to hold city hall accountable to citizens.”

The former mayors said their next steps are to collect signatures during the month of October and put it before voters next May in the hopes of creating new rules before Dallas elects its next mayor in 2027.