Former Dallas County D.A. Bill Hill investigating Uber crackdown

The investigation into how Dallas City Hall decided to tighten its limousine ordinance, in an apparent crackdown on the smartphone car service Uber, is now in the hands of former Dallas District Attorney Bill Hill.

In a four-paragraph memo to the city council this afternoon, Mayor Mike Rawlings offered no indication about what Hill, or his investigator David Moore, has found.

But Rawlings promised an independent look at the actions at City Hall regarding Uber.

"I felt strongly that it was necessary to retain an independent investigator to avoid a potential conflict of interest," he wrote.

Earlier this month,

The Dallas Morning News reported that top city staff

, including interim city manager A.C. Gonzalez, worked in concert with Yellow Cab in the run-up to police action against Uber drivers. Yellow Cab's attorney, John Barr, also helped draft a stronger limousine ordinance that Uber officials say would kill their business. How that ordinance landed on the council's Aug. 28 agenda is the subject of the investigation.

Cab companies across the country have fought back against smartphone car services, saying they are unregulated transportation companies. Uber argues it is simply a technology company that connects licensed drivers with clients.

In the memo, Rawlings said he will brief the council on the investigation's findings on Oct. 16. The briefing will be in executive session and not in public, Rawlings said.

Whether the city will make the investigation's findings public is not clear.

It appears a good deal of progress has been made, according to the memo.

"David Moore with Specialized Investigations, Inc. has been assisting Mr. Hill with the investigation and has conducted interviews with city staff involved with the item, along with council members who pulled it from the consent agenda."

Hill has acted on Rawlings' behalf in the past. H

e assisted the mayor when agents requested information from Rawlings' mayoral campaign

as part of a wider federal investigation into County Commissioner John Wiley Price and others.

Rawlings' spokesman, Sam Merten, said the mayor has no concerns about Hill's independence.

"The mayor retained Mr. Hill one time in the past, but he is not the mayor’s personal attorney," Merten said. "Mr. Hill’s independence extends to any actions by the Mayor or his office."

Council member Philip Kingston, who called for the investigation in the first place, said the mayor's choice of investigator disappointed him. Hill may do a fine job, Kingston said. But there is an appearance that it isn't independent, he said.

Kingston's also concerned about the plan to brief the council on Hill's findings behind closed doors.

"The public has the right to know a whole lot about this," Kingston said. "If there is some confidential information, it's confidential. But I can't see what that is right now."

The cost of Hill's investigation is unclear, although Rawlings said he does not expect it will exceed city staff's spending authority of $50,000.