Houston mayor-elect John Whitmire intends to make City Hall 'user-friendly'

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- John Whitmire will be Houston's 63rd mayor. The 74-year-old won in a landslide over Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee Saturday night. On Sunday morning he spoke with ABC13 about getting to work. He inherits a city government with an uncertain financial future and admitted he is unsure of how much of a fiscal challenge the nation's fourth-largest city faces. Its fiscal year 2023 budget was $5.7 billion. Its current budget is roughly a billion more at $6.2 billion.

"I know for a fact we don't have a $400 million surplus," Whitmire said. "No reasonable person would call that a surplus, when you haven't paid your bills, you don't have a contract with the firefighters. You're paying them with one-time COVID funding. That's another issue where we need total transparency. What you'll notice immediately is the transparency of city hall. I am going to share all of this with the public because I need the public to be informed, and build up the credibility of my administration, so when we need help from the public they will cooperate. Additional resources, bond issues, cutting out duplication. I'll need them to help be on my team so when we approach the county for some of their resources, we'll remind the county that Houston is in Harris County."

And what about the county? Whitmire made a career in Austin working across the aisle, but he faced potential challenges working within his own party, despite the non-partisan nature of the job. Harris County County Judge Lina Hidalgo and Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis endorsed Whitmire's mayoral opponent, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, as did outgoing mayor Sylvester Turner, of whose administration Whitmire has been critical.

"I have no choice but to work with them," Whitmire said. "We all represent the same people. So I will be reaching out to work with them. Commissioner Briones called me this morning wanting to work together. I would hope that same attitude and atmosphere of cooperation will permeate itself from the county."

He'll need cooperation and buy-in if he wants to fulfill campaign promises of better streets, improved infrastructure, and less crime.

"I think I'll be judged pretty quickly on whether can I improve public safety and I am convinced I can. I know I can," he said, though he does not yet offer specifics on how he'll add more officers or convince other law enforcement agencies to more effectively partner with the Houston Police Department.

He did commit to keeping current HPD Chief Troy Finner in a runoff election mayoral debate, but said he would expect more from the Chief and give him the latitude to attack crime more aggressively. Finner was at Whitmire's victory celebration in downtown Houston on Saturday night when it became clear Whitmire won the election.

As for buy-in, he wants more involvement from the city council and the public. To that end, he might propose some nighttime council meetings so more working Houstonians can attend and on day one, he'll meet with anyone who wants to meet with him.

"We will meet that first Tuesday in a short council meeting and then I'll retire to the first floor," Whitmire said. "If it's a pretty day we'll go outside. And let people just come to talk to me, talk to their mayor. They can greet me. Or they can tell us their frustrations. I'll have staff there. We have just got to make city hall more accessible."

Whitmire is inaugurated on Jan. 2, 2024.

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