City of Houston enacts emergency contracting process after contractors didn't get paid for months

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Thousands of water leaks popped up in the City of Houston during this summer's heat wave, sending city officials scrambling to find contractors who could fix them.

Now, months later, some of those contractors say they haven't been paid.

Gregory Thomas of T&T Construction and Development told Houston City Council on Wednesday that he has not been paid for three months of work. He told ABC13 he is owed more than $600,000.

When Thomas received a purchase order from the city in August, it was experiencing more than 500 water leaks per day. So officials bypassed the normal procurement process for contractors like Thomas, using emergency purchase orders instead.

In November, the Office of Inspector General began investigating whether Houston Public Works employees used the emergency process in their favor to do things such as award contracts to family members.

"It is unfair for us to ask these vendors to come on an emergency purchase order, and then perform the work, and then have to float these expenses month after month while the investigation is ongoing," Mayor Pro Tem Martha Castex-Tatum told City Attorney Arturo Michel on Wednesday.

"Is there a way we can delineate from people involved and people not involved in an expedient manner?" Castex-Tatum asked.

Michel replied, "I think to some degree and I think there's some overlap, but I'll make that a priority so we can separate those and get the vendors paid."

Responding to a question from Council Member Fred Flickinger, Michel confirmed that the city is racking up late fees for non-payments in the interim.

SEE ALSO: Nearly 20K calls for Houston water leaks logged as city increases repair funding in 2023 to $81M

ABC13 asked several city officials how much the city has incurred in late fees, and how many contractors they have outstanding payments with.

Aleece Kirk with St. Harlem Construction also addressed outstanding payments with the council on Wednesday.

Only a spokesperson for Houston Public Works responded to ABC13's inquiry. She said ABC13 needed to file a records request for the information, citing the OIG investigation.

"We spent over 12 hours-plus days getting these repairs done. Come home only to find out we're working for free," Thomas said.

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