Controller Chris Hollins
Hours after Mayor John Whitmire told City Council members on Friday that Controller Chris Hollins plans to certify the mayor’s landmark contract with the Houston firefighters union, Hollins walked back that claim, saying his review continues.
“The mayor doesn’t speak for me or my office. I appreciated the meeting with the mayor’s team, which was long overdue,” Hollins said. “The commitment I made was to review their written responses promptly and to make my decision regarding certification after my office has completed our due diligence. We are working expeditiously to do just that.”
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City Council approved a bond issuance for the back pay portion of the agreement on a 14-3 vote this week, but Hollins — who as controller certifies that funds are available to pay for agenda items — withheld that approval for the contract as he and his staff reviewed the deal, delaying a vote on the broader deal for two weeks.
He sent Whitmire’s team a 10-page memo with 44 questions about the contract on Monday, leading to a clash with the administration over which questions were relevant to his duty to certify.
Earlier Friday, Whitmire sent council members his responses to those questions, and he said Hollins had committed to certify the item ahead of a court deadline for approval next week.
“As my administration has offered to each of you, and conducted with those so desired, the Finance Director, City Attorney, and my staff met with the Controller and his staff yesterday to address items that were required to be discussed in confidence,” Whitmire wrote to council.
“He committed to my staff late last night that he is satisfied with all of the responses to his questions and intends to certify the negotiated settlement agenda item and allow you to conduct your legislative duties as council members next Tuesday.”
See here and here for the background. I think most likely this gets wrapped up in time for all legal deadlines, but who knows. I approve of Controller Hollins taking his job seriously, and so does the Chron editorial board.
It’s the job of Controller Chris Hollins to act as a watchdog over city finances. In our view, that’s his obligation even in situations where his technical responsibilities are rather narrow.
Hollins, who must certify a portion of the collective bargaining agreement before the Council votes to approve it, urged Whitmire last week to pump the brakes. He sent the mayor a 10-page letter with 44 questions about the deal.
Whitmire, a longtime ally of the union as a state senator, campaigned on ending this stalemate over firefighter compensation and he promptly delivered on that promise. Firefighters have been working for far too long without a contract and deserve adequate pay, benefits and stability for their families.
Only issue is, we still don’t know how we’re going to pay for it. Even if the judgment bond the two sides agreed to — which the City Council approved last week on a 14-3 vote — spreads the financial pain out over 25 to 30 years, the sum will likely exceed $1 billion with interest.
Whitmire is asking us to trust that he will figure that out. We’d certainly like to give him the benefit of the doubt, but the city is already facing a $187 million hole, a deficit which will only grow after the Council approved a $6.6 billion budget. The city plans to dip into its cash reserves to get them in the black for the next fiscal year, but that’s not a sustainable strategy.
Enter Hollins, a first-term controller whose political ambitions, including a brief run for mayor, may lead some to look askance at his delay in signing off on the deal.
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Reasonable legal minds may disagree about Hollins’ specific role in certifying the agreement — the controller told us he is seeking his own legal counsel on that front — but it appears to us that he’s just doing his job in trying look out for Houston taxpayers.
Hollins’ pestering the city for clarifications about specific provisions of the agreement will only help inform Council members’ decision to approve it. Hollins told us he is trying to shed light on a deal that was brokered behind closed doors.
“It’s my job to ensure transparency and the City Council’s job to vote on the merits of the deal,” Hollins told us on Thursday. “But they have to understand them first. The information has to be made available.”
They work it out or they don’t, and if they don’t we deal with what comes next. If this deal is everything it’s cracked up to be, it shouldn’t be a problem.
There were 6 Ladder Trucks throughout the city which were browned out, sitting idle without personnel on Saturday.
That’s 6 $1,000,000 apparatus the city has paid for doing nothing on a day the city had active fires from one side to the other. Senior captains doing the job of Captains, and Captains doing the job of firefighters and engineer operators. Where the city could pay for a firefighter, they’re paying a captain, where they could be paying a captain, they’re paying a senior captain. Fewer apparatus in service and positions being paid out at a higher rate than planned.
David, were there any fires Not put out while these trucks were idle ?
If anyone wants to dau something about the fire fighter collective bargaining agreement, it is Tuseday @9am at city hall. Public speakers, then consolidated meeting because of Juneteenth. Now is your time to say what you want in the real world and not on a blog. I encourage you to, no matter what your stance is. If you don’t now, forever hold your peace.
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