OIG & CHIEF LESTER TYRA

This publication is dedicated to & maintained by those of us who really care about this city. We are many --- (and growing stronger with more people joining our ranks everyday). We are the nameless , faceless city, county, state, federal, and corporate taxpaying citizens & workers who are sick of the "good ole boy system" here in Houston, Texas --We were born on 7-30-1999. We are --- married & single-male & female, maintenance worker to Deputy Directors. We are the faceless civil servants who year after year do our job. We are the one's who see the hard earned tax $$s of the citizens in this area used & abused and given away to enrich a few greedy people with each new administration. Our hobbies include: Watching our backs---as we try to bring you the truth of what is happening in Houston, and getting the REAL information out to the public.

From: denton <ernidenton@email.msn.com>
To: Brenda Flores <brenda@housnitch.com>
Sent: Thursday, August 31, 2000 7:33 PM
Subject: Re: RESPONSE FROM ERIC DENTON, HOUSTON FIRE DEPARTMENT
B,

> I appreciate your promptness last night. You may have saved me. Thanks.
>
> As for what's going on, when I returned to work I found my CPU gone and someone took all my
> disks sometime during the night. I don't know what the hell is going on other than that.
>
> I'll let you know if something bad happens.
>
> E.
From: Brenda Flores <brenda@housnitch.com>
> To: denton <ernidenton@email.msn.com>
> Date: Thursday, August 31, 2000 7:36 PM
> Subject: Re: RESPONSE FROM ERIC DENTON, HOUSTON FIRE DEPARTMENT
...they've taken your files to see where you go, who you talk with, and what all you have on your computer. they may even delete some things on it. They are looking to cover their asses.
B

Housnitch went in to meet with the nicest Sgt. over in the OIG's office. Sgt. William S. Atwood ,who was so kind to take our statement, and initiate an investigation, into this awarding of the contract with E-One. Also we hope to keep those documents from disappearing & also keep any retaliation from occurring because a city worker saw some discrepencies & ask that they be addressed. ( click on the thumb nail below to see full affidavit darlins...)

The following document, along with many e-mails concerning the purchase of the E-One Fire Equipment, leads Housnitch to believed that an investigation by the OIG is warranted....: Tell us what YOU think.

We don't think this passes the smell test guys...So we asked for an investigation

What's going on in the Houston Fire Department with the E-1 Fire Trucks. Rumor from some union members has it that all of the E-1's will have to be pulled from the stations so the manufacturer can reconfigure the engine's air intake system due to a manufacturer design defect which has caused some engine problems in the E-1's.

It seems like every time you turn around, there are problems with the new E-1 Pumper Trucks the Fire Chief keeps buying and with rumors in the union that another manufacturer's, who is "KME", should had been bought due to their cost and higher quality, it appears that someone's not putting the taxpayers and citizens interest first.

These trucks have serious quality control problems and the Chief keeps buying them. Why hasn't City Council done something about this problem? Don't they have some control over how the department spends taxpayers money and can't they stop the buying of E-1's? It would seems that the City would have some form of language in the contract that would allow the City to cancel the contract protecting itself from this kind of waste and future problems.

Also, union members have indicated that the new ladder trucks, that the city just approved to be bought were built months ago by E-1, came in but due to them not having equipment on them and manufacturer's quality control inspections, which were required before they were shipped, ended up being returned to the manufacturer so they could do the job right.

I guess after having the trucks built already and money tied up waiting on the City to approve their purchase before they could be shipped, E-1 wanted to get their money fast and forgot about equipment and quality control again.

Have you herd anything about this as well?

Signed - Off Duty

Subj: Letter to Chief Tyra
Date: 8/28/00 8:37:50 PM Central Daylight Time
From:
To: Housnitch1@aol.com
Chief,

I'd come forward and inquire my District Chief on what's going on in the department with the new fire trucks, but with everyone who's wearing a white shirt's attitude on not making you look bad and "don't complain" about the new trucks, I can't. Regardless of the protection I may be afforded through the Union, I'd get squashed.

All I'd like to say is that after your gone, a lot of us will still be around supporting the City and these new trucks being do-do now, will be a bigger pile of do-do in the future. What were you and your staff thinking about?

