Houston TX Mayor John Whitmire’s first two months in City Hall

Aside from council meetings and staff calls, Whitmire’s top priority – resolving City Hall’s years-long contract stalemate with the firefighters’ union – accounted for the most meetings during his first two months in office, with regular negotiating sessions and strategy discussions.

The two sides announced Thursday they have signed a deal that would give firefighters $650 million in backpay and up to 34% raises for the next five years. The agreement still requires approval from the judge overseeing the court case firefighters filed in 2017.

The Chronicle obtained copies of Whitmire’s schedules through Feb. 26 in a records request. Those records do not account for most of the updates that Whitmire and Police Chief Troy Finner have provided on the thousands of suspended incident reports that had been coded as lacking personnel.

The meetings and other records offer insight into the Whitmire administration’s early priorities and show who has gotten face time with the new mayor as he begins tackling a host of pressing issues facing the city.

In his first months in office, Whitmire and his senior staff met with Solid Waste Management Department brass, worked on ironing out a plan to address the city’s water bill challenges and received briefings on the cancer cluster in Fifth Ward. 

“What we’re doing these first two months is getting briefings from department directors and asking them for a status report, how can we improve,” Whitmire said. “I’m going to give Houstonians a very transparent picture of their city government.”

Here’s an overview of who the mayor has met with in his first eight weeks.

Whitmire and some of his senior staffers met with Solid Waste staffers to discuss improving garbage and recycling collection on Feb 5. Jesse Bounds, the city’s innovation director, sent an improvement plan on Feb. 1, according to email data. 

The mayor said his administration has not yet implemented new policies to improve performance, but drivers are working long hours – 18 hours a day in some cases, six days a week – to improve pickup times of late.

Complaints about missed garbage and recycling collection in January and February 2024 are up 7.6% from last year, according to the city’s 311 data. However, there was a nearly 50% drop in recycling complaints between January and February this year.

“It’s amazing when somebody’s job is on the line, how much better they’ll work. That’s been my experience,” Whitmire said, before adding, “Let me quickly say, I think Solid Waste is doing everything they can.”

Finance Director Melissa Dubowski alluded to potentially finding new revenue sources during her most recent monthly financial report to City Council, including potentially new fees. Whitmire, however, said he had no news to offer on a potential garbage collection fee that City Hall officials for decades have said would help stabilize Solid Waste.

Houston Public Works and mayoral officials also have been working on a plan to address the city’s high water bills, which have resulted from faulty equipment and inaccurate readings. Whitmire got a briefing on the issue on Feb. 9, and there was a meeting on Feb. 22 to plan the rollout of his administration’s proposal, expected to head to City Council soon. Email data also shows the administration formed an internal working group on the issue that met several times that month.

There are several other working groups under way, including one for the mayor’s office and the controller’s office, another to address the federal COVID-19 funding the city has used to close budget gaps in recent years and one regarding businesses that operate without a certificate of occupancy.

Whitmire has sat down with at least seven of Houston’s 16 City Council members so far, along with an array of county and other officials. He’s met with newly elected Controller Chris Hollins twice, according to his schedule.

The council members include Martha Castex-Tatum (District K), who Whitmire chose to serve as mayor pro tem, Abbie Kamin (District C), Tarsha Jackson (District B), Mario Castillo (District H) and Twila Carter (At-Large 3). The mayor said he also has sat down with Sallie Alcorn (At-Large 5), Willie Davis (At-Large 2) and Julian Ramirez (At-Large 1).

“It’s just a matter of time requirements,” he said, in explaining why he hasn’t met with all council members yet. 

His meetings with office holders include a Jan. 13 breakfast with District Attorney Kim Ogg, two meetings with Commissioner Adrian Garcia and sit-downs with Commissioners Lesley Briones and Tom Ramsey, County Attorney Christian Menefee and former state Rep. Garnet Coleman.

Whitmire said most of his meetings with elected officials have focused on specific requests they have of city government.

He’s met with some bigger names too, including U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz in late January, along with U.S. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, who represents Houston in Congress. Whitmire said those meetings had to do with federal funding. 

He also had lunch with one of his former Texas Senate colleagues, Republican Kelly Hancock of Fort Worth, in late February. 

Some of the flashier names on the schedule include Astros owner Jim Crane, Texas Medical Center Chief Executive Bill McKeon, CenterPoint CEO Jason Wells and United Airlines President Brett Hart.

The United meeting came after Hart requested it, Whitmire said. The city has had to delay its share of funding for a massive expansion of Terminal B at George Bush Intercontinental Airport, because the controller’s office has not certified the money is available.

“Obviously, we were talking about the expansion at the airport,” the mayor said, and Whitmire said he raised concerns about parking and the flow of traffic at the airport.

Crane requested a meeting after he heard Whitmire was expressing concerns about Memorial Park, according to the mayor. Whitmire said he asked the park’s conservancy about its plans and wanted them to ensure the park remains accessible to lower-income families. The mayor also raised concerns about paid parking there.

Crane’s foundation has its headquarters in the park, and he’s also involved in the Houston Open, the professional golf tournament that takes place at the park’s course.

“He knows I have concerns about Memorial Park being available for the least among us,” Whitmire said. “He knew I was asking questions about it.”

Crane declined to comment.

The mayor had a scheduled meeting with executives from Service Corp. International, the Houston-based funeral home company, on Feb. 15, but he said he did not make it.

The company is looking to redevelop its Allen Parkway headquarters, and it had been seeking support from the city for that project, including potential property tax breaks. Whitmire said he was unaware of such an arrangement, though he said it may have been a deal in the works under former Economic Development Chief Andy Icken, who recently resigned.

“SCI is an important Houston-based company, and we’re glad they’re staying in the central city,” Whitmire said. “We’ll be meeting with them. I don’t know their specific requests.”

Whitmire also had breakfast meetings with former mayoral candidate Bill King; Jim Thompson, an executive at the construction firm DCCM; and David Frederick Martinez, the founder of ATSER, a company that brings in a lot of city contracts.

The mayor said the only contracts he discussed with Martinez were baseball deals – the two are both avid Astros fans.