Houston City Council notes, prepared by Emily J Hynds.

Agenda

1. Mayor’s Report
2. Consent Agenda (items that require a vote, like purchases, resolutions, ordinances, etc.)
3. Council Member Pop-Off

The Mayor’s Report

On November 11, there was a car-chase-turned-shoot-out on highway 59 in which a police officer was shot in the leg. A fellow police officer and a civilian named John Lally pulled the wounded officer to safety and Mr. Lally stayed with him until help arrived. At today’s meeting, Chief Finner and Mayor Turner presented a proclamation to David Lally and Officer Trujillo for their heroism. Many CMs shared congratulatory words and grateful sentiments. CM Thomas praised this as an example of community policing. Mayor Turner said it was “a wonderful way to start off the morning.”

Next, representatives from the Food Insecurity Board presented on their work over the past two years. They are working on two initiatives: one that could reap funding from parking meter revenue and another to localize produce availability in partnership with Urban Harvest.

It was the last Council meeting for Mayor Turner and six out of the sixteen Council Members. Turner emphasized the $426M fund balance that will pass on to the next administration and the city’s net worth of $7.6B. For comparison, when Turner took office the City’s net worth was negative $95M. Turner remarked on the Complete Communities program, the improved crime rate, pension reform, the EPA consent decree, and thanked all Council Members for their work. He said, “No other Mayor in the City of Houston has dealt with seven federally declared disasters. Pensions, a consent decree, social civil unrest, all at the same time. No other.”

Agenda Items, Selected Works

• Item 8 confirmed eight people to the Houston Complete Communities Advisory Board. The Mayor has been trying to codify Complete Communities before he leaves office.
• Item 11 designated an honorary street marker for Pastor M.L. Jackson at the intersection of Meadow Street and Green Street in District B.
• Items 12, 13, and 14 each approved final contracts for various Houston Public Works projects, ranging from $1.9M–$3.7M. CM Kubosh asked the same question for each – are the contractors involved in a lawsuit with the Office of the Inspector General? Mayor Turner said no, Kubosh said ok, and the vote proceeded. Kinda strange.
• Item 17 approved $88K for the software that supports HPD’s handheld citation devices.
• Item 18 approved $2.3M to Motorola for HPD’s body worn cameras.
• CM Plummer tagged Items 20, 21, and 23, which I’m presuming she takes issue with because they will use the Coop purchasing process. She has been investigating ways to make that process more equitable and favorable for Minority and Women Owned Business Enterprises (MWBEs).
• CM Kubosh tagged Items 25, 26, and 27, all agreements with different law firms. When Mayor Turner asked CM Kubosh if he planned to explain why he was tagging these items, CM Kubosh only replied, “No sir.” Cheeky!
• Item 30 amended the City’s Home Repair Program Guidelines. The program helps low and moderate-income homeowners, using grant and TIRZ funding. Item 31 approved increasing the funding for the Home Repair Program by $7.2M.
• Item 35 authorized a $1.7M forgivable loan for the Bethune Empowerment Center in District B.
• Item 36 approved $1.1M for Search Homeless Services.
• Item 41 ratified the results of the last election. CM Castex-Tatum praised the work of Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth. CMs Alcorn and Robinson expressed concern about a Council Member-elect who apparently does not live in the city of Houston. They both asked what recourse the City can pursue, both with the County and our own legal department. Mayor Turner advised them to consult the City Attorney. This item passed, CM Martin voted no.
• Item 44 would have allowed United Airlines to begin revamping IAH’s Terminal B with an initial $150M investment from the City, but Controller Brown still has not certified funds. No discussion today.
• Item 46 approved $285K for the Project Row Houses Visitor Center.
• Item 47 approved the purchase of land for $140K which will expand Woodruff Park in District I.
• Item 51 approved a $1.2M contract over two years with a Harris County Constable Precinct 1 program that targets illegal dumping. Funding will cover six dedicated investigators for two years and 120 covert cameras.
• Item 68 approved $3.7M over three years for various musicians to provide live music at the airports. This item was tagged last week by CMs Knox, Martin, Peck, and Kubosh. This week, CMs Knox, Martin, Peck, Kubosh, Huffman, and Pollard voted no. The item still passed.
• Item 72 authorized the creation of a Complete Communities Local Government Corporation (LGC) to fundraise for the Complete Communities initiatives. Neighborhoods in the program are: Acres Home, Alief-Westwood, Fort Bend Houston, Gulfton, Kashmere Gardens, Magnolia Park-Manchester, Near Northside, Second Ward, Sunnyside, and Third Ward. CM Knox complained that the initiative has no funding source. Mayor Turner responded that the whole point of this LGC is … to find funding. Anywayssss. This item passed. CMs Knox, Huffman, Kubosh, and Peck voted no.

