Houston City Council today voted 14-3, with Jack Christie, Andrew Burks and Helena Brown opposed, to approve a memorandum of understanding with Houston Forensic Science LGC, Inc.  Listen

“I’m just going to vote again ‘no’ on this item just because there is no coordination with the county for the regional lab,” Christie said.

Other members of the city council agreed that it would be better to have a joint crime lab with Harris County, but the majority felt the need to move forward at this time.

“Today’s decision has nothing to do with whether we eventually have a joint, regional crime lab,” said Mayor Annise Parker.  “This is moving us further toward an independent crime lab separate from the police and prosecution and the politics around this table.”

The city council voted 15-2, with Michael Sullivan and Brown opposed, to adopt the City of Houston’s Legislative Principals for the 83rd Session of the Texas Legislature.  Document

The city council voted 16-1, with Brown opposed, to renew the city’s $72,577 membership in the Texas Municipal League.

The city council voted 16-1, with Brown opposed, to approve a $100,200 bid by Harris Corporation for RayFish Covert Surveillance equipment and software and an annual maintenance contract for the Houston Police Department.

Four items were delayed for one week by individual members of the city council using the Tag Rule.

An ordinance to increase the maximum amount of a professional services agreement with Craig T Mason for pension-related consulting services for the Finance Department to $100,000 was tagged by Burks;

An ordinance approving the Fiscal Year 2013 Operating Budget of the Memorial City Redevelopment Authority on behalf of Reinvestment Zone No. 17, the Memorial City Zone, was tagged by Brown;

A proposed ordinance appropriating $6.5 million for the records management system of the Houston Police Department was tagged by Sullivan;

All other agenda items were approved by unanimous votes with all members present. Agenda

The city council held another public hearing on separate strategic partnership agreements with several special utility districts in Harris, Fort Bend and Montgomery counties, but no members of the public spoke at the hearing.

Mayor Parker and several members of the city council paid tribute to Texas State Senator Mario V. Gallegos, Jr. who died on Tuesday.  Listen

At her news conference following the meeting, Mayor Parker  applauded the success of the city's Bonding Education Program, an educational workshop designed to help small business owners build bonding capacity by working with volunteer bond producers. Listen   News Release

“Houston’s economic success, especially the rebounding increase in jobs after the recession, is largely due to the success of our small businesses,” Parker said. “We are going to aggressively continue to make sure opportunities are available to as many Houston small business owners as we can through programs like BEP.”