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A few months ago, several of us speculated that Annise Parker might be seriously eying a run for mayor of Houston, after White is term-limited out. Shortly after that, any suspicions I had on the matter were strengthened by the introduction of a regular City Controller's Report, delivered to employee mailboxes periodically. The lead article of the first seemed quite topical at the time, focusing on HPD.
Well, the second issue has just come out, and perhaps not coincidentally, the lead article is also quite up-to-the-moment -- if somewhat lacking in any mention of the reason for such topicality. The lead article "BARC Deserves the Best -- At Long Last", takes on, (what else?) the city's Bureau of Animal Regulation and Care. As this is a city publication, and may not be available to the general public, the full text is below the fold.
BARC deserves the best at long last
It's time to make the Bureau of Animal Regulation and Care (BARC) a first-class city service, City Controller Annise Parker announced.
"The unsettling news of BARC Director Kent Robertson's resignation set off a tidal wave of even more unsettling news about a grossly underfunded operation that continues to euthanize more than 20,000 animals a year while failing to meet its stated mission of encouraging 'spaying/neutering to control the unwanted animal population'," Parker said. "And this week we learned about the tragic death of eight animals left in an un-airconditioned BARC truck."
After a deluge of complaints, Mayor White and City Council seem committed to finally turning BARC around. In calling for public hearings and stakeholder meetings, the mayor stressed that all options are on the table. Council is also considering a mandatory spay and neuter ordinance, which would exempt breeders.
The controller encourages the Mayor to have BARC assessed by a respected outside consultant, such as Nathan Winograd, father of the no-kill movement; conduct a national search for a new BARC director; and "rethink our entire animal control process."
"Are we best positioned to be an adoption facility, making a major investment of taxpayer dollars, or should we contract adoptions to one of the many non-profits that specialize in adoptions?," she asked.
The BARC crisis and public outcry have been building for years. "For too long, the city treated BARC like an afterthought,"
Parker said. As an at-large council member, Paker requested that the National Animal Control Association (NACA) assess BARC. Among its 1999 major findings: understaffing and serious underfunding compared to other cities."Fortunately," she said, "Mayor White boosted BARC funding somewhat and appointed an active advisory committee, on which I serve."
The controller urges city officials to reexamine those committee reports, which included numerous recommendations and best practices.
Resigning after only two years, Kent Robertson cited personal reasons for stepping down. Under his leadership, BARC began to resemble a 21st century city animal services division. He expanded adoptions, upgraded BARC facilities, generated positive publicity and worked with Friends of BARC (www.friendsofbarc.org/).
Robertson also made a public commitment to moving Houston toward a reasonable no-kill policy under the best circumstances, even no-kill shelters sometimes euthanize sick or feral animals. Many cities and shelters across the country are moving toward no-kill and low-cost spay and neuter as humane solutions to the overwhelming dog and cat population.
Houston has been blessed with tireless animal advocates like Sean Hawkins of Saving Animals Across Borders (formerly of SNAP), who helped persuade PetSmart to open five Fix Houston low-cost spay and neuter/vaccination clinics (www.savinganimals.org/Fix%20Houston.page). The first one has opened at 17575 Katy Freeway (281-578-0252).
Despite its problems, BARC offers many great animals for adoption for only $55. You can search online through the BARC website or through www.petfinder.com by typing in your ZIP code. The SPCA also offers a searchable database on its website. The SPCA handles all animal cruelty investigations for the city and county.
The Controller's newsletter goes on to assure us that Ms. Parker is a fine watchdog of the public monies, as she plans a record ten performance audits for the upcoming year, "ranging from reviews of the city's fuel usage to library book purchases and the affirmative action and contract compliance division." Curiously, this note follows: "The city controller did not have the authority to initiate more comprehensive performance audits until voters approved a charter amendment in 2004." Did that mean "more thorough audits" or "an increased number of audits", I wonder.
