[0:01] I believe we have a quorum in the chamber if I can get this gaveled in before somebody leaves again.

[0:09] And as you take your seats please so we can begin this presentation portion of today's city council meeting.

[0:15] First council member, we'll be council member Cohen.

[0:30] I would like to ask Canternd Lippler from Beth Israel Synagogue to join me up here to receive the Proclamation.

[0:45] Thank you, Canternd.

[0:46] I have a proclamation for Beth Israel Senegal to recognize it's 160th anniversary in the city of Houston, and I'm very pleased to do this, and particularly pleased because I'm a member of that synagogue, so I actually wasn't there from the time that we turned soil 160 years ago, but my mother might have been, thank you here right, it's absolutely right.

[1:15] But it's a pleasure today to present this to you,

[1:19] canter, and it leads.

[1:21] Convigation Beth is real, the oldest synagogue in Texas,

[1:25] and we form Jewish house of worship,

[1:27] has been in continuous services of faithful and caring

[1:30] congregation in Houston for 160 years.

[1:34] The synagogue is contributed to and demonstrated

[1:36] our city's highest spiritual and civic values.

[1:41] Since its organization in 1854,

[1:43] congregation Beth Israel has remained relevant, modern, and joyful in its celebration of

[1:50] observance of Judaism. That Israel's rich history and legacy has been an enduring

[1:56] model, a tradition, diversity, and inclusion, adhering to the richest lessons from sacred

[2:03] sources that improve the lives and well-being of its members and neighbors.

[2:12] And this goes

[2:13] Israel was celebrated 160 years of serving the community.

[2:18] The city of Houston commends congregation Beth Israel for its efforts on behalf of our

[2:23] community and extends best wishes for rewarding 160th Anniversary celebration.

[2:32] Therefore, I and Easteeparco Mayor of the city of Houston, hereby proclaim December 14, 2014,

[2:38] as congregation, Beth Israel Day, and 160th Anniversary in Houston, Texas. Congratulations.

[2:51] Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Councillor Bevacone. It's really such a joy and an honor

[2:56] to accept this proclamation on behalf of Rabbi Lyon, senior Rabbi of congregation, Beth Israel.

[3:03] The rest of our clergy team are staff and our lay leaders.

[3:06] Carnation Bethesia, well as you heard, is celebrating its 16th anniversary since 1854 Bethesia

[3:15] has been serving and growing with the Houston community. This wonderful city we have our first

[3:23] location was actually located in the area now occupied by Discovery Green. Our last location is now the

[3:31] and theater owned by HCC and you can see in that building many of the architectural elements

[3:37] preserved from that congregation from the synagogue. So it's a real pleasure and a real joy

[3:44] to accept this proclamation. We look forward to many more years growing with Houston and serving Houston

[3:52] this wonderful vibrant community. Thank you again.

[3:55] Thank you. And I think I would just add that it's very appropriate to be presenting us today.

[4:03] The tonight is the first night of Hanukkah. So it comes together very well. Thank you.

[4:12] Hanukkah,

[5:09] we have a menorah outside that we light each year and so the candles will begin to be lit and we invite the public for that.

[5:22] Thank

[5:26] you very much.

[5:27] Mayor, this is a great day for Houston.

[5:30] And certainly a great day for the Gibbs family.

[5:32] For those of you that know that we could go on Saturday,

[5:37] there was a swag football game here in Houston.

[5:41] And we know that Alcorn State played Southern University

[5:44] and Alcorn prevailed.

[5:46] And the quarterback of that team today is here with us.

[5:48] And it happens to be as father's birthday.

[5:50] So I'm going to ask if John Gibbs and would come up and also the...

[5:57] Do you have a chance?

[5:58] Well, yeah, but...

[5:59] The General Gibbs Jr.

[6:01] And also the Athletic Director of Outcome State University, Derek Horne,

[6:08] if you come forward, and I want to recognize them.

[6:13] This is a wonderful day.

[6:15] I'm looking for my proper motion here.