Item 71 – The Return of Airport Concession Drama

• Item 71 approved removing certain language for four airport concession vendor contracts. These four contracts included language that would allow the Director of the Houston Airport System to terminate a contract for convenience. These types of contracts usually only allow termination for cause. The supporting document explained that more oversight is needed, due to the large investments made by airport concessionaires.
• CM Castex-Tatum painted this as a way to equalize the contracts across the board in the name of fairness, considering these types of revenue contracts do not historically include [what I will now refer to as] a convenience clause.
• CM Knox opposed the amendment, arguing that other contracts have convenience clauses, specifically mentioning Pappas and United. The city negotiated these contracts outside of Council and he said it’s not right for council to amend them without input from the relevant parties. He argued that removing the convenience clause weakens the position of the City.
• Turner reiterated that this specific type of revenue contract does not normally have a convenience clause. He also questioned why Knox keeps bringing up “a particular vendor” (Pappas). He said that the only people objecting to the amendment are ones that supported Pappas’ airport concession bid. He said, “Let’s make sure that there are no conflicts around this table. Be very careful.” He chastised Council for rejecting the opportunity to review the (possible, future) termination of major contracts, especially since he says Council has been pressuring him for more say in these matters.
• CM Alcorn complained about conflicting information. She questioned why these four contracts included a convenience clause when that is not standard practice and (IMO) did not receive a satisfactory answer. Mayor Turner claimed he was unaware about this convenience clause and would have put a stop to it if he had known. CM Alcorn said she thought this item deserved more discussion, that it was possibly outside of Council’s scope, and would not support it.
• CM Pollard argued for the amendment, saying that a convenience clause gives department directors too much power to cancel a contract without Council oversight. He thinks “convenience” is too broad and likes the oversight required for cancellation by “cause.”
• CM Gallegos complained that no one from the airport system reached out to him, a consideration he felt owed him as the CM of the District which contains Hobby Airport. Notably, CM Jackson, who represents the District which contains IAH, did not voice the same sentiment. Gallegos was uncomfortable with renegotiating an already-agreed-upon contract in the Council chamber, especially so close to this administration’s end.
• In response to “last minute” complaints, Mayor Turner said this item has been on the agenda for three weeks, but was tagged twice by CM Knox and CM Kubosh, respectively. Even though it hasn’t come up for a vote, every CM would have had access to the item and its support documents. I don’t know when CM Castex-Tatum put forth the amendment to remove the convenience clause, so I can’t say when CMs would have gotten that information. Again, Turner cautioned against conflicts of interest and asked, “Has anybody received any contributions from anybody who stands to profit if this contract is terminated?”
• CM Knox and Mayor Turner engaged in some verbal sparring over how this item, as amended, could hamstring the next administration. Gallegos took umbrage with Turner’s insinuation he might be making decisions based on campaign contributions. CM Kubosh, responding to CM Pollard’s comments about department directors, said that the real power lies with the Mayor. No director is doing anything that isn’t at the discretion of the Mayor.
• CM Martin, raised-voicey yet again, chastised Council Members for being wishy washy. He said, “I’m amazed that you’re allowing more power to be put in a director’s hands or a mayor’s hands when you’ve been screaming for power.”
• CM Huffman said that Council should act as stewards of the City and a convenience clause benefits the City. To remove it is to give away the City’s rights. She tried to tag the amendment, which Turner ruled out of order because the main item is not taggable. CM Knox tried to overrule the Chair (aka the Mayor) because the amendment was added at the last minute. After some arguing that frankly got a little semantic for my tastes, the vote to overrule the chair (and tag the amendment) failed. Those who voted to overrule the chair were: CMs Peck, Huffman, Gallegos, Knox, Kubosh, Plummer, and Alcorn.
• The amendment to remove the convenience clause passed along the same lines. And the item, as amended, passed along the same lines. The convenience clause has been removed from these four airport concession contracts.

Who took these notes? And what resources did they use?

My name is Emily Hynds and I am a writer, 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.

While compiling these notes I used the following sources:
https://houston.novusagenda.com/agendapublic/
https://houwatch.com

You can find your City Council Member and their contact info at: http://www.houstontx.gov/council/whoismycm.html

Thank you to ACLU TX for supporting these notes.
My Patreon is patreon.com/emilytakesnotes.