Houston city council notes, prepared by Emily Hynds.
Agenda
- Mayor’s Report
- Consent Agenda (items that require a vote, like purchases, resolutions, ordinances, etc)
- Council Member Pop-Off
Mayor’s Report
- The big topic today was the boil water notice sent out Sunday evening due to a power failure at the East Water Purification Plant. The power failure caused water pressure to briefly fall below the 20 pounds per square inch (psi) level needed to meet safety standards.
- There was an overload on a transformer and the backup generator. Power at the plant went out around 10:30am Sunday morning and was restored two hours later.
- There were twenty one sensor readings during the incident:
- Five never dropped below the mandatory 20 psi.
- Fourteen dropped below 20 psi for two minutes.
- Two dropped below 20 psi for thirty minutes.
- Of the 29 samples the city pulled for testing, there were no signs of bacteria or other contaminates. So if you missed the boil water notice, you were not drinking dirty water 🙂 .
- Mayor Turner implied Houston should not have been under a boil water notice, but said “when you are instructed (by TCEQ) to do a boil water notice, you gotta do it.” Turner emphasized the need to examine the process that leads to a boil water notice and discussed how incredibly disruptive it is (school closings, anyone??).
- The city is working to improve the emergency alert systems because many people didn’t receive any texts or emails letting them know about the boil water notice.
- Multiple reviews are underway.
- CM Thomas asked that news like this be sent to CMs so they can help disseminate. She is grateful that city departments are using social media, but said CMs can help get the news to seniors and disabled people that may not engage with social media.
- CM Gallegos suggested adding neighboring cities who buy water from Houston to the list of people to contact ASAP in future situations.
Agenda Items, Selected Works
- Items 9 -12 approved emergency purchase orders for water valve repairs. Each contract has its own allowance and they range from $2.8M to $5.9M. That’s so much money!! CM Kamin explained this is directly related to drought conditions and asked how the city is improving underground infrastructure, given that climate change will make drought more frequent and last longer in the future.
- Mayor Turner didn’t have a great answer, but agreed that “climate change is real,” and that the city’s infrastructure is aging. He unspecifically said that the city is working on upgrading.
- Kamin expressed concern about escalating costs, especially given the revenue cap. CM Robinson pointed to state funding the governor has earmarked for infrastructure.
- CM Castex-Tatum said that, according to a report this morning from Public Works, there are 632 active leaks right now.
- Item 15 approved $1.2M for emergency repairs to the cryogenic oxygen plant at one of the wastewater treatment plants. Did y’all know we have a cryogenic oxygen plant?? I didn’t.
- Item 17 would have approved an update to the sound ordinance relating to music events held on private property with more than 500 people in attendance, but CM Knox tagged it. He is concerned about “inequal application of policy” and specifically pointed to similar events like car shows, which cause similar disruptions and draw on city resources but are not included in this update ordinance.
- With a classic “if you woulda come to the meetings you would know this” comeback, CM Kamin pointed out this item came to the Public Safety committee on October 13th (a committee that Knox is vice-chair of). She said that this ordinance update is one bite out of a big apple and there is much more to come.
- Mayor Turner said this ordinance update is narrow on purpose because they are dealing with private property.
- Knox maintained his tag and said he would be visiting with legal so he can get comfortable with it.
- Item 22 approved an additional $248K (on top of already approved $4.1M) for rehab to the Kendall Neighborhood Library and Community Center in District G. This is a Hurricane Harvey related repair and the city intends to seek reimbursement from FEMA.
- Item 24 approved an additional $1.26M (on top of already approved $4.6M) for the new Montrose library. Costs are escalating due to the supply chain.
- Item 27 approved a contract increase (from $15M to $29M) for “on-site water treatment and sludge dewatering services.” It’s quite a bit of money but I don’t care about that because it sounds important and necessary. I’m only including it here because “sludge dewatering” is quite evocative. I’m not going to look it up either. I would rather imagine what it means, and I hope that you do too.
- Item 35 approved an interlocal agreement with Harris County for the design and construction of three stormwater detention basins in districts D, J, and K.
- You might remember CM Evans-Shabazz being very anti-bike lane during the discussion for Item 54 last week, which is an interlocal agreement with Harris County for road updates (including bike lanes). This week, she “referred it back to the administration,” which was approved. I assume this means that the city will negotiate further behind closed doors with the county, and we’ll see it again soon.
Council Member Pop-Off
- CM Jackson thanked the speakers who commented at the public comment session on Tuesday. She plugged a District B holiday dinner on 12/11.
- CM Kamin thanked all city employees who worked through the thanksgiving holiday.
- CM Cisneros went over some topics from the last Childhood and Youth committee meeting and said when kids are polled about what makes them feel safe, they say it is their relationships with each other and the community. She said “investing in kids is investing in public safety.”
- CM Castex-Tatum plugged a special Economic Development committee meeting on 12/7 to go over a bunch of TIRZ stuff. This is a good example of the kind of meeting I wish I had time to attend.
- CM Gallegos spoke on the Club Q shooting, said the names of the victims, and said “it has to stop.”
- CM Thomas updated on some public safety initiative: new electric gates at all District F fire stations, more lighting (“District F is LIT!”), and speed bumps. She advocated for funding for two panel reconstruction projects and said to the mayor, “I’m asking the man with the plan, if you can shake some pockets for me.”
Who took these notes? And what resources did they use?
My name is Emily Hynds and I am a small business owner, producer of the monthly storytelling series Grown-up Storytime, and lifelong Houstonian. I am not a journalist or government official. I am a local government enthusiast who believes meaningful change starts at home. These notes are presented from my point of view and with my framing, and are not comprehensive. Your notes will certainly be different, and I would love to read them if you attend.
I watched this City Council meeting via HTV: https://www.houstontx.gov/htv/
While compiling these notes I used the following sources:
https://houston.novusagenda.com/agendapublic/
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/boil-notice-lifted-17617727.php
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryogenic_oxygen_plant
You can find your City Council Member and their contact info at: http://www.houstontx.gov/council/whoismycm.html
My Patreon is patreon.com/emilytakesnotes.