[6:21] For those of you who like football, like I do, it's one thing to watch a game, it's another

[6:27] thing to watch a game when somebody's playing in it that you know and that you really

[6:32] know and when I watched this game it was probably one of the most exciting games I have

[6:38] ever seen in person and I am so happy to be here today to recognize John Curtis Gibbs

[6:45] Junior. He's a little taller than me. He's about six, six, but he doesn't not weigh me,

[6:51] man.

[6:55] So I'll be similar to six. John's gives Junior, helped the Alcorn State University

[7:00] Braves when it's first swag championship game in over 20 years. Against the Southern University

[7:06] Jaguars and the final score was 38 to 24. Right near the end of the game, my staff member

[7:12] asked me to come down to the field.

[7:15] And I said, no, I'm staying in the stands with my friends.

[7:18] We made, we won it yet.

[7:20] And she said, no, you've got to come down.

[7:22] And so we got to go down and meet the players and to see John on the field.

[7:27] And it was a wonderful time.

[7:29] And he was the most valuable offensive player in 2014 for the swag.

[7:34] The first team, all American national offensive player of the year for 2014, 2014's,

[7:41] Fox Toro, all American team, and finally, for the C-Spire Connelly Award presented to the Top College Athletic Player in the State of Mississippi.

[7:57] So I'm here today to recognize John Gibbs and Mayor.

[8:04] Therefore, I need the Parker Mayor of the City of Houston here by proclaim to sit

[8:08] for 16th, 2014 as John Curtis Gibbs, gender day in Houston, Texas.

[8:15] Congratulations for a great game, but congratulations for a great season.

[8:19] Thank you.

[8:28] I'm determined and speak to us and also very honed from the University Athletic

[8:34] Department.

[8:35] But I want you to know that I'm so impressed with the attitude that the

[8:42] You're a big, big show man has for people and I'm just glad to be as friend, John.

[8:48] First of all, I want to thank God for a lot of us to be here.

[8:51] I'm all going to be.

[8:52] You're going to say, thank you.

[8:54] You're going to be able to raise it better.

[8:56] You know, maybe thank you.

[8:57] Mayor Nees Parker for coming with our proclamation.

[8:59] Back today, joggers every day.

[9:00] We're going to thank Michael Kubas.

[9:02] And we thank City Houston for showing me a lot of nervous support.

[9:05] And I turned my mom.

[9:07] My dad had birthday to my dad actually.

[9:09] I think for, like, it's a good meet, you know.

[9:11] not just me, but you know, rest of my teammates like this whole season with them.

[9:15] My third director, the whole orchestra, the rest of your brother's family, he's a lot

[9:19] to us as well.

[9:20] So I want to thank everybody about to be blessed.

[9:23] Would you mind telling them that the whole offensive team is coming back next year?

[9:27] Oh, yeah.

[9:28] Everybody's said, my last time to run a bag.

[9:35] I bring your business from all concerned university and our president back to Africa,

[9:39] as junior, being an athletic director, it's a pleasure to have a model of student athlete be recognized this way.

[9:46] That's why they put student before athlete does not only get a good athlete, but he's a great student.

[9:51] And it's just wonderful to be recognized this way, it's something the way that you could be recognized.

[9:58] So just for me, wholeheartedly, from university, from radiation movement, thank you for honoring John Gibbs Jr.

[10:06] And we're hoping that we'll be doing this again next year sometime and the great state of Texas is very recent as we hope to come back for the Swag GM said next year.

[10:16] Thank you.

[10:23] Sure, recognize this Council member breakers.

[10:25] I mean, Mr. Horne, I hate to break you down and hurt you feeling bad.

[10:29] But TSU, we got next year.

[10:32] Y'all better enjoy.

[10:33] And let me say to John Gibbs, you will not return next year because you will be going in in our fell and under the age.

[10:42] I'm so proud of you, now I've ignored him since he was a kid, and I'm so proud of John,

[10:47] Senior, and his lovely wife, I can tell you grandpa would have been proud of you, man.

[10:51] I tell you that now, and you've done such a fantastic job.

[10:55] And those two girls, there's a two or three, John.

[10:57] Two girls, one went the rice, and one went where?

[11:00] Yeah, let's see.

