A rotten deal at Dallas City Hall

At first glance, the plan seemed like a nice idea to help those most in need start over.

But, like too many plans that have emerged from Dallas City Hall over the years, the details are disturbing and contradicting, and they lead us to conclude that the city now has no choice but to start from scratch.

If you don’t know what we’re talking about, it is this: The city was planning to give an Atlanta-based charity called the City of Refuge a decade-long free lease of 11 acres at 12000 Greenville Ave. in Lake Highlands. The charity agreed to build a city farm, farmers market, restaurant, tiny homes, clinic and other services to help former incarcerated people, trafficked women and others who are trying to put their lives back together.

The champion of the deal from day one was Councilor Adam McGough, who represents Lake Highlands and has represented City of Refuge in many ways. He appeared as the only person in the only video on the group’s website, he used his influence to woo supporters across town, and he drove the deal through town hall where it didn’t go through the application process as long – subject to term leases usually.

The plan started to unravel sometime last week when councilors and the press started asking questions. And the more answers we got, the more concerned we became. Now the deal has been removed from the Council’s Wednesday agenda. It must finally be removed from consideration.

Two council members, Gay Donnell Willis and Cara Mendelsohn, told the editorial board that City of Refuge founder Bruce Deel, in separate talks in October, said he was in talks with McGough to hold a senior position in City the refuge.

Mendelsohn spoke to Deel on a Zoom call Oct. 22, she said. On that call, Mendeloshn recalled, Deel told her that McGough would become chief executive of the City of Refuge project in Lake Highlands.

“He [Deel] said if that’s a problem we really want Adam, but we want the deal more than we want, ”said Mendelsohn.

Mendelsohn was shocked. “There is a clear ethical problem here,” she said. “An incumbent councilor directs funds for economic development, bond money and possible general fund money for a project of which the Atlanta CEO will be the CEO.

Councilor Willis told us a similar story. She sat down in person with Deel and two senior city officials on October 13, she said. She said Deel told her he had spoken to McGough about a position at City of Refuge for six months. All of this while McGough got the deal through town hall.

Meanwhile, according to city notes, McGough asked the city attorney for comment in order to take a job at City of Refuge. Remember, McGough spearheaded this entire process in the council and proposed a plan to ensure that City of Refuge receives a prime piece of urban land at no cost, without any sort of bidding process.

McGough has denied ever having received a specific job offer and Mike Reinsel, CEO of City of Refuge-Dallas, told our town hall reporter that making McGough a “direct contributor” to the nonprofit was out of the question, but may work for City of Refuge while being paid by another organization.

Whether McGough got a job offer approved by the city attorney or whether his salary would come through a third party seems like a fig leaf to us. Anyone looking at these facts would find that McGough was playing both sides of the ball when he had to act rigorously in his role as a councilor to ensure the residents of Dallas got the best possible deal for their country.

This deal is spoiled at this point. The city has to start over and this time do what it should have done. If Dallas is looking to give away land to create an urban farm to serve people in need, it may be worth a donation.

But make a request for a quote and then accept the best offer that comes in. That is the right way to do business. And local charities that have worked in Dallas for generations deserve a chance.

Oh yes, and one more important thing.

Next time, let’s make sure that no one on the council has a sideline at stake.

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https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/editorials/2021/11/07/a-rotten-deal-at-dallas-city-hall/