City of Houston, a family affair

City of Houston, a family affair

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Dinner conversation
Employees who live together take their work home with them, and it’s frequently served with dinner.

Every Wednesday, Camilo Gomez brought home a booklet of open city jobs for his daughters to look through. They already had jobs, but these are good jobs, he’d tell them in Spanish, and the city is an excellent employer offering security and good benefits.

Three of his four daughters now work for the city. Maribel Gomez works in HR, Brenda Gomez works at the Collier branch library, and Recio Reyes works in PWE.

Because Camilo, who works in PWE, doesn’t speak fluent English, his daughters use dinnertime to explain what’s happening in the city and how changes affect him.

The Goldbergs didn’t start at the city as relatives. They met and fell in love while performing their duties.

“Every day we talk about work,” Mark Goldberg said.

When work does creep into dinner conversation, it’s natural and efficient, since both sides are starting from a base of knowledge and can use verbal shorthand.

The Goldbergs pick each other’s brains when they’re stumped about whom to contact for a work problem.

“With his background and my background, we can usually figure out how to get things done and who to contact,” Annette said. She’s also worked for Police, the Mayor’s office, Finance & Administration, and Building Services.

Fosu, left, and Oyeba Akyea work in Health. During their hour-long commute to and from work, the father and daughter talk about life and work.

Part of life
Because it creates a bond between relatives, the city becomes a part of the family. In some cases, their work identity becomes partly defined by their relatives.

Fosu Akyea used to check on his daughter in his spare time. That led one of Oyeba’s co-workers to wonder why this older man was hovering around this young lady.

For the first year they worked together, the Akyeas met for lunch two or three times a week. Then Fosu cut off the lunch dates.

“She’s a young woman,” he said. “She didn’t need to be associated with me.

“But it’s good to see that she’s doing well. I can see the progress she’s made.”

When someone needs to reach Mark Goldberg but can’t because he’s busy, they call Annette. The same thing happens with the Akyeas.

Having family members who were model firefighters has made it easier for him to fit in, Jahnke said. But his family ties haven’t made the job easier. He still had to prove himself, since promotions are based on test scores.

His father and uncles are well respected, Janhke said. The fire training academy building bears his uncle Val’s name, and Jahnke constantly hears stories from people who knew them.

“It’s hard to measure up to those guys,” he said. “There are some great firefighters in Houston, and these were some of the best.”

The Houston Fire Department has defined Jahnke’s life.

Jahnke’s father, Marvin “Roe” Jahnke, wanted a better paying job for his son, like a career as a dentist.

But Jahnke always loved the camaraderie in fire stations, and the firefighters there spoiled him as a child. While in college, Jahnke and a friend joined the fire department. Thirty-five years later, he’s still here, and his son-in-law is a first-year firefighter training as an EMT.

“It’s kind of a family thing,” he said.

For many city employees, it is.

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