[11:01] Okay, yeah, I mean, the Gibbs family is just a wonderful model of what it's like to be a family.

[11:07] I just want to commend you guys.

[11:08] Thank you so much, and I heard some great news, maybe pledge an out and next year, so I'm excited about that.

[11:16] But congratulations, Coach Holland, thank you for making an academic scholar.

[11:22] I think that's important before that, the athletics.

[11:26] And I'm just so proud of you here, Junior, and what you're doing, man.

[11:30] Thank you, thank you.

[11:32] Councilmember, let's report 10 days.

[11:34] Thank you. Thank you all for coming out today.

[11:37] And then I heard a great thing about you from your dad and that there was a bed that's about

[11:43] to pop off that jacket, but that's not because it's telling me it's because I don't

[11:48] how proud he is of you as an awesome dad, I've been known to him for a while and he talks

[11:57] about you every day.

[11:58] So we don't see you every day, but we hear about you often, so I want to say continue with

[12:03] the work, answer, as a father, to a father. I hope to be like you one day just, I love my

[12:09] son now, but I can only imagine what you're feeling right now. Thank you.

[12:14] Councillor Bermary Green, thank you Mr. Mayor for the time. Congratulations. I'm

[12:20] seated. I was out again. It was very exciting again. I was on the edge of my seat. You

[12:26] just kept doing it and kept doing it and kept doing it. And it was just really remarkable

[12:30] I mean, I mean, if you see you here, but when you're on a field, obviously you tear it up and you're just amazing to watch and they're fun to watch and so we appreciate you and this recognition as well deserve and also your father.

[12:45] I mean, what can I say about Ren Gibbs? He talks about you all the time.

[12:50] And we're just so proud of what he does for the community, and we know that you will do the same in representing the city of Houston, so we appreciate you, appreciate your family, and congratulations.

[13:03] Thank you.

[13:04] Thanks for having me.

[13:05] Thank you, Mayor.

[13:08] Mr. Gibbs, it's an honor to see you.

[13:11] You may not remember this, but I've known your dad for about 20 years now.

[13:14] I'm sure I've met you before, but you were much smaller.

[13:17] The last time I wanted to thank you for your leadership on the field and Mr. Horan,

[13:23] I thank you for raising that good kids over there at alcohol and state.

[13:30] Mr. Gibbs, senior, I think there's a scripture saying,

[13:32] something like, raise up a child in the way she does and they're not apart from it.

[13:36] And clearly you've taken that to heart and you've done well with your entire family.

[13:40] God bless me, God bless you.

[13:42] Thank you.

[13:42] Councillor Rubin, thank you, Mayor.

[13:46] Don, I also know about you through your father,

[13:51] and I'm very sure he's extremely proud of you today,

[13:55] and you need to get rid of your agent,

[13:57] and think about giving up your eligibility right now,

[13:59] because if you're just a doctor,

[14:01] we need to record about it.

[14:02] You're right now, right now, right now.

[14:04] But I know you're a winner,

[14:06] because we throw like a gig and run like a kubash.

[14:12] I

[14:15] got some real regret for it.

[14:18] I think in your fortune, congratulations to the entire Gibbs family.

[14:22] I mean this is a wonderful family, I've known you that for just a long, long period of time.

[14:28] I want to say that I come from the same neck of the words that are all conjugate Northease Louisiana.

[14:35] quote, something has happened when Alcon gets passed around when I'm a GSU man.

[14:41] But you all got by and it's with your leadership.

[14:44] I want to thank you and thank you for steering young men like GIF Junior here,

[14:50] well on the football field but also make sure he's hitting those classes

[14:54] because far too often unlike this young man standing here.

[15:00] We have those that excel on the athletic side of the equation and then they get it to trouble

[15:04] later on because they didn't do enough to line how to manage some of those opportunities in front

[15:09] of them on the other side of the equation. So please enjoy the accolades and celebrate today.

[15:16] But I understand clearly that good terms don't last forever. So that's why it's important that

[15:21] you listen to your coach. He's gotten you this far. Stay with him. Stay with your family. Listen

[15:27] of the accounts for an advice and I wish that our government continue to got this and keep

[15:31] you good luck to you.