It's turned out to be a direct reflection on the department and those that bought them and allowed their purchase to take place which is yours. It's not your committee members, and those that have been identified to certain Union members as being Mrs. Rosslow, which by the way is said to have come from Florida where the trucks are built and is the person managing the money which bought them and who also recommended them, Mr. Perfecto (what a name), and Mr. Denton (what a clown). Mr. Denton is said to have been involved in the whole process, from buying to receiving. Where did this guy come from? Florida?

Along with Station numbers, logos, and the www. address for the department being on the trucks, you all need to have your names placed on them as well. That way you'll still be remembered 15-years from now for your good deed.

Thanks for the current and future problems. We'll love ya for a long time.

Subj: Fire Equipment
Date: 8/23/00 9:13:01 PM Central Daylight Time
From:
To: Housnitch1
IF CITY COUNCIL NEEDS ANOTHER EXAMPLE ON THE QUALITY OF THE E-1 TRUCKS, LOOK INTO STATION 3's. THE MANUFACTURER FAILED TO COMPLETE THE BUILDING OF THE TRUCK. THEY FAILED TO INSTALL PART OF THE SUSPENSION SYSTEM. FIREFIGHTERS
IDENTIFIED IT WHEN THE NEW TRUCK WAS LEANING TOO FAR ON THE SIDE.

HEY, THERE'S EVEN PICTURES OF THE MISSING EQUIPMENT. AND TO THINK THAT THE MAYOR AND HIS FIRE CHIEF THINKS THAT THESE TRUCKS ARE NOT A PROBLEM. THE CHIEF SAID THIS ABOUT HOUSTON'S EMS SERVICE TOO.

LOOK AT WHAT HAPPENED! A BOY AND A MAN LOST THEIR LIFE. NEXT IT COULD BE FIRE FIGHTERS IN ROUTE TO AN EMERGENCY DUE TO MISSING PARTS.

WAY TO GO CHIEF AND E-1. YOU FAILED AGAIN.

Subj: E-1 Contract
Date: 8/29/00 1:28:16 PM Central Daylight Time
From:
To: Housnitch1
The City should seriously considering canceling the contract with the manufacturer of the Emergency One Fire Trucks. It appears that the new trucks have been plagued with manufacturer's defects on their engine design, electrical systems, and other maintenance issues tied into poor quality control by the manufacturer since they arrived.

If the City does, any and all outstanding non-delivered trucks needs to be included.

Subj: E-One
Date: 9/4/00 7:35:18 PM Central Daylight Time
From:
To: Housnitch1
The running commentary on the award for fire apparatus to E-1 indicates the decision to award was made even before bid solicitation. The specification discrepancies described by Mr. Denton seem insufficient to disqualify a bid of this size, and were certainly worthy of clarification prior to award.

Just wondered if E-1 has a political contribution policy similar to Entertainment One, which admitted "pass through" contributions disguised to appear as "personal" contributions.

Or does E-1 have management level HFD personnel on their (clandestine) payroll?

Rgds

The Houston Fire Department is planning on extending the contract with Emergency One out of Florida an additional year and increasing the number of trucks and funding against the contract so he can buy more E-1 Trucks.

Rumor has it that they will need to do this anyway due to all the change orders issued for modifications on the trucks since the contract was awarded. These changes have increased the cost of the trucks and have exhausted available funding to buy the full quantity of trucks approved by City Council. Rumor has it that these changes were made within weeks after the contract was established and a major change order was issued to allow a foam pumper truck to be bought off the contract vs. a fire pumper truck.

Rumor has it that City Council did not have to approve this expenditure due to the changes being limited below the City's 25% change order rule which made it legal for the Chief to do this.

It sounds like we modified the specifications to buy trucks already being built instead of E-1 meeting specifications. In additional, the foam pumper truck's configuration and specifications were totally different then the fire pumper truck specifications as established under the contract.

When will this ever stop?

In reading what has happened in Public Works, it hard to believe that the City's Purchasing and Assistant Purchasing Agents were not aware that this was going on. It's also questionable to how far back this goes as well.

