Houston City Council Notes, prepared by Emily J Hynds

Agenda

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

Monthly Financial Report

Controller Hollins went first.

• Hollins predicts a $228M ending general fund balance, which is $33.4M above the city’s goal. The controller’s prediction is $121M lower than the finance department’s because the controller includes the forthcoming $100M drainage lawsuit payment and the finance department does not. The general fund end balance is like the city’s savings account and the city is legally required to maintain it at a certain level.
• The controller’s office released a popular annual financial report (PAFR) that should be easier for regular people to understand. You can internet search “Houston PAFR” to find it. If you like pain, seek punishment, and want the more detailed report, search “Houston ACFR,” which is the “dense, 300 page document designed for public finance professionals or folks with accounting degrees, and one that will put most people to sleep.”
• Hollins referenced a report Deputy Controller (and former Houston Finance Director) Will Jones made at the 4/1 Budget and Fiscal Affairs committee meeting on overtime. “This year, solid waste, fire and police are projected to exceed their overtime budgets by 75%, 95% and 190% respectively. The projected overtime budgets for police and fire this year are each on track to reach all time highs. While the total overtime budget within general fund departments is $65M for the year, overages in just these three departments are projected to exceed $70M.”
  • Hollins warned that past solutions will not be available, like federal funding (ARPA, CARES Act) and savings from unfilled staff positions. His office plans to audit overtime over the past four years to deliver “practical, actionable facts so that your decisions can be well informed, data driven, and clearly understood by all Houstonians.”

Mayor Whitmire then insulted Will Jones, blamed previous administrations, and outright argued with Controller Hollins. Whitmire said, “A political report is not acceptable.” Hollins said, “If you’re not alarmed by these overtime figures, sir, we got a real problem.”

Finance Director Dubowski said HFD and HPD calls have increased and both departments have new directors … implying that once they are settled, savings will follow. She agreed that “base pay savings” aka savings from unfilled staff positions is not a viable offset because hiring and employee retention at the fire and police departments has increased.

• She argued that overtime has not increased, but the funding source is changing. “And it’s true that the general fund is having to absorb more because we don’t have those federal funds available to us.”

CM Pollard called the overtime report shocking and said the city needs to adjust strategy to make up for ARPA and CARES Act funding.

• Dubowski said the City has adjusted. She mentioned collaboration with METRO and consolidation of departments.
• Controller Hollins agreed with Pollard and said, “We knew that those one time funding sources were no longer going to exist. And while we saw overtime going up, … we budgeted less for overtime instead of more. That’s odd.”
• Mayor Whitmire and Pollard argued back and forth, often talking over each other. Mayor Whitmire kept using an “apples to apples” and “apples to oranges” comparison metaphor, which felt condescending and out of place. I went back and counted and he used this metaphor six times at today’s meeting.

At this point, CM Kamin reminded everyone that Director Dubowski had not made her actual monthly financial report. Thank you, ladies, for keeping us on track. Director Dubowski said, “I’ll try to hit the highlights,” and proceeded with her report. It was pretty standard but I did make note of this quote: “Even with absorbing [overtime expenses] in the general fund, our fund balance has improved since the time of the adopted budget.” Dubowski did not explicitly say what the finance department predicts for the ending general fund balance, but she did say, “…the revenue projection is 40.7 million higher than the adopted budget and 50 million higher than the prior month.”

• Dubowski referenced a question Kamin asked yesterday about what would happen if the federal government disallows tax exempt bonds, which the city often uses for infrastructure, housing, etc. Dubowski said issuing bonds with taxable status would increase the cost of the city’s interest payments by ~30%. “That’s easily hundreds of millions of dollars over the life of our debt. So that tax exempt status is critical for us to continue to maintain financing our capital projects.”
• Kamin asked both Dubowski and Hollins to analyze and forecast how Trump’s budget cuts could affect Houston. Hollins said the housing and health departments would be “devastated.” Dubowski said there would be “broad implications.”

