OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

August Government Operations Committee Meeting - August 21, 2025

Committees and Commissions — Thursday, August 21, 2025
BodyHouston, Texas
SessionCommittees and Commissions
DateThursday, August 21, 2025
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 2:20:37

Transcript — Verbatim
0:16

Good afternoon, everyone.

0:17

Welcome to the August Government Operations Committee meeting.

0:23

We've got attendance from Mario Castillo's office, also from Tarsha Jackson, and from Julian Ramirez.

0:32

I am Fred Flickinger.

0:33

I am the vice chair.

0:35

The chair is on her way.

0:37

She should be here in about 10 minutes.

0:40

So as soon as she comes in, uh she'll take over.

0:43

Obviously, we do not have a quorum today, but we don't plan on voting on anything anyway.

0:48

So that'll still work.

0:50

The first uh presentation we have is from Houston Public Works.

0:54

And at this time, wanted to yield to Gabriel Mesillo and Mira Victor for the Houston Public Works presentation on the water loss and leak management.

1:22

Whoops.

1:22

Y'all can hear me?

1:23

Yeah.

1:24

Good afternoon.

1:25

Uh do we have the presentation?

1:30

Uh can you move up the mic?

1:34

Yeah, I can move it up.

1:35

Can y'all hear me?

1:36

Awesome.

1:37

Um we don't have the presentation up here.

1:39

We I know that our uh public works office sent it.

1:42

I don't know.

1:42

It's it's showing on the screen, but it might not be showing on your screen.

1:46

Okay.

1:47

Uh well, that's okay.

1:49

I can uh let me grab my phone.

1:52

It's all right.

1:53

We can give you a copy.

2:05

That works.

2:06

You can have it.

2:11

Uh, uh let me see the title real quick.

2:20

Uh good afternoon.

2:22

Uh my name is Gabriel Musio.

2:24

I'm the senior assistant director leading drinking water operations within the Houston Public Works Department.

2:29

Um I'm here with uh Mira.

2:31

Would you like to introduce yourself?

2:33

Good afternoon, Council members.

2:34

Um my name is Mira Victor.

2:36

I'm with Corolla Engineers, and uh we are working on this project, the program manager as for the waterline leaks and loss program, and we'll be helping Gabe and his team execute this, implement this program.

2:49

Yep.

2:50

So today we're gonna provide an update on our uh water loss and leak management program.

2:56

Uh just a quick snapshot of the agenda.

2:58

We're gonna talk about the uh where we're at today with our waterline uh leaks loss program, uh all the process improvements we've made to date, uh current operational challenges, and uh how the program manager Carolo is going to help us uh with our our our leak loss uh program.

3:18

Um sorry, next slide.

3:23

That was the agenda.

3:24

Next slide.

3:26

Awesome.

3:27

So just to provide an update, we do have a public-facing dashboard that's on the uh city website.

3:33

It does show you what our uh active work orders are at any given time.

3:37

And so right uh uh just to let y'all know, back in March 18th of 2025, we hit a high of 1,901 active work orders.

3:47

Uh that was that was a high amount.

3:50

Um we're currently sitting at well, as of August 13, 2025, we're sitting at 498 active work orders.

3:58

So if you ever want to see where we're at on that, you can go to that site.

4:02

Next slide.

4:05

Um so improvements that we've done.

4:09

Uh we've procured additional uh resources.

4:12

We have four new contractors on board since the last time we spoke about a year ago.

4:17

Um we've uh gone through and developed advanced analytics, we've developed dashboards and daily reports to make sure we have a polls on the crews, both internal and contractual, and the work they're doing out on the distribution system uh to manage our our leaks.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Transportation Safety███████████████████████████27%
Public Safety█████████████████████████25%
Water And Wastewater Management██████████████████18%
Public Engagement███████████11%
Technology and Innovation██████████10%
Community Engagement████4%
Public Education██2%
Procedural█1%
Engineering And Infrastructure█1%
Summary of Proceedings

August Government Operations Committee Meeting - August 21, 2025

The Government Operations Committee met on August 21, 2025, under Vice Chair Fred Flickinger (the chair arrived later). No quorum was present, and no votes were taken. The meeting featured updates on Houston’s water loss and leak management program, railroad safety initiatives, and public comments.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • Dominic suggested encouraging railroads to build holding yards outside the city or the Texas Triangle to prevent blockages, and urged the city to monitor the proposed Union Pacific–Norfolk Southern merger and its impact on Houston terminals. He also advocated for railroad police enforcement at grade crossings.
  • Joetta Stevenson (President, Greater Fifth Ward Super Neighborhood) emphasized the daily risks from long-duration train blockages in Fifth Ward, citing a fatal incident in September 2024 where a man on a walker tried to go under a stopped train. She called for pedestrian crossings, better signage/alert systems, and inclusion of residents in planning collaborations.
  • Travis McGee criticized slow water main repair times, stating crews often fix only one break at a time when multiple breaks exist on the same street. He noted a December 2024 report fixed in April 2025, questioned the use of bamboo instead of rebar, and argued that reactive “three-on-one” repairs waste resources.