[15:32] Thank you.

[15:33] Thank you.

[15:33] Just one again.

[15:35] Congratulations on behalf of the City of Houston.

[15:37] We're proud of you.

[15:38] We're proud of the Gibbs family.

[15:39] We have a lot of respect wherever we give.

[15:41] He does talk about you quite often.

[15:44] So we all celebrate them and celebrate his birthday and wish him a more and wish you much

[15:50] continue to success.

[15:50] Not only on the keep, but on football field, but off.

[15:52] This is just one more station in your life, and we know that there will be many more successes,

[15:58] many more victories hopefully in NFL as well, and that's what you choose to pursue,

[16:02] and also inspire many other young men that come behind you.

[16:06] So, congratulations and God bless.

[16:07] Yes, sir.

[16:08] Thank you.

[19:16] I'd like to recognize Mayor Pro Tim Gonzalez, with the presentation,

[19:20] recognizing that Houston held the part of it.

[19:31] Houston Department of Health and Human Services, I'd like to call those members up.

[19:35] We have director Stephen Williams, assistant director Robert Fairfatt, assistant director Ben Hernandez,

[19:42] Patrick Kee, assistant director, Richard Jones, deputy director Dr. David Perse,

[19:47] Faith Foreman, the Christian Lindberg, Judy Harris, Robert Hines, and Lola Coker.

[19:52] And so, I'm sure we have many more in attendance as well.

[19:56] But today there will be honored for achieving national accreditation through the Public Health

[20:00] accreditation board, making them the first accredited health department in Texas.

[20:06] This national accreditation reflects Houston's increased accountability and credibility

[20:10] to the public, funders, us as elected officials and partner organizations with which we work.

[20:16] Houston is the second largest city in the nation to have an accredited health department,

[20:20] so congratulations, Mayor.

[20:22] And more than 80% of HDHHS employees participated in learning about and preparing for accreditation.

[20:29] The Houston Department of Health and Human Services is a full service public health department

[20:34] providing environmental regulation, food protection, services, and nutrition for seniors,

[20:39] clinical services for certain communicable diseases, work, and family planning.

[20:44] They also manage 11 nursing service centers and provide a variety of human services throughout

[20:49] the city of Houston.

[20:51] We command and congratulate the Houston Department of Health and Human Services on

[20:54] this auspicious achievement as they continue to protect and improve the health of our citizens

[20:58] and communities, congratulations, Mayor.

[21:05] We've been focusing for the last few years in a city on improving efficiencies, improving

[21:12] processes, and looking to outside benchmarks to judge our progress, there have been

[21:21] a number of city departments who have taken the path of seeking national accreditation

[21:27] from independent organizations, public works department, police department, fire department, the

[21:32] big agencies in the city of Houston.

[21:35] We are extremely proud of the Houston Department of Health and Human Services.

[21:39] This is a big step forward for the department and the fact that we are the first major city

[21:48] in the state of Texas and the second largest in the nation to have achieved this milestone

[21:53] is significant. This was a lot of work looking at what we do internally, but also

[22:02] convincing the outside eyes that we had some best-in-class practices here.

[22:09] Therefore, I am Mr. Parker Mayer, the city of Houston hereby proclaim December 16, 2014.

[22:14] As Houston Department of Health and Human Services Day in Houston, Texas, congratulations.

[22:19] Thanks for all the hard work.

[22:27] Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Mayor Protem. For me, this has been, and me and my staff, it's really been a journey of several years, because it's just not an application that you fill out and complete and submit.

[22:45] It's about improving the quality of what you do. It's about how you work with the community and various community interest times trying to solve

[22:55] problems about engaging in a process of continuous quality improvement.

[23:01] But more importantly, the thing that I'm really proud of is the fact that this was really

[23:08] spearheaded in one of my divisions, which is led by Dr. Ralph Arfatt with his team, Robert

[23:16] and Mola.

[23:17] That's what I'll call them.

[23:19] And we as a whole department really came together, when you say 80% of the over 1,200 people

[23:27] that we have in the organization, really coming together to get them provided in this process.