Mayor Whitmire defended overtime costs and gave examples of situations that call for overtime, even though no one was really criticizing overtime, just talking about how to pay for it. He talked a lot about transparency, which was also not relevant, and accused the controller’s office of using manipulative scare tactics. He continued to cast aspersions on “people who were here” during previous administrations. He was targeting Will Jones, but it’s an interesting thing to say considering 10 out of the 16 current council members were also there. Whitmire has also promoted many former deputy directors into director positions. Dubowski has worked for the city since 2014. The current fire chief and the Director of the Mayor’s Office of Public Safety and Homeland Security were both promoted from within city departments.

• CM Kamin said, “Respectfully, as somebody that was here during those times, you use all the tools that you have in the toolbox to balance the budget every single year under significant constraints that the city is facing. For example, we are the only major city in the United States under two revenue caps … Every administration deals with their challenges, and then it’s up to the next administration to deal with the next set of challenges … That is our burden and our responsibility to address, not to point the finger or say would have, should have, could have.”
• Controller Hollins said, “Please refrain from attacks on the competence and the integrity of our directors.” (meaning Will Jones).

CM Castex-Tatum asked, theoretically, as the city fills vacant positions, when will overtime expenses start going down? No one was able to give a solid answer.

CM Alcorn hopes to see overtime costs decrease as hiring and retention increase, but did say, “Once you start spending up to a level, it very rarely goes back down.” She hopes the next budget more accurately reflects reality.

CM Martinez advocated for a tax rate increase and a garbage fee.

CM Thomas said, “I would like to suggest that we retire the word transparency in this horseshoe because what we’re offering is the furthest from that.”

• She defended the previous administration which was working through a global pandemic. She said that when the mayor criticizes the previous administration, “You’re talking about me, too, and you’re talking about every incumbent who was here in those last four years.”
• She advocated for municipal employees, especially those feeling pressured to retire early by the mayor’s cost-saving incentivized retirement plan.
• “The information that Director Jones offered is the truth. And we need to lay this information out there so we can make the best decisions for this city.”
• She concluded with, “Let this bird flu or this measles outbreak get out of hand, and let’s see what cards you’re dealt with. Let’s see what dice you get to roll and the decisions you’ll have to make to protect this city, the health of the people who lost their jobs, jobs that never returned, people who buried people.”

The Mayor’s Report

Mayor Whitmire introduced a new interim Director of the solid waste department, Larius Hassan. Mr. Hassan is the former ​​senior assistant director of Public Works. Mr. Hassan began to make remarks but Mayor Whitmire cut him off. Several CMs welcomed Mr. Hassan and thanked former director Wilfalk for his service. Mayor Whitmire closed by telling Mr. Hassan to “get to work.” His classic refrain.

Whitmire wished the UH men’s basketball team success in the final four. Houston First is hosting a watch party Saturday night but the mayor didn’t say where.

