Plano council approves DART interlocal agreement and related governance changes, rescinds planned withdrawal election
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Summary
After months of negotiation, the Plano City Council voted to approve an interlocal agreement with Dallas Area Rapid Transit that creates a General Mobility Program returning a guaranteed share of sales‑tax revenue to cities, passed a governance reform resolution, and repealed a prior ordinance calling for a withdrawal election. Vote on the ILA was 8–0.
Plano’s City Council voted to approve an interlocal agreement (ILA) with the Dallas Area Rapid Transit agency and a companion governance resolution, marking a reversal of the withdrawal election the council had earlier authorized.
Andrew Fortune, the city’s director of policy and government relations, framed the ILA as a negotiated, region‑focused compromise intended to return a guaranteed minimum share of DART sales‑tax revenue to member cities and create a General Mobility Program for transportation projects. “Staff is pleased to bring forward what we believe to be a fair and meaningful offer,” Fortune said during the presentation.
Randall Bryant, the DART board chairman, told the council the result reflected months of work and compromise. “What we’ve come up with so far, it’s not perfect, but it is progress,” Bryant said, urging continued partnership and cooperation.
Public comment was extensive and mixed: transit riders, disability advocates and regional planners urged the council to preserve regional service and ensure transparency and rider representation on DART’s board; some downtown business owners and other residents expressed concerns about service levels and costs. Several speakers asked the council to require a resident rider or regular transit user among any board representatives and to publish transparent project dashboards for funds allocated through the GMP.
Council members described the vote as a difficult but necessary compromise. Council member Levine said the agreement provides “important stability and predictability for our city” while acknowledging outstanding work on service and regional expansion. The council voted 8–0 to approve the ILA and then passed a resolution asking the state legislature to consider governance reforms that would ensure member cities have representation and limit any single city from holding a majority vote on the DART board.
Council also moved to rescind prior council actions that would have capped DART funding or ordered the withdrawal election. Mayor John Muns said the city expects high standards from DART over the next six years and called for continued monitoring and collaboration.
Next steps: staff will submit a list of candidate projects by the June 30 deadline in the agreement, and the first payments to cities would begin October 1 under the proposed timeline. Councilmembers and public speakers emphasized they expect continued monitoring on service delivery, rider needs, and regional coordination as the GMP is implemented.
