During a July 16 City Council meeting, Larrius Hassan, interim director of Houston's Solid Waste Management Department, discussedt issues within the department, including aging fleets, credit card mismanagement and outdated routes.

Latest update

Hassan transitioned to the interim director role after the former director, Mark Wilfalk, resigned in March. Hassan said his team conducted a three-month review of the department’s operations, finances and route management and found issues such as:
  • Employees not working the full 40-hour work week
  • Supervisors who allowed employees to work from home, despite Mayor John Whitmire’s directive ordering all municipal employees to return to the office
  • 32% of fleets that were over seven years old
  • An average of 30 trucks that were down each day, and another 20 that would break down on their route
  • Employee participation in network shows, Houston Texans ads, travel and golfing using city dollars
  • Outdated, decade-old collection routes due to underutilized software
The report comes after numerous SWMD employees spoke during a July 8 City Council public comment session on the department’s inadequacies, such as “a lack of equipment, a lack of pay and a lack of staffing,” that make their jobs difficult.

“This administration has made a commitment for better police officers and a better fire department, but where’s the commitment for solid waste?” said Gary Johnson, a senior side loader at SWMD.

Over the past few months, City Council members said they have continued to receive numerous complaints about missed garbage and recycling pickups. According to 311 data, SWMD received more than 13,000 complaints in March regarding:
  • 3,014 missed garbage pickups
  • 1,359 missed recycling pickups
  • 782 missed heavy trash pickups
  • 626 missed yard waste pickups
"In District A, recycling was over two months behind, and then it was collected, and now we're behind again," District A council member Amy Peck said during the meeting. “Picking up trash is the most basic service that we can offer to our citizens, and it's not happening.”


The action taken

Hassan said that after these issues were discovered, he made numerous changes to address these challenges, such as:
  • Requested the city’s Office of the Inspector General to investigate suspected credit card fraud within SWMD
  • Removed all purchasing cards except for four executive team members. Previously, a manager and their assistant had a purchasing card.
  • Transitioned to a standardized five-day, 40-hour work week
  • Updated routes so that drivers collect from under 1,000 homes, instead of over 1,300 homes
  • Planned to receive nine additional fleets in October
Mayor John Whitmire said Hassan inherited a “broken model” and that drastic changes were made.

“Are we where we need to be? No,” Whitmire said. “Unfortunately, maybe this is a reminder to all of us that the votes we take matter.”