The City's Purchasing and Assistant Purchasing Agents are the City's front line protection from violations of State and City Policies in purchasing and contracting and it's hard to believe that the City's Purchasing & Asst. Purchasing Agents over the past years were not involved or was not aware that this was going on.

Who were the City Purchasing and Assistant Purchasing Agents at the time all this was going on and were they aware and involved? How about the City's F&A department that is suppose to ensure that payments to these contractors are valid? What about the managers over PW&E's purchasing and accounts payable sections. Don't say it started and stopped with these four individuals.

Did it go as far back as Mr. Bob Blum & Mr. Perfecto Fajardo (Purchasing & Asst. Purchasing Agent), Mr. Dewayne Huckabay & Mr. Perfecto Fajardo )Purchasing & Asst. Purchasing Agent, or the Mayor's buddy Mr. Calvin Wells & Mr. Perfecto Fajardo.

Bob Blum still works for the City at Municipal Courts, Dewayne Huckabay still works for F&A, and Perfecto Fajardo works for the Fire Department. If any of these people were involved, they need to be identified through proper investigation.

The City cannot depend on the Mayor to ensure that all parties who may have been involved in the PW&E scandal be investigated and identified because it could lead to his office being identified as being involved as well. It's hard to believe that he has not been aware of these event's while he's been the Mayor!

I think that the D.A.and his Asst. DAs need to get up off their asses and reopen the case for further investigation to identify the debt of the scandal and if anyone of the City's past or current Purchasing or Asst. Purchasing Agents were involved in the PW&E scandal. These individuals are still around and if any of them were aware of what was happening and they gave their endorsement, they should be punished to the fullest for failing to enforce State laws and local policies which would of protected the city and it governing body from this embarrassment. This also means taking away any future pensions because they knowingly violated the laws of the State and the policies of the city by allowing this to happen. Regardless of how much time they have done or have left before they retire, anyone guilty should have their pension pulled or be fined the amount they are to receive over their remaining life. Once fined, the city can take the required action to automatically with-hold from their monthly check.

Lets not allow crooks to get away without paying the taxpayers back! People are innocent until proven guilty by law. However in this case, the law "the D.A.'s Office" failed to ensure that justice was served and the law was enforced. You have to ask why? Was the Mayor identified to the D.A. after the Grand Jury verdict and the D.A. didn't want to move forward with the case knowing what the outcome would be?

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Position	Name	City Phone	E-mail address
At-Large Position 1	Annise Parker	713.247.2014	aparker@cnl.ci.houston.tx.us
At Large Position 2	Gordon Quan	713.247.2013	gquan@cnl.ci.houston.tx.us
At Large Position 3	Orlando Sanchez	713.247.2005	osanchez@cnl.ci.houston.tx.us
At Large Position 4	Chris Bell	713.247.2006	cbell@cnl.ci.houston.tx.us
At Large Position 5	Carroll G. Robinson	713.247.2012	crobinso@cnl.ci.houston.tx.us
District A	Bruce Tatro	713.247.2010	btatro@cnl.ci.houston.tx.us
District B	Carol Mims Galloway	713.247.2009	cgallowa@cnl.ci.houston.tx.us
District C	Mark Goldberg	713.247.2004	mgoldber@cnl.ci.houston.tx.us
District D	Jew Don Boney, Jr.	713.247.2001	jboney@cnl.ci.houston.tx.us
District E	Rob Todd	713.247.2008	rtodd@cnl.ci.houston.tx.us
District F	Mark Ellis	713.247.2002	mellis@cnl.ci.houston.tx.us
District G	Bert Keller	713.247.2007	bkeller@cnl.ci.houston.tx.us
District H	Gabriel Vasquez	713.247.2003	gvasquez@cnl.ci.houston.tx.us

District I	John Castillo	713.247.2011	jcastill@cnl.ci.houston.tx.us
Mayor	Lee P. Brown	713.247.2200	Mayor@ci.houston.tx.us
Senior Executive Assistant	DONALD K. HOLLINGSWORTH	713.247.2200	donh@myr.ci.houston.tx.us