City Manager Kim Tolbert allegedly told Dallas Mavericks CEO Rick Welts she planned to leave City Hall more than a year ago, before the Dallas City Council had publicly discussed moving City Hall
Welts made the remarks the morning of March 27 at a sports economic panel hosted by the Greater Dallas Planning Council. Local government watchdog Damien LeVeck, known online as “Dallas En Fuego,” posted the audio on X.
“Over a year ago, City Manager Tolbert told us, ‘Look, I’ve got to move out of City Hall. I can’t afford to operate what we do in that building going forward for the taxpayers,” Welts said in the audio. “We said, ‘Okay, how is that anything to do with us?’ But at some point in time, you’ll tell us what’s available. And then we can sit down and have a conversation about it.”
BREAKING: @dallasmavs CEO: “Over a year ago, City Manager Tolbert told us, ‘Look, I’ve gotta move out of City Hall.’”
At that time, there were ZERO public discussions about demolishing the people’s building.@KBTDallasCM is supposed to carry out the will of elected… pic.twitter.com/38ypxZMFkn
— 𝔻𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕒𝕤 𝔼𝕟 𝔽𝕦𝕖𝕘𝕠 (@dallasenfuego) March 27, 2026
In the remarks, Welts said the Mavericks would like 50 contiguous acres. City Hall sits on an 11.8-acre site south of downtown, near parking lots and vacant parcels.
“It’s not up to us to decide whether City Hall’s available or not. We’re waiting for the city,” Weltssaid. “It’s up for the city to decide what’s in the best interest of Dallas taxpayers going forward in terms of the future of that building, and we’ll proceed off of that.”
Tolbert told The Dallas Express in a statement she has addressed numerous city issues with “urgency and transparency.”
“It is no secret that I have aggressively approached problems facing the city, even when that is outside the city’s normal comfort zone,” Tolbert said. “It is not breaking news that I have met with the Dallas Mavericks and Dallas Stars about the two teams remaining in Dallas. I have had discussions with officials from both teams about their needs for a modern, fan-friendly arena experience.”
Tolbert said they also discussed the future of the American Airlines Center, Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center, “the City’s commitment to downtown,” and Mayor Eric Johnson’s tasking of the city council to address deferred maintenance at City Hall.
Mavericks Chief Communications Officer Gina Miller toldThe Dallas Expressthat team executives had seen the audio.
“There have been general conversations over time with the City about a range of potential opportunities, which is consistent with how long-term planning discussions typically evolve,” she said. “We remain focused on evaluating long-term opportunities and working collaboratively with the City as that process continues.”
After a marathon City Council meeting on March 4, officials postponed a final decision on City Hall until the summer, as previously reported by The Dallas Express. Miller said this enabled “more defined, substantive discussions about what a potential framework could look like.”
After the March 4 council meeting, Tolbert said she was directed to explore options including “disposition of the City Hall site.”
“It will be up to the Dallas City Council to decide whether to repair or move out of City Hall,” Tolbert said. “Until the City Council makes that decision, we will continue discussions with the Mavericks on other issues.”
In May and June 2025, officials also provided “comprehensive” briefings to the full council discussing the “urgent need” to fund facility repairs, according to Tolbert.
“In 2026, it’s clear that we must confront these issues,” she said. “It is the first time since 1976 that a council has addressed deferred and preventative maintenance — an important and difficult conversation. The bill is due, and conversations with the City Council are ongoing.”
“We know Dallas residents are passionate about these topics,” she added, “and we are working diligently to meet the demands and expectations of everyone invested in the decision-making process and to respond to the City Council’s request for additional work and more information.”
Governance Questions
After the audio went public, City Councilwoman Cara Mendelsohnposted on Facebook she had “deep concerns” about the process.
“So the Dallas Mavericks CEO heard from the Dallas City Manager that she wants to move out of city hall before the city council and before any assessment was done? Billions of dollars at stake,” Mendelsohnwrote. “This is not how representative government should work and I have deep concerns about what is happening at City Hall.”
The council’s finance committeeheard a staff breakdown on February 23 about a potential $1 billion cost to upgrade and overhaul City Hall, asThe Dallas Express reported.
While the report found it would take at least $906 million to make the current City Hall “fully updated,” it would cost $329.4 million to address “major building systems and infrastructure deficiencies.” Several council members, including Councilman Chad West, hadquestioned the numbers’ accuracy.
LeVeck told The Dallas Express he believes the recent revelations amplify these concerns.
“This even further compromises the $1 billion estimate that was given to fix City Hall,” he said. “If Tolbert’s motivation the entire time was to get out of the building – and has been for months, if not over a year – then it seems even more suspicious that this report is legitimate.”
He expressed broader concerns about what this would mean for Dallas’ city government.
“What this means is that the city manager was acting unilaterally to move the city out of city hall and bringing the proposition to third parties without the notification or authorization of the city council,” LeVeck said. “This is very troubling, because it goes against the way the city government is supposed to operate.”