[23:32] I think that that really kind of took the skills for what we've achieved here.

[23:37] So I'm really proud of my staff and a proud of my department, leadership team, being able to really take this on as a challenge.

[23:45] One of the major benefits of this is that we will actually create a greater level of transparency

[23:54] and accountability for our department and serve in the community.

[23:58] We also, hopefully, open up our funding opportunities, which I know that you would be grateful for.

[24:05] I know you are married.

[24:09] And that's one of the reasons that we decided to go for, but for the last 10 years I've really

[24:17] certainly been proud of the people that I work with in the health department because there's nothing

[24:23] that I've asked them to take on that they haven't been able to do. And so I just want to

[24:28] That's my gratitude to that.

[24:31] The regulations,

[24:34] thank you for all the work, I can't speak for the council members, but

[24:38] out of those 11 multi-service centers form, or area B, or district B, and we appreciate everything

[24:47] that you do.

[24:47] I don't know what you had to go through to receive this recognition, but the work that you

[24:52] staff, how they work with the WAP around services, the outreach services, that you all provide,

[25:00] we appreciate that.

[25:02] A lot of times, you know, you all go unnoticed.

[25:08] I guess probably the biggest time is when you're going to a restaurant to do some health inspections,

[25:12] that probably the worst thing I've noticed.

[25:14] But I know a lot of times you go unnoticed and one of the staff members,

[25:21] When I was a campaign in a few years ago, they said if you were in, you make sure you fight for health and human services because of our break occurs

[25:30] Who's going to help the community and the people?

[25:33] And we're just sure a lot of people don't think about that

[25:35] But we appreciate you and we appreciate everything that you all do

[25:38] Especially now helping people get registered for

[25:42] As they say, Obama care and things like that

[25:44] So again, we appreciate you

[25:46] I'll share with you actually recognize Dr. Christy at this time.

[25:52] Director Williams and Dr. Kuperson's entire career. Congratulations on the higher

[25:57] accreditation, but you know more than that. You know what I want to thank y'all

[26:01] for is as I'm hard on the department, because I asked the tough questions.

[26:08] And I want to compliment that you are health-oriented and not disease-oriented.

[26:15] You know, the disease mongers are out there, and that new disease is every year, but

[26:20] you know, you hold your ground, and you don't excite and fear, put the fear and the people

[26:27] of Houston.

[26:28] You say, no, we're doing the right thing, and you hold your ground, and most of all, you

[26:33] don't laugh at my questions.

[26:34] That's a thing.

[26:38] Chair, I'd like to recognize the Council of Brethren.

[26:41] Thank you, Director Williams and Dr. Parson.

[26:43] The entire staff, you know, if you can do anything

[26:46] to get rid of diesel engines in the city, you have to guide the city.

[26:48] You have to guide the city.

[26:49] You know, just walk out of the city.

[26:50] I think they can happy you as well.

[26:53] You know, you must feel relieved now, you know, because I recall

[26:56] the very first occasion when HPD complied

[27:00] and received accreditation.

[27:02] People, this is no small accomplishment.

[27:04] This is very, very significant, and it takes a long time to work looking at policies, procedures,

[27:12] establishing best practices, and employing efforts to ensure that the accreditation status

[27:17] is maintained as well, growing forward.

[27:20] So this is great.

[27:22] You ought to be familiar to all of you, to say that this is the second largest type organization

[27:31] in America to attain the status, tell us the rest of us how hard it is that it isn't easy

[27:36] to achieve.

[27:37] Because the whole idea of becoming credit has been around now 20 years across, but for

[27:42] Houston to reach that milestone,

[27:46] that's something to be applauded and I really do appreciate

[27:50] that.

[27:50] And it tells us that, Mayor Parker, on your watch that this particular health department

[27:55] has attained the status that others across America can look to as how things should be

[28:01] done, and we've gotten it right. So thank you, Mayor, and thank you, Director Williams, and

[28:06] Dr. Perse all of you for this significant accomplishment. Thank you very much. Thank you so much.

Dec 16, 2014 City Council

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