in Houston, Texas

Metro Chairman David Wolff likes to say that his board of directors does not function as a rubber stamp for Houston’s transit agency.

A review, however, of the board’s voting record reveals a lopsided tally that indicates the board members speak with one voice.

Since October 2006, only a single vote was made in opposition to an issue before the board. There were only six instances in which board members abstained from voting. The stark voting record is based on a review of 119 measures -- from labor agreements to the recent unanimous vote on a $1.46 billion light-rail contract -- over the course of 32 regular monthly and specially-called meetings.

“The board meetings seem just for show,” said Diane Lipton, president of the East End Chamber of Commerce. Lipton and other East End residents have lobbied the Metro board since last summer for an underpass along the planned Harrisburg light-rail line. Metro opted for an overpass, citing cost.

The transit board's lone 'no' vote came in 2007, when board member Jackie Freeman stood alone in opposing real estate negotiations with a developer who wanted to buy property along Main Street. The measure passed 7-1.

When asked about the tally, Wolff said board members do have differences, but those are worked out during committee meetings before members are asked to vote.

“We talk things through,” Wolff said, “and generally by the time something comes up for a vote everybody has had a chance to express themselves and get questions answered.”


Wolff: Disagreements resolved before votes

Metro’s board of directors is made up of five members appointed by Houston’s mayor, two by the Harris County judge and the remaining two by mayors in Metro’s service area.

The makeup once led to a contentious atmosphere among board members who frequently lobbied for their own constituencies, said Richard Murray, a University of Houston political science professor.

“In the past, there have been significant splits along those lines,” he said, “but obviously Wolff and (Mayor Bill) White have made this consensual model work. Everything seems to be settled in advance.”



The committee meetings take place on the morning before the board meetings. But the committee meetings can be hard for the public to get to, the Houston Chronicle notes, since they're publicized via bulletin board with no mention on the Metro Web site of the meeting date and time.* Committee members gather to review the proposed contracts, property purchases and other measures on that day's agenda.

At the regular board meeting, many of the items are grouped together for a vote typically without the same degree of discussion.

Wolff said disagreements are worked through well before any votes are taken.

Board members first must agree on what should come up for a vote. Issues that fail to win consensus are tabled for a later date. Wolff recently put the brakes on Metro’s plan to convert its high-occupancy vehicle lanes into toll lanes when he said he needed more information about the plan.

He said board members respect one another and need not register disagreement with a “symbolic” no vote.

Lone 'no' vote involved 2007 property transaction

In the 2007 instance in which the members did not move in lockstep, the board gave the OK for Metro’s president and CEO Frank J. Wilson to enter negotiations with a developer who had yet to line up all of his investors.

Metro, with the board’s approval, agreed to buy the property with the intent to sell later when the developer was ready, Wolff said.

“I didn’t think government ought to be getting into a deal like that,” Freeman said. The deal was too favorable to the developer, he said.

But Freeman, who has served on Metro’s board for eight years, echoed Wolff's stance that the board discusses each matter thoroughly beforehand.

“We end up voting in one voice,” he said, “and it appears like it’s a rubber stamp, but there’s a lot of work that goes into it before each meeting.”

The board, Wolff said, had to present a united image to staunch any opposition so the agency could move forward after years of delay with its light-rail project.

“Metro had plenty of people on the outside who did not believe in public transit for Houston,” Wolff said.

But Murray said the practice of voting unanimously means the public loses out on the nuances of the issues before the board.

"The board has shifted from being openly contentious to basically one that lays low and doesn't make much news," Murray said.

* Correction (Aug. 8): Committee workshops can be hard for the public to get to since they're publicized via bulletin board with no mention on the Metro Web site of the meeting date and time. An earlier version of this story described the workshops incorrectly.

Contact Rosanna Ruiz at rosanna@texaswatchdog.org or 713-980-9777.

Photo of a rubber stamp tree by flickr user Jeffrey Beall, used via a Creative Commons license.


This investigative report by Texas Watchdog is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.

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