Primary Department: Economic Equity and Opportunity
Primary Department Head/Elected Official: Jie Wu, Interim Executive Director
Secondary Department: Choose an item.
Secondary Department Head/Elected Official:
Regular or Supplemental RCA: Choose an item.
Type of Request: Position
Project ID (if applicable):
Vendor/Entity Legal Name (if applicable):
MWBE Contracted Goal (if applicable):
MWBE Current Participation (if applicable):
Justification for 0% MWBE Participation Goal: N/A - Goal not applicable to request
Grant Indirect Costs Rate (if applicable):
Justification for 0% Grant Indirect Costs Rate (if applicable): N/A - Not a grant item
Request Summary (Agenda Caption):
title
Request for approval of one position effective October 17, 2026.
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Background and Discussion:
Flood mitigation capital projects continue to expand in scale and complexity, significantly increasing the number of contractors and subcontractors subject to prevailing wage requirements. Certified payroll volume, wage classification issues, and field monitoring needs have exceeded the capacity of existing staffing, limiting DEEO’s ability to maintain timely compliance review cycles. Insufficient monitoring capacity may result in increased risks of wage underpayment or misclassification and weakened contractor compliance and enforcement.
DEEO requests approval of one (1) additional prevailing wage Monitor Position Control Number (PCN) through the existing Interlocal Agreement with the Harris County Flood Control District (FCD) to expand prevailing wage compliance capacity required under Texas Government Code 2258 and Harris County policy.
Under the Flood Control ILA, DEEO is requesting one (1) prevailing wage Monitor PCN to manage increasing certified payroll submissions and subcontractor utilization monitoring associated with ongoing flood mitigation and bond funded construction work.
This prevailing wage monitoring position is essential to ensure timely payroll review, accurate wage classification verification, comprehensive compliance audits, and enforcement actions across County funded construction projects.
Expected Impact:
Approving this position will significantly improve DEEO’s ability to maintain consistent enforcement of prevailing wage laws and County policy. Benefits include:
• accelerated certified payroll review
• increased consistency in compliance enforcement
• faster corrective action and issue resolution
• improved audit readiness and record accuracy
• reduced risks of wage errors, misclassification, or underpayment
• enhanced worker protections and transparency across major County projects
These improvements collectively strengthen DEEO’s operational capacity and directly support equitable labor practices and worker stability under Strategic Plan Goal 3, Objective L, Initiative L1. The added position also supports implementation of the Management Action Plan for Prevailing Wage by ensuring timely reviews, clearer documentation, and more consistent monitoring across projects.
The position will be funded through the existing Interlocal Agreement with the Flood Control District, with fiscal oversight, budget tracking, and reporting coordinated through OMB and OCA.
Alternative Options:
Maintaining current staffing levels is not feasible, as existing monitors cannot meet the rising demand for timely compliance review. This would result in growing backlogs, slower enforcement, increased exposure to wage violations, and higher legal and audit risk.
Limiting monitoring to select projects would lead to uneven compliance oversight and increase the likelihood of undetected wage discrepancies.
Delaying hiring to a future budget cycle would prolong compliance gaps during active capital construction work, creating operational and financial risk for the Flood Control District.
County Strategic Plan Goal: Choose an item.
County Strategic Plan Objective: Choose an item.
Justice/Safety Initiative (Goal 1): Choose an item.
Infrastructure Initiative (Goal 2): Choose an item.
Economy Initiative (Goal 3): Choose an item.
Health Initiative (Goal 4): Choose an item.
Climate/Resilience Initiative (Goal 5): Choose an item.
Housing Initiative (Goal 6): Choose an item.
Additional notes related to the Strategic Plan:
Prior Court Action (if any):
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Location:
Address (if applicable):
Precinct(s): Choose an item.
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Fiscal and Personnel Summary |
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Service Name |
Prevailing Wage |
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Current Fiscal Year Cost |
Annual Fiscal Cost |
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Labor |
Non-Labor |
Total |
Recurring Expenses |
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Funding Sources |
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Existing Budget |
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Other |
$94,413 |
$ |
$94,413 |
$94,413 |
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$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
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$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
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Total Existing Budget |
$94,413 |
$ |
$94,413 |
$94,413 |
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Additional Budget Request (Requires Fiscal Review Request Form) |
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Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
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$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
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$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
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Total Additional Budget Request |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
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Total Funding Sources |
$94,413 |
$ |
$94,413 |
$94,413 |
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Grants - Proposed Budget (For Grants Items only) |
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Labor |
Non-Labor |
Total |
No. of Grant Years |
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Local Match Source - Existing Budget: Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
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Local Match Source - Additional Budget Request: Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
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Grant Funds Applied for/Awarded (Total) |
$ |
$ |
$ |
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Personnel (Fill out section only if requesting new Position Control Numbers (PCN)s) |
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Current Position Count for Service |
2 |
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- |
- |
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Additional Positions Request |
1 |
- |
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- |
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Total Personnel |
3 |
- |
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- |
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County Attorney’s Office Legal Review (for Harris County Code Items only) |
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CAO Reviewer Name and Title |
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CAO Review Completion Date |
Click or tap to enter a date. |
Anticipated Court Date: 10/15/2026
Anticipated Implementation Date (if different from Court date): 10/19/2026
Emergency/Disaster Recovery Note: Not an emergency, disaster, or ARPA related item
Contact(s) name, title, department: Jie Wu, Interim Executive Director, Economic Equity and Opportunity
Attachments (if applicable):