The list includes:
Performance audits
Mayor's Office Affirmative Action and Contract Compliance;
Administration and Regulatory Affairs Dept. Strategic purchasing;
Public Works Planning and Development, Code Enforcement;
Citizen services survey;
Housing and Community Development. Commercial projects;
Citywide fuel accountability;
Citywide long-term contractor relationships - Phase II;
General Services Department city ID badge controls;
Houston Public Library book procurement and distribution;
Information Technology Department SAP security.Compliance Audits
Citywide Purchasing card activity;
Citywide Selected disbursements;
Privatized golf courses.Special Projects
Audit Division's policy and procedure manual update;
Auditing services requested by inspector general;
City Controller's Office external audit assistance;
Citywide grant compliance audits;
Computer-assisted auditing tools and techniques;
Departmental process Visio flow diagrams;
Follow-up audits (as determined) ;
Tax Increment Reinvestment Zones (TIRZ) funds comparison.Unannounced Audits
Inventory audits; payroll verification; petty cash counts.
I wonder what SAP-related (or human) problems the payroll verification may find?
As for the final article in the newsletter, it's about recycling, and raises other issues beyond the scope of this article.
Posted by Ubu Roi @ 09/05/08 04:14 PM | Houston Politics | Comments (0)
Over on the Texas Watchdog site, Trent Seibert and Crystal Hubbard have posted a story on City of Houston's apparent difficulties complying with a state ethics disclosure law. Here's an excerpt from the story:
Houston city officials have failed for the past two years to post ethics forms online as required by law, Texas Watchdog has learned.
The ethics forms are meant to make public any ties city officials may have to a business seeking a government contract.
On Wednesday - and only after Texas Watchdog questioned city officials about the missing ethics forms - the city posted a single conflict-of-interest form that was originally filed in 2006.
Texas Watchdog has also posted a number of forms that were filed, but (inexplicably) never made it to the City of Houston website.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/04/08 09:54 PM | Houston Miscellany | Comments (0)
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/03/08 11:58 PM | Houston Blog Talk |
The Chronicle's Bill Murphy reports some truly disturbing news regarding the deaths of several dogs under the "care" of a City of Houston employee:
Eight dogs died last week after a city animal control officer who had picked up the animals left them in a truck without air conditioning on a day when the high was 95 degrees.
The officer told animal shelter officials that the air conditioning was running when she left the truck for 40 minutes to have lunch, but it malfunctioned while she was in the restaurant, said Kathy Barton, spokeswoman for the city health and human services department.
But officials at the city Bureau of Animal Care and Regulation were investigating whether she forgot to leave on the air conditioning because it was working when she returned to the shelter, Barton said.
"I do not believe we are dealing with a cruelty issue," she said. "We are dealing with a mechanical issue or a human failure issue."
The dogs were left in the truck Aug. 26, when the high at George Bush Intercontinental Airport was 95 degrees.
When the officer returned from lunch, the dogs were all "in distress," Barton said. Two were dead when the officer returned to the shelter. The other six died that afternoon.
"It was a very unfortunate situation, and it just reinforces not leaving any living thing in an un-air conditioned vehicle," Barton said.
The officer has been assigned to duties within the shelter while the investigation is conducted.
Frank Michel, spokeswoman for Mayor Bill White, said, "As soon as the supervisors found out what happened, the officer was removed from the street. There is an investigation. We will get to the bottom of it and take appropriate action."
Past experience (with the crime lab, of all places, where incompetence can also have life-or-death consequences) has shown that it's nearly impossible to fire municipal employees for cause in this city. So we are not holding our breath that anything at all will be done if this employee is indeed found to have valued her lunch more than the animals entrusted to her care.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/02/08 10:22 PM | Houston Miscellany | Comments (11)
Things might be a little quiet around here (unless something interesting pops up, such as a hurricane!), so here's hoping you all have a wonderful, relaxing holiday weekend.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 08/30/08 05:24 PM | Announcements | Comments (2)
Yesterday, Paul Knight broke an interesting story on the Houston Press' Hair Balls blog about a Spring Branch mom who has had difficulty enrolling her kids in school because... they speak English (not Spanish). Really!
