PRESS RELEASES

June 1, 2007 - Mayor Bill White today announced the selection of Deputy Director Harry Hayes to succeed Thomas "Buck" Buchanan as Houston's Director of the Solid Waste Management Department.

Buchanan will retire, after 25 years with the city, effective July 31. Hayes would replace him following confirmation by the City Council. Buchanan will remain as a consultant to the City through the month of August.

"Harry Hayes is a professional dedicated to our goals of efficient, effective customer service and he steps in at a time when his experience and talents will serve the City especially well, " said Mayor White. "Our Solid Waste employees are a good team and I am proud of the work they do. The same is certainly true for the leadership."

Hayes, 43, currently serves as Deputy Director for the Department's North Operations Division, with responsibility for collection and disposal of residential garbage, yard waste and heavy trash pickup for approximately 160,000 residences in Central and North Houston. He is a 14-year City employee, including a stint as special assistant to former City council Member Rodney Ellis. He is a 1988 graduate of Texas Southern University and a 1985 Connaissance de la France graduate of the Universitie de Bordeaux in Talence, France. Hayes served as both an enