By Juli McShay
Forward Times
https://www.forwardtimes.com/
Chris Brown’s experience is an asset. Mayor John Whitmire still owes Houston an explanation of how his advisor’s employment arrangement squares with the standards set for city workers.
The Power
Houston operates under a strong-mayor form of government, giving Mayor John Whitmire substantial authority over the city’s administration and personnel. Like the mayors before him, he has enjoyed that power.
But the power to hire does not eliminate the responsibility to explain how that hire serves the public and follows the rules.
That is what Whitmire seems to be missing in his defense of Chris Brown.
The Hire
In early 2024, after taking office, Whitmire hired Brown as senior advisor for financial integrity in the mayor’s office. Brown had just completed his second term as city controller, Houston’s chief financial officer.
The hiring of Brown, in and of itself, was smart. The capacity in which he was hired is the issue.
Brown brought years of municipal experience and institutional knowledge to the position. Before serving two terms as controller from 2016 through 2023, he served as chief of staff to Councilman Ron Green and later as chief deputy city controller under Green.
Brown’s experience has value. That does not put his employment arrangement above scrutiny.
Full-Time Employee vs. Consultant
At the September 30 City Council meeting, Whitmire said he had initially offered Brown a full-time position with a salary of roughly $300,000 before they negotiated the current arrangement. Brown’s annual city salary is $127,321.
“You were never hired as an hourly wage earner,” Whitmire told Brown.
But a salary does not exempt an employee from work requirements or city policies.
The question is why Brown was hired as a full-time city employee for work he now describes as advisory, remote and project-based. If that was the arrangement the mayor wanted, why not establish a consulting role with defined responsibilities and deliverables?
The issue is not the salary in and of itself. It is whether the position’s classification, expectations and actual workload line up.
That question deserves an answer, especially from a mayor who told city employees that returning to the office would strengthen accountability.
The Memo
On January 15, 2025, Whitmire announced that the city’s Hybrid-Telework Program, Administrative Policy 3-36, would end effective February 1.
The directive called for employees to return to their assigned workstations unless a formally approved exception or accommodation existed.
Whitmire said working together in the office would improve collaboration and make city government more effective. His administration tied the change to teamwork, accountability and its commitment to eliminating waste.
That was the standard the mayor set.
If Brown had an approved exception, the administration should explain how his arrangement fits that standard. If his duties required a different schedule, the administration should explain that, too.
The public should not have to guess which rules apply inside the mayor’s office.
The Record
Questions about Brown’s work became public through a Houston Chronicle investigation published in June.
The newspaper reported that Brown had used his employee badge to enter city facilities on just 13 days since joining the administration in January 2024. Separately, he had sent just 12 emails from his city account between January 1 and April 7, 2026.
I can’t imagine a senior advisor sending only 12 emails over several months.
Still, badge swipes and email counts are not a complete accounting of someone’s work. Brown had an opportunity at City Council to explain what those records did not show.
Under questioning from at-large Councilwoman Alejandra Salinas, Brown said he had averaged about 15 hours a week before the Chronicle’s reporting. He said his workload is now full time, described roughly 19 projects and said some weeks involved as many as 60 hours of work.
His explanation deserves to be included. It also deserves to be examined.
What were the expectations before the reporting? How was his work documented? And how did an average of 15 hours a week fit a full-time position?
Instead of treating those as reasonable questions, Whitmire defended Brown as someone being unfairly targeted.
“I’m sorry you’re still under attack unnecessarily,” the mayor told him.
Public scrutiny of a taxpayer-funded position is not an unnecessary attack. It is accountability.
Total Value
Whitmire keeps returning to Brown’s value. I am not questioning whether an experienced former controller can provide valuable advice.
The question is whether that value excuses the administration from explaining the terms of his employment.
The Houston Chronicle reported that city rules expect salaried employees such as Brown to work at least 40 hours per week. If a different provision applies to Brown, the mayor should identify it and explain why.
An occasional 60-hour week does not, by itself, explain an earlier average of 15 hours. Nor does a list of projects tell the public what was expected, what was completed or how the work was evaluated.
City Controller Chris Hollins’ investigation was still ongoing at the September 30 meeting, with no findings announced. But the public does not have to wait for its conclusion to ask for an explanation and records supporting Brown’s employment arrangement.
The public is entitled to more than the mayor’s assurance that Brown is worth it.
Missed the Memo
Brown was already employed in the mayor’s office when Whitmire announced the end of hybrid telework in January 2025.
But maybe he missed the memo.
Maybe it is harder to keep up with a return-to-office directive when your arrangement is to work remotely.
Or perhaps the person who needs to reread it is the mayor.
Whitmire told city employees that working together in person would strengthen accountability. Now, when asked to explain the arrangement for his own senior advisor, he responds by emphasizing that advisor’s experience and defending him from scrutiny.
Experience does not answer the policy question.
If Brown’s position legitimately operates under different rules, show the public those rules. Explain the exception, the expected hours and the work the city is receiving.
That should not be difficult for an administration committed to financial integrity.
The Fix
If what Whitmire wants is a consultant, he should pursue a properly authorized consulting arrangement with clear duties, deliverables and compensation.
If Brown is to remain a full-time employee, the administration should document how his position meets the applicable employment requirements.
Brown’s municipal finance expertise was never the central problem. The problem is the mayor’s insistence that defending Brown’s value is enough to answer questions about his employment.
It is not.
A strong mayor has the power to make a hire. He also has the responsibility to account for it.
Whitmire doesn’t get it.
Juli McShay is a government professor at San Jacinto College specializing in constitutional law, civics and voting rights. She is the founder of the Houston Civics & Leadership Campaign School, host of the Pretty Petty Politics podcast and a political contributor for Forward Times.