Discussion Items

Water Loss and Leak Management Presentation

  • Gabriel Mesillo (Houston Public Works) reported that as of August 13, 2025, active water‑leak work orders dropped to 498 from a peak of 1,901 on March 18, 2025. The department is now repairing 40–50 leaks per weekday (up from 25–35) and 10 on weekends. About 40–50 new leaks are confirmed daily, with 150–200 service calls per day.
  • Mira Victor (Corolla Engineers, program manager) outlined short‑term (12‑month) objectives: optimizing work‑order scheduling, cost analysis, SOP review, leak detection technology assessment, water‑loss accounting review (2023 loss was 32 billion gallons), and valve assessments (25% of valves are inoperable). Long‑term goals include a proactive pipe‑replacement prioritization framework, a repair notification system, smart meter installation, and maintaining a 3% annual pipe replacement rate.
  • Members discussed: staffing shortages from early retirements, the age of the system (average 35 years), the link between extreme weather and leak increases, repair timelines (goal: 7 days; currently ~60% completed within 7 days), and challenges like coordinating with utilities and deep/under‑overpass repairs.
  • Councilmember Kaman requested district‑level granularity for the public dashboard; Mesillo said he would follow up.

Houston Railroad Opportunities Presentation

  • Colin Leopold (City Traffic Engineer) noted over 700 at‑grade rail crossings in Houston, many with outdated infrastructure and hazardous pedestrian conditions. 40 quiet zones (covering 154 crossings) are pending due to lack of funding; 16 quiet zones are already established.
  • David Wardlow (Houston Public Works) summarized funding sources: federal discretionary grants (FRA, USDOT), congressional earmarks, state’s SB 1555 program ($250 million for grade separations in the 2024–25 biennium), and MPO‑administered funds (CMAQ, STBG). He highlighted successful funding for the West Belt project ($100 million) and Antoine Drive corridor.
  • Councilmembers asked about the quiet‑zone request process, cost ranges ($50,000–$150,000 per crossing), corridor‑wide requirements, and prioritization. David noted that without a congressional representative in District 18, the 34th Street quiet zone cannot currently pursue federal earmarks.

Union Pacific Track Safe Houston Presentation

  • Richard Zintec (Union Pacific Senior Director) introduced the Track Safe Houston initiative, a multimodal safety program. Outreach includes billboards (9 installed), bilingual safety materials (over 1,100 books distributed), and school‑based education with HISD. He highlighted partnerships for pedestrian bridge designs near Milby and McReynolds schools and crossing safety evaluations.
  • Councilmembers asked about accident‑tracking metrics and how to measure program impact; Zintec said data collection is in early stages.

Houston Safe Railroad Corridors Presentation

  • Jack Hanagriff (Mayor’s Office of Innovation and Performance) described a data‑driven approach using 24/7 sensors and cameras at 7 test crossings. The city’s Train Watch map (launched August 15, 2025) now shows ~40 active crossings, leveraging existing traffic management data. The city secured a $3.4 million Safe Streets for All grant (agreement phase) to add 32 intersection sensors, 25 crossing sensors, improve traffic signal pre‑emption, and integrate data into TransStar for public consumption via Google Maps/Waze.
  • Councilmembers discussed the impact on first responders (HFD delayed by trains ~100 times/month) and the need for community engagement in prioritizing crossings.

Operation Lifesaver Presentation

  • Jessica Davorski (Texas Operation Lifesaver) outlined free rail‑safety education programs: school presentations, professional‑driver training, law‑enforcement courses (RISK course), and public service announcements. She announced Rail Safety Week (September 15–21, 2025) with daily themes and offered social media assets for council use.

Key Outcomes

  • No formal votes were taken during the meeting.
  • Committee members requested follow‑up data on: water‑loss costs for 2024–2025, staffing open positions, training requirements for utility/equipment technicians, cost‑benefit analysis of leak repairs vs. water treatment, and greater district‑level access to the water‑leak dashboard.
  • The committee acknowledged the progress in reducing active water‑leak work orders and the regional collaboration on railroad safety, including the Train Watch map and upcoming grant‑funded sensor expansion.
  • Public comments will be forwarded to relevant departments for consideration.

Meeting Transcript

Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the August Government Operations Committee meeting. We've got attendance from Mario Castillo's office, also from Tarsha Jackson, and from Julian Ramirez. I am Fred Flickinger. I am the vice chair. The chair is on her way. She should be here in about 10 minutes. So as soon as she comes in, uh she'll take over. Obviously, we do not have a quorum today, but we don't plan on voting on anything anyway. So that'll still work. The first uh presentation we have is from Houston Public Works. And at this time, wanted to yield to Gabriel Mesillo and Mira Victor for the Houston Public Works presentation on the water loss and leak management. Whoops. Y'all can hear me? Yeah. Good afternoon. Uh do we have the presentation? Uh can you move up the mic? Yeah, I can move it up. Can y'all hear me? Awesome. Um we don't have the presentation up here. We I know that our uh public works office sent it. I don't know. It's it's showing on the screen, but it might not be showing on your screen. Okay. Uh well, that's okay. I can uh let me grab my phone. It's all right. We can give you a copy. That works. You can have it. Uh, uh let me see the title real quick. Uh good afternoon. Uh my name is Gabriel Musio. I'm the senior assistant director leading drinking water operations within the Houston Public Works Department. Um I'm here with uh Mira. Would you like to introduce yourself? Good afternoon, Council members. Um my name is Mira Victor. I'm with Corolla Engineers, and uh we are working on this project, the program manager as for the waterline leaks and loss program, and we'll be helping Gabe and his team execute this, implement this program. Yep. So today we're gonna provide an update on our uh water loss and leak management program. Uh just a quick snapshot of the agenda. We're gonna talk about the uh where we're at today with our waterline uh leaks loss program, uh all the process improvements we've made to date, uh current operational challenges, and uh how the program manager Carolo is going to help us uh with our our our leak loss uh program. Um sorry, next slide. That was the agenda. Next slide. Awesome. So just to provide an update, we do have a public-facing dashboard that's on the uh city website.

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