Agenda Items, Selected Works

• Item 7 approved an emergency purchase order of $34K for catering during Winter Storm Enzo. CM Pollard complained that this seemed like a lot of money but ultimately supported the item. CM Peck supported the item but wants to see preparation made ahead of time to reduce costs. CM Kamin applauded the city’s emergency workers and highlighted this as an example of a non-reimbursable disaster expense since Enzo was not federally declared. Mayor Whitmire said he has spent time with the city’s emergency workers; “I’ve been out there at all hours of the night, at least four or five incidents.”
• Item 17 approved an additional $361K for an ammunition contract for HPD, taking the total from from $1.4M to $1.8M.
• Item 18 approved $15K for manhole covers.
• Item 24 would have approved the ordinance governing short-term rentals like Airbnbs, but it was tagged by CM Ramirez. Ramirez, Kamin, and Alcorn presented six amendments to this proposal change, all agreed the ordinance needs more work, and everything was tagged to delay for one more week. This will be reviewed at the Quality of Life committee meeting on Monday.
• Item 30 approved $12.7M for vehicles for the police department.
• Item 31 approved $350K for electrical, communications, and security improvements at HPD’s impound lot.
• Item 32 approved a 3-year, $444K contract for veterinary services for HPD’s horses.
• Item 34 would have approved a $14M payment to Harris County for operating the city/county joint processing center, but CM Ramirez tagged it. “In 2019, HPD transferred all City jail operations to the Harris County Joint Processing Center (JPC).” Ramirez, Mayor Whitmire, and CM Flickinger all said officers complain about the intake process at the JPC.
• Item 38 accepted a $698K grant from the Texas Division of Emergency Management, funded by FEMA, to install a generator at the Lockwood Wastewater Lift Station. The city will spend $74K.
• Item 46 would have forgiven a loan to the company that financed the MacGregor HEB, but CM Evans-Shabazz referred it back to the administration for more work. CM Ramirez said forgiving the loan outright is a bad deal for the city. Instead, he proposed a deferred payment loan so that if/when Houston Housing Finance Corporation sells the property, they will owe the city a balloon payment of $8M. Ramirez said this money can then go towards other economic development projects, like grocery stores in food deserts. CM Evan-Shabazz assured that the ground lease is not in jeopardy, which means the grocery store won’t close.
• Item 47 approved the Montrose TIRZ budget, which CMs Kamin and Alcorn tagged last week due to budget and scope questions. Kamin said, this week, the TIRZ will meet April 21 to work on the budget which will include “some very exciting additions that will support the greater community overall.” No details on what these additions are, yet.
• Item 48 proposed allowing a property owner to change the designation of his property from residential to commercial.CM Kamin agreed this is a complicated issue but said she would be voting no to protect the residential integrity of the street. Mayor Whitmire, Ramirez, Davis, and Alcorn voted to allow the change, the remaining 11 council members voted no, so the item failed. Which is exciting because it almost never happens. No disrespect meant to the owner of the property who does not get to change the designation. I am only commenting on the rarity of a vote like this.
  • Every item on the agenda is approved by its relative department, the Planning Commission in this case, and the mayor, so even if there is opposition, almost nothing ever gets voted down.

Council Member Pop-Off

• CM Evans-Shabazz plugged a park clean up from 9am-12pm on Saturday 4/5 at 3501 Carter Street. There is a chain saw volunteer workshop on Saturday 4/5. There is an MLK vigil and slab car meet up at MacGregor Park on 4/5 from 2pm-6pm. Email districtd@houstontx.gov to sign up for their newsletter.
• CM Flickinger mentioned a Chronicle article on affordable housing. He plugged a Kingwood electronics recycling event on Saturday starting at 9am.
• CM Kamin praised the Houston Open this past weekend and thanked many partners. Sign up for District C’s discounted rain barrel sale at http://www.houstontx.gov/council/c/.
• CM Huffman said that engagehouston.org is still down and asked if there is a timeline for repair. Mayor Whitmire said they’re working on it.
• CM Ramirez mentioned a Chronicle article on the Midtown TIRZ, which he says is dysfunctional and suggested it should be disbanded.
• CM Thomas shared that Richmond Street rehab has been extended and will last through the summer.
• CM Castex-Tatum plugged Keep Houston Beautiful Day on 4/5 and a soup kitchen on 4/5 from 9am-11am at the New Faith Church.
• CM Peck plugged a Coffee-with-a-Councilmember-and-Cops event on 4/10 at 10am at White Oak Conference Center. There is a Public Safety committee meeting on 4/5 at 10am.
• CM Martinez plugged a community meeting about the development of 7811 Harrisburg on 4/5 at 9am at the Magnolia Multi-Service Center.

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

My name is Emily Hynds. I am a writer, small business owner, producer of the monthly storytelling series Grown-up Storytime, and native 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://houwatch.com
http://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/houston/article/wilfalk-solid-waste-resigns-20245936.php

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

Thank you to the friends who proofread these notes.
My Patreon is patreon.com/emilytakesnotes.