HOUSTON — A high-level City of Houston employee is under investigation after KHOU 11 News began asking questions about a side job he works in the private sector.
Raymond Ramdeo, a 17-year veteran with Houston Public Works, was promoted to Assistant Director of Wastewater Operations last December. The executive-level position carries a $145,000 annual salary and is responsible for overseeing all the city’s wastewater treatment plants and ensuring compliance with state and federal regulations.
“The higher you go up in the organization, it’s more important than ever to be honest, to have integrity and be ethical and to comply with the rules and the law,” said James Thurmond, Professor of Practice in the Master of Public Administration program at the University of Houston and a former city manager for three Texas cities.
Records reveal Ramdeo was not complying with the rules and the law at a side job he works at a vehicle inspection shop on Berry Road near Millicent Street just off Hardy Toll Road on Houston’s northeast side. Ramdeo didn’t disclose the extra employment as required under City of Houston policy, according to his personnel file. Additionally, the Texas Department of Public Safety suspended his vehicle inspection license for 12 months last November after the agency found Ramdeo “used the electronic connector of one vehicle to enable another vehicle to pass the emissions test 53 times.” DPS later reduced the suspension to six months.
“The city needs to be concerned,” Thurmond said. “Of course, the public needs to be concerned.”
It wasn’t the first time the city worker got in trouble at his extra job. In 2008, DPS conducted an undercover sting at the same Berry Road shop and criminally charged Ramdeo for passing an inspection without proof of insurance. Court records show Ramdeo pleaded guilty to felony tampering with a government record and received three years of deferred adjudication, a form of probation. He satisfactorily completed the conditions and was discharged from deferred adjudication in 2009.
“That has relevance for a higher management job,” Thurmond said.
He said Ramdeo’s history raises a question of trust in his city job.
“If they have that bad behavior on the private side, you wonder, it raises doubts to your mind on the public side,” Thurmond said.
Thurmond said the case also calls into question the City of Houston’s vetting process for current employees. Ramdeo’s personnel file shows he did disclose the deferred adjudication on an application for promotion, but it’s unclear if the city ever followed up.
Now, Houston Public Works has asked the Office of Inspector General to investigate the matter, according to an HPW spokesperson.
When approached at the vehicle inspection shop, Ramdeo refused to answer any questions and walked away.