Hani Tohme leaves PA work — for now
Published 8:49 am Thursday, March 21, 2019
By Ken Stickney
Port Arthur’s director of public services has left city employment, awaiting results of the city manager search that may come as early as Tuesday.
Dr. Hani J. Tohme, who has served the city first at the water department and later overseeing the street department, as well, ceased consulting and working for the city Monday afternoon. He remains one of four finalists for the city manager position.
In an issued statement, interim City Manager Harvey Robinson said:
“Dr. Hani Tohme has informed the city of Port Arthur that his engineering firm has received increased business opportunities in the city of Port Arthur. We have agreed that such projects would create greater opportunities for conflict under the city of Port Arthur’s personnel policy regarding outside employment. Therefore, at this time separation from employment with the city is the best option. We wish Dr. Tohme well. We thank him for his outstanding service.”
Tohme said Wednesday that City Manager Harvey Robinson and City Attorney Val Tezeno jointly determined that being both a part-time employee as well as a private consultant presented a conflict of interest. Tohme owns Golden Triangle Consulting Engineers, which designs projects within the city.
“At the same time, financially it does not make sense to give up my company work in Port Arthur for a part-time position,” Tohme said in a text message. “Therefore, we had to sever the relationship.”
Tohme took the helm at the water department during dark days for the city more than a year ago, with the department operating at a steep deficit — about $1.7 million. Tohme quickly presented options to the City Council — none of them were painless — to put the department on a solvent path.
But the department’s problems included that domestic meters were reading at only an 85 percent accuracy rate and that the city had a 24 percent water loss, based on Texas Water Development Board standards.
The city adopted a rigorous road to financial recovery that included raising rates on households, businesses and industries. Under Tohme’s direction and with industrial support, the department also created a “pipe-bursting crew” of in-house employees to upgrade problem pipes.
The city also aggressively pursued street repair projects — some by contract, some in house — that have pushed Port Arthur to the brink of completing all of its 2019 projects months early.
