Amid calls for increased transparency from more than 100 members of the public earlier Wednesday, the Dallas City Council debate on a resolution extended into early morning hours Thursday, with few people remaining in attendance. The council was split 9-6 on a number of amendments to the resoluti on, with council members Mendelsohn, Paul Ridley, Laura Cadena, Paula Blackmon, Adam Bazaldua and Bill Roth voting as a block to slow down momentum to explore other potential sites for city hall. The city council was considering a resolution directing city manager Kimberly Tolbert to explore move 311, 911 and emergency operations to another location, and to explore options to both relocate other city staff to a new government location and the redevelopment of the current city hall site. Tolbert said during a debate that started around 5 p.m. and lasted more than seven hours that no final decision on the future of Dallas City Hall would be made, no matter how the council voted on the resolution. “We have not identified locations,” Tolbert said. “We don’t have a financing plan for anything that’s currently on the table, whether it’s the renovation of city hall or whether it’s to go to a different location.” Dallas Mar 2 Residents weigh in on future of Dallas City Hall Dallas Feb 23 Committee recommends moving Dallas 911 and 311 out of City Hall Dallas Mar 2 Dallas considers moving city hall, public weighs in Several council members expressed concerns about moving too quickly to make a decision and whether approving a resolution recommended by a council committee would equate with moving away from the 47-year old building. Council member Chad West, who authored the resolution considered for hours by city council, said the decision was about several challenges and opportunities for downtown and elected leaders. “We do not sit at the negotiation table with brokers, developers, or professional sports team owners,” West said. “We rely on city staff to conduct those negotiations and bring forward complete, accurate information so we can act in the best interest of Dallas.” Council member Cara Mendelsohn said she supported deferring the resolution to later in the summer, to avoid making a city hall decision too quickly. That amendment proposed by council member Paul Ridley did receive the required eight votes. “City Hall is not for sale because it looks like we’ll probably just give it away,” Mendelsohn said. “This land will be cursed. It will haunt whatever organization occupies the space and what I do know, is we don’t know the whole story.” ...read more read less