The Dallas County Board of Supervisors met in regular session on Tuesday.

Farnsworth Group Architect Principal Kristofer Orth presented the board with a site plan for the newly proposed criminal court building that will be on the November ballot. The structure would be located west of the Dallas County Law Enforcement Center, with a connecting access drive for employees to transfer inmates back and forth, and have a detention center north of the criminal court building. He noted cost estimates for projects would be presented in a future meeting in June or July.

Next, the board approved a change order in the amount of $40,195 for a Construction Manager At-Risk additional preconstruction services as well as a bond referendum for a public education proposal contract with Mezzo Ads for  marketing and public awareness campaign on the criminal court building ballot measure. The only other item that was approved was a resolution for an assessment for Drainage District 105 of $1,329,788.44 as it will cover the deficiency of funds in the district to pay all costs, including expenses and damages.

Also, the board held a procedures and accessibility workshop and Supervisor Julia Helm proposed recording their meetings in order to give the public as much information as possible. She argued that having 9am meetings on Tuesdays are difficult for most people to attend due to it conflicting with the work day. Helm mentioned that either the board should record their meetings and put it on YouTube or possibly move their meetings to the evenings, so more people can attend. She also brought up the idea of releasing their agenda packet to the public.

Supervisor Brad Golightly had questions about whether there needed to be a camera person that would control the system or if it would operate independently. Supervisor Chair Kim Chapman emphasized that certain cameras in the supervisor board room were for security purposes, and those shouldn’t be interfered with. Helm was adamant about seriously considering providing this service to the public. The item was tabled to the June 24th meeting, where Information Technology Director Todd Noah can present them with a visual picture of the process.