DALLAS — The Dallas City Council on Wednesday approved an amended 11-month contract with the city's tourism department, still working to regain public trust after a scathing audit earlier this year.
The council approved, by a 14-0 vote with the Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau, a restated contract to implement corrective changes VisitDallas has made since the audit was released in January.
The findings of the audit led to the resignation of former CEO Philip Jones in May and the appointment of interim CEO Sam Coats.
In that time, VisitDallas says it has implemented three key corrective actions to address the audit.
The first action includes the city monitoring of expense, audit, reporting and invoicing data.
Second, the city will hire an independent third party to analyze VisitDallas performance goals and metrics.
A third corrective action covers VisitDallas engaging with a third party to provide feedback on the reasonableness of VisitDallas policies.
District 11 council member Lee Kleinman was an outspoken critic of what he called a "scathing audit," but said the corrective changes under Coats have made a difference.
“I think that they (VisitDallas) are really trying to address the issues that were brought up in the audit," Kleinman said.
On Wednesday, the council chamber filled with people wearing blue buttons in support of approving the restated and amended contract with VisitDallas.
Representatives from American Airlines and Southwest Airlines and the city-owned Omni Hotel told the council they supported the amended contract.
Even with the approval of the contract, several council members stated they want to see more money from VisitDallas going to arts and historic entities in the city going forward.
More on WFAA:
- New Dallas police oversight board votes to review Diamond Ross case
- On a frigid night in Dallas, one man who used to be homeless ushered people to shelter
- 'I want justice': Grieving family demands meeting with city leaders over woman's in-custody death
- Dallas council approves $60 million in tornado cleanup spending
- Election Results: Texans approve measure blocking state income tax