Houston City Council unanimously approved Mayor John Whitmire’s request Wednesday to change city rules requiring the Houston Public Works director to be a licensed engineer.
The rules now require the director to have “either” an engineer’s license, five years of experience as a public service executive or “an equivalent combination of training, education, and experience sufficient to provide leadership and perform the duties of the office.”
Whitmire’s pick for public works director, Randall Macchi, doesn’t possess the first two qualifications. The former leadership coach and attorney has been Chief Operating Officer at Houston Public Works for less than two years and he is not an engineer. However, Whitmire argued that he was qualified for the job.
“I ran to fix things, and Randy was fixing things before my living eyes,” Whitmire said. “The direction of efficient city government has been to put the best person in the position that can make a difference.”
Whitmire credited Macchi with leading a speedup in replacing faulty water meters after customers reported issues with erroneously high bills. Macchi said the situation was an opportunity for the department to improve customer service.
“We forgot that in fact, we were there to serve them, not just to collect money,” Macchi said. “We had to fix our own house first. That included bringing opportunities for people to come and visit with us in person, a practice that went away after a while so that when someone had a problem with their water bill, they could put a face to the person trying to solve it.”
Council Member Julian Ramirez pointed out “we changed the law so you could have this title.”
“That’s how much we think of you; that’s how much the mayor thinks of you,” Ramirez said.
As the Houston Chronicle reported, the American Society of Civil Engineers criticized the change in a letter to Whitmire’s administration.
“He’s opposed by the American Society of Civil Engineers out of Washington, D.C., because they’re protecting their turf,” Whitmire argued. “They don’t want an example of a non-engineer conducting an excellent operation in our department. It’s only going to get better.”
Macchi had already been co-directing the department with interim city engineer Richard Smith. According to department spokesperson Erin Jones, that won’t change.
“The city engineer would still sign off on a major engineering decision,” Jones said. “They would still work with the Director of Public Works on those decisions, but the director would not need that professional engineer license requirement.”
Macchi replaces Carol Haddock, who resigned in April after nearly two decades with the city. Her departure and Macchi’s appointment are part of a series of sweeping changes to the leadership of multiple departments in Whitmire’s first year. He’s also changed the heads of the police and fire departments, airport system, finance department, housing department and planning department.
