The overview
The first contract, approved during the March 26 City Council meeting, was $388,000 to further analyze the finances and operations for the controller’s office and Houston Public Works.
Steven David, the deputy chief of staff to Mayor John Whitmire, told Community Impact that the deeper look into public works comes after former city employee Patrece Lee was involved in an emergency purchase order scandal back in 2024, where she allegedly used her position to funnel money in city dollars to friends and family.
David said that because of incidents like that, the city recognizes that the department is risky and that the city needs to prevent situations like this from happening again.
Meanwhile, he said the controller’s office is receiving further enterprise risk assessments to help the department develop its audit plan, which the controller’s office announced earlier in March.
More details
The second contract approved was a $4 million contract for Ernst & Young to provide support services and help implement the recommendations laid out in the efficiency study over the next 18 months, David said.
For example, the consulting firm will help train city staff on how to maintain the internal dashboards that give an insight into performance, he said.
Additionally, Ernst & Young will also host multiple performance management workshops and adopt a “turn the curve” method where they are encouraging city staff to think as a collective rather than individually when trying to address issues.
David gave an example of a fleet director for the city who handles the city’s vehicles, but takes four days to do oil changes. He said the old way of addressing this problem would just be asking the fleet director how they are going to fix it.
“In this turn-the-curve method, we recognize that this fleet director and the work he does are really a component,” David said. “You're in charge of making sure that oil changes occur, but mechanics have to get hired, which is [Human Resources]. You've got to be able to have the budget for them, which is finance. You've got to be able to purchase all the parts that you need, which is procurement. It's more of a collective. It's a we, in how we solve this, not a you.”
The background
A citywide efficiency study was conducted in late 2024 by Ernst & Young, a professional services network. The study interviewed nearly 12,000 city employees, sending surveys, analyzing data, reviewing all 22 city departments and benchmarking those findings against other cities such as Los Angeles, Phoenix and Philadelphia.
The report laid out the city’s wasteful spending and efficiency issues, including finding out that the city is currently operating with over 4,000 vacant positions, predominantly in the police, public works and fire departments, as well as finding duplicative contracts and unauthorized purchases.
The efficiency study has led to numerous initiatives made by Whitmire to save the city money, including implementing hiring freezes in every city department except fire and police, and enacting a voluntary retirement program for nearly 2,700 eligible employees.
What they’re saying
Council members Tiffany Thomas and Edward Pollard both voted no to the $4 million contract, with Thomas telling Community Impact she voted no because she disapproves of the way the administration is handling city operations, something she compares to the United States’ Department of Government Efficiency.
“It’s the DOGE to me,” Thomas said. “When we’ve been irresponsible with some of our financial decisions in this body, and now we’re asking city employees to make different decisions and basically instructing them that you have to go.”
