Dallas is renaming two of its City Council committees — one of which closely resembles President Donald Trump’s recently formed federal Department of Government Efficiency — and now requires council members in all eight of its standing committees to attend in person.
The changes, proposed by Mayor Eric Johnson, include renaming the Committee on Government Performance and Financial Management to the Committee on Finance, and the Committee on Workforce, Education, and Equity to the Committee on Government Efficiency.
The City Council approved the resolution without discussion on Wednesday, although council member Jaime Resendez attempted to speak. He was attending the meeting virtually; the new attendance rule doesn’t apply to meetings involving the entire 15-member council.
“Mr. Mayor, I’d like to-” Resendez started to say before exclaiming, “What?!“ after the mayor called the vote.
Political Points
“Yeah, that’s how it goes,” Johnson responded.
After the meeting, Resendez told The Dallas Morning News he had signaled his intention to speak before the vote was called and had refrained from voting while waiting to be recognized. Resendez attended the first half of the meeting, but he told The News he participated during the afternoon portion from home due to a family emergency.
The mayor explained in an Aug. 22 memo to City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert that his proposal to rename the two committees emphasized his priorities for the city to focus more on fiscal responsibility and government efficiency. He also said virtual participation for council committee members should only be permitted if they’re away for official city business.
“Since the termination of the emergency regulations that provided for hybrid meetings, there is no clear basis for council members appearing via videoconference.” Johnson wrote.
Workforce development has been a focus for Johnson, who appointed a workforce czar in 2022 to help expand the skills of local workers and improve job opportunities. Although the city government doesn’t oversee the local education system, racial equity has been a focus in recent city programs and policies. But recent federal mandates targeting diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives have led city officials to distance themselves from promoting DEI-related efforts.
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This isn’t the first time Johnson has changed the name of a council committee. In 2023, he renamed the council’s Environment and Sustainability Committee to the Parks, Trails and the Environment Committee. At the time, he said it would better help Dallas in its goals of “becoming the major city with the best park system in Texas.”
When asked if speaking before the vote would have changed the outcome, Resendez replied, “Absolutely not,” but said he felt it was still important that he voice his concerns.
“Once a vote is called for, it ends the discussion, I get all that,” the council member said. “But it was clearly a rushed vote.”
‘The irony is hard to miss’
Resendez criticized both changes. He argued that removing workforce, education and equity from committee titles sends the wrong message to Dallas residents, minimizing the visibility of those topics as city values.
“Renaming a committee in a way that suggests a shift in priorities deserves transparency and meaningful engagement, not just an internal adjustment,” he said.
Resendez also called the in-person attendance rule backward and hypocritical, noting that virtual participation has become standard in courts, businesses and families. He highlighted benefits, such as reducing travel, pollution and health risks, while allowing council members to stay engaged even when they are sick.
“Dallas residents didn’t send us here to play attendance police,” he said. “They sent us here to solve problems, and this is not a solution; it’s a power grab.”
He added that he felt “the irony is hard to miss” with the mayor proposing the attendance policy.
“This proposal is coming from someone who routinely arrives late, rarely stays for the entire meeting and has too often walked out when the tough business begins,” Resendez said. “Before we start policing how other council members show up, maybe we should start by looking in the mirror and asking ourselves if we’re currently following the very standard this item would impose, and let’s not pretend that this will magically build trust or integrity.”
Johnson has a history of spotty attendance for City Council meetings and DFW International Airport board meetings. City records show that Johnson missed portions of 26 out of 40 City Council meetings between June 26, 2024, and June 16, 2025, including a four-hour, 29-minute absence from a nine-hour meeting in December 2024. Only three of those missed minutes were excused, city records show.
Under Dallas city rules, elected officials must attend at least half of each meeting to be marked present and 90% of all assigned meetings to stay in good standing. Johnson’s attendance record was at 94% over that time period, city records show
The News reported in 2024 that Johnson missed nearly 70% of 32 DFW Airport board meetings between January 2021 and December 2023, often sending other council members in his stead. Even since then, meeting minutes show he missed four of 15 meetings between January 2024 and April 2025. As Dallas mayor, he holds a permanent seat on the airport board.
The mayor’s authority
Johnson, now in his second and final four-year term as mayor, publicly announced switching from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party in 2023, just four months after winning reelection. Before the declaration, he had identified as a Democrat for decades, including during his nearly 10 years as a state legislator in Texas before becoming Dallas mayor in 2019.
Johnson has been a vocal supporter of Trump, announcing that he voted for Trump in the 2024 primary elections. There was speculation last year that Johnson might have been seeking a position in the Trump administration.
The new Committee on Government Efficiency echoes DOGE, a temporary federal agency created by Trump in January to “modernize federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.” Initially led by tech billionaire Elon Musk, DOGE is not a permanent department but absorbed an existing White House unit.
As Dallas mayor, Johnson holds the authority to appoint, remove and reassign council committee members, as well as designate each committee’s chair and vice chair. Since the new City Council took office in June, Johnson has not yet assigned members to any committees, except for the Ad Hoc Committee on Legislative Affairs, whose lineup was announced in July following Gov. Greg Abbott’s call for a special legislative session.
But some of Johnson’s fellow council members have accused the mayor of using his authority to retaliate against them.
Council member Adam Bazaldua criticized Johnson on X in June 2024 after Bazaldua was reassigned, calling Johnson “our weak mayor” and “petty.”
“Today [Johnson] removed me as Quality of Life Chair, as he has done to several other colleagues when he is throwing a tantrum,” Bazaldua wrote. “He believes in bully tactics because he doesn’t know what real leadership is, just like the president he supports or the failing party he recently joined.”
The new attendance policy allows for virtual attendance only for official city business, such as attending professional or municipal conferences, testifying at legislative hearings if requested by city leadership and performing duties for boards or commissions appointed by the mayor or council.