Former Dallas Inspector General Bart Bevers said in a lawsuit he was fired after reporting Dallas spent $42K on a retreat for Dallas City Council members.
DALLAS — The former inspector general of Dallas filed a lawsuit against the city last week alleging he was wrongfully terminated after exposing the city exceeded the budget for a City Council member retreat by $25,000 and authorized a $318,000 contract without City Council approval or proper bidding.
The former inspector general, Bart Bevers, alleges he was retaliated against “as a result of these reports” and, ultimately, terminated and replaced as the city’s watchdog.
The Dallas City Council voted last week to fire Timothy Menke, Bevers’ replacement, after less than three months on the job because he is not a lawyer and thus did not meet the qualifications for the job mandated by the city charter.
Bevers alleges he was the only “tier one” candidate for the job identified by a city-hired search firm who was an attorney and qualified for the job under the city charter.
Representatives for Bevers’ attorney, Mark D. Downey, provided a copy of the lawsuit to WFAA. They provided a receipt showing it was filed Thursday.
The lawsuit claims Bevers was in the midst of investigating the conduct of an unnamed city official and had begun interviewing witnesses before the alleged retaliation began.
A Dallas spokesperson declined to respond to questions from WFAA, saying the city does not comment on pending litigation.
In two findings issued in early January, obtained by WFAA and not previously reported, Bevers outlined what he called a waste of taxpayer funds and a failure of the city’s procurement process.
In one report, Bevers found the city spent $42,598.76 — including $11,293 on food, beverage and valet costs — for a one day City Council retreat in August 2024.
The city booked four hotel rooms at the DFW Grand Hyatt for Council members and city staff — although the inspector general found only one was actually used, the report said.
Bevers determined most of the rooms were not allowable travel expenses as city policy prohibits booking hotels for Council members and staff within the metro area, the report said.
The report found the DFW Grand Hyatt hotel and the facilitators for the retreat — who charged $28,400 — were selected prior to obtaining three comparison bids.
The cost for the 2024 retreat was far beyond the original budget of $17,000 and was more than double the cost of retreats held in previous years, the report said.
Bevers said in the lawsuit that his report was submitted to City Manager Kim Tolbert, Mayor Eric Johnson and all 14 City Council members “for appropriate law enforcement actions to be taken.”
The city did not immediately respond to questions about what corrective action, if any, was taken after the inspector general report was issued.
In a second report also issued in mid-January, Bevers found the city’s aviation department paid $318,880 to Construction Rent-A-Fence, LLC, for concrete flatwork and railings at Dallas Executive Airport without proper competitive bidding and without required Council approval.
If the bid had been appropriately handled, the inspector general’s office found the city could have paid less than a third of the cost; the next highest bid was $97,754.
“A ratification was prepared and placed on the City Council draft agenda, but it was removed. City Council was not provided the opportunity to learn about the procurement process failures on this project,” the report said.
The report recommended the city manager mandate procurement training for all employees involved in the procurement process.
“As a result of these reports and [Bevers] undertaking this additional investigation, [He] began experiencing a pattern of retaliatory treatment from City officials that culminated in an executive search company, MGT, being hired to find a new Inspector General,” Bevers alleges in the lawsuit.
Transcripts of City Council committee meetings show members were considering hiring search firm MGT to fill the watchdog job days before Bevers issued the reports detailed above.
New inspector general hired, then fired
The Office of Inspector General (OIG) was first established by the Dallas City Council in 2021, within the city attorney’s office.
Bevers was named to the position in early 2022.
A new city charter amendment, passed in November, established an independent Office of Inspector General separate from the City Attorney’s Office and reporting directly to the City Council.
The charter requires the inspector general to be an attorney, however records show the search firm’s job listing did not list that requirement.
The Council voted to appoint Menke as inspector general effective June 30, but he is not a lawyer.
The City Council voted unanimously to discharge him effective Sept. 26 and stated “Mr. Menke has impressive credentials as a senior executive and has served in multiple inspector general offices, but he does not meet the qualification for the inspector general position in the city charter.”
Bevers alleges he complained to the City Attorney’s office about Menke’s failure to meet the qualification after he learned he was not getting the job.
He said the city retaliated against him by telling the Texas Workforce Commission he was terminated for misconduct after he violated “some policy,” the lawsuit alleges.
“[Bevers] was never advised of any violation of any City policy or that he was not selected by executive search firm for the Inspector General position because of his actions in violating any applicable policy,” the lawsuit says.
Bevers seeks payment for past and future lost wages, at least $250,000 in compensatory damages and attorneys fees, according to the lawsuit.