Today, Knight follows up on the story with news that the principal said he would allow one of the kids to attend a Spanish-only Pre-K class (although we're not sure exactly what this will accomplish, aside from cheap day care in a language the kid doesn't understand) -- but now the district superintendent is involved, and trying to resolve the problem.
These would be public schools.
Maybe the people who want to make English the country's official language have a point.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/28/08 01:24 PM | Houston Miscellany | Comments (8)
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/27/08 08:27 PM | Houston Blog Talk |
KHOU-11's Lee McGuire reports that some city councilmembers had the temerity to ask HPD for an accounting of previous funds that were allotted for recruitment advertising. This came about as HPD was requesting another $750,000 for the same thing:
Several councilmembers, including the budget chair, refused to back a request by the Houston Police Department for another $750,000 for recruitment advertising.
They said HPD has been unable or unwilling to provide information on how many recruits came on board because of the last round of advertising. Councilmember Green said he's been banned from asking questions of the HPD public information office and instead has been told to go through the legal department.
Councilmember Anne Clutterbuck said she was shocked that she couldnt find HPD job openings on common job search Web sites, while the Dallas Police Department came up all the time. She said when she asked HPD about it, all she got back was rhetoric.
A councilman has been banned from asking questions??? No HPD jobs are listed on job search websites???
That's some fine leadership from Chief Hurtt.
UPDATE (8-28-2008) The Chron's Carolyn Feibel adds more:
The two-year contract with Patriot Advertising is for Internet and print media.
A previous one-year $300,000 contract with the company expired in April.
HPD also has spent $335,000 on television commercials that aired from February through July.
Councilwoman Pam Holm said Wednesday that council members had asked HPD to track results when the first Patriot contract was approved more than a year ago.
"Anyone renewing a contract needs to examine the effectiveness of money already spent," Holm said.
She added that she was surprised HPD did not produce any numbers from the first contract.
"How do we know if it's effective?" Holm asked. "Basically, what they told us was they didn't track it and they didn't have any way to track it."
Patriot Advertising's website is here and includes a quote on the testimonial page from HPD Capt. Dwayne Ready:
Thanks for the fast work on this. Reacting to market pressures is an unending task, and I appreciate the responses we get when things are needed in short order. Kudos to your and your staff.
-Cpt. Ready - Houston Police Department
Ahhh, the unending task of market pressures. That must be what's holding up the tracking report.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 08/27/08 05:58 PM | Houston Politics | Comments (10)
The last time HPD "cracked down" on the homeless was in September, 2007.
Almost one year later, it's time to do it again (via KHOU-11):
Three Houston Police divisions are preparing for a zero tolerance initiative against the homeless.
Starting on Tuesday, the Houston Police Department will crack down on the city's homeless. Some who know about the new initiative call it HPD politics, while others said it was a good move for safety. But whatever people said about the program, it was not a secret to those living on the streets.
Oooooo, zero tolerance! After today's sweep, stay tuned for the next crackdown in late summer 2009.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 08/26/08 04:52 AM | Houston Miscellany | Comments (18)
As the end of the city's fiscal year was approaching, what did city councilmembers do with the remainder of their office budgets? The Chron's Matt Stiles and Carolyn Feibel asked for all the spending records and wrote it up. Here's an excerpt:
Six council members bought new TVs with their budget funds. Some mounted large-screen TVs in common staff areas, while others bought each staffer TV sets for their desks.
Two new councilwomen, Wanda Adams and Melissa Noriega, bought five televisions each.
[snip]
Other council members who bought televisions with public funds include Ron Green, Jolanda Jones, M.J. Khan and James Rodriguez. In all, 22 new TVs were purchased for the council floor, at a cost of $8,705.
[snip]
District A Councilwoman Toni Lawrence said the council floor has too many televisions in use.
"Sometimes I have to close the door because of the TV noise," she said.
Be sure to read the entire story for more taxpayer-funded highlights, and don't forget the comments at the end of the Chron's story.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 08/25/08 05:06 AM | Houston Politics | Comments (13)
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