Last-ditch effort to revive measure falls short
NOT HER POLICY | City Manager Mary Suhm accepted an award from the LGBT Task Force this week. But Suhm said she didn’t plan to put an equality resolution on the council agenda since it’s the mayor’s role to address policy issues.
A vote on an LGBT equality resolution appears unlikely before a new Dallas City Council convenes in August.
Supporters of the resolution were exploring other options this week for getting it on the council’s June 12 agenda, after Councilwoman Delia Jasso unexpectedly withdrew her signature from a memo May 28. But the resolution was not on the agenda posted late Friday, June 7, to the city’s website, meaning efforts to get it before the council during LGBT Pride Month and in advance of the U.S. Supreme Court’s rulings in two marriage equality cases had fallen short.
The resolution could still theoretically be placed on the agenda for June 19, the last meeting before a new council is sworn in, but only if Mayor Mike Rawlings or City Manager Mary Suhm has a change of heart.
Jasso’s decision to withdraw her signature meant the resolution no longer had the five signatures necessary to force Rawlings to place it on the agenda. Rawlings said last week that in the absence of the memo requiring him to put the resolution on the agenda, he had no plans to do so because he believes it is a “misuse” of the council’s time.
Suhm, who can also put items on the agenda, said this week she didn’t plan to do so with the resolution because it’s the mayor’s role to address policy issues. A Change.org petition started last week urging Suhm to put the resolution on the agenda received more than 1,000 signatures.
“The things that I put on are general agreement type of things or operational type of things,” Suhm said. “If it’s a policy issue and the council’s trying to decide how they want to go with a policy, the rule is the five signatures.
“I do operational stuff, not policy stuff, and it’s very clear that the city manager shouldn’t be involved in policy stuff,” Suhm added. “There’s a rule to get it there.”
Councilman Scott Griggs, the author of the resolution, said Thursday, June 6, he has a new memo with four signatures — those of council members Angela Hunt, Monica Alonzo, Pauline Medrano and Griggs — that needs one more before it can be submitted.
But even then, it would only require the resolution to be placed on the agenda within 30 days, pushing it to the new council, which is sworn in June 24, and bringing it up for a vote in August after the council’s summer break.
According to the city’s charter, Mayor Pro Tem Pauline Medrano could place the item on the agenda for June 12 since Rawlings is out of the country this week. The mayor pro tem “shall perform the duties of mayor in the case of the absence or inability of the mayor to perform the duties of office, who shall, during that time, be vested with all the powers belonging to the mayor,” the charter states.
Medrano, who has been a staunch LGBT ally during her four terms on the council, wouldn’t comment
Thursday about her ability to place the resolution on the agenda, saying she didn’t want to “jinx anything.”
“We’re looking at different options,” Medrano said. “We’re working really hard and different people are looking at different options.”
Medrano has until 5 p.m. Friday to add the resolution to the June 12 agenda if the city attorney’s office finds it within her powers to do so. Phone calls to the city attorney’s office went unreturned.
Rumors circulated this week that council members who originally pledged to vote in favor of the resolution had wavered in their support. According to another rumor, Rawlings sent word from Brazil that he would find a way to remove the resolution from the agenda if Medrano places it there.
Paula Blackmon, Rawlings’ chief of staff, said the mayor denied having any information about conversations to move the resolution forward while out of town.
Blackmon also maintained the mayor can’t remove an agenda item once it’s added.
Griggs said if the council doesn’t pass the resolution, it’s because Jasso withdrew her support.
“We had the votes. We built a strong coalition,” Griggs said. “But when Delia pulled her signature from the memo, it pulled the rug out from under the coalition.”
But Griggs said he remains hopeful that pro-LGBT council members will find a way to bring the resolution before the body eventually.
“I’m committed to move this forward,” he said.
If last-ditch efforts are unsuccessful, Griggs said he plans to bring the issue up before the new council.
However, depending on how the U.S Supreme Court rules later this month on marriage equality, the resolution’s current wording “would be stale and have to be rewritten” and would “lessen the relevance” of it being passed in August.
“It was a chance to be on the right side of history for a cause we believed in,” Griggs said. “We’ve got new council members coming in and I’m excited to work with them.”
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition June 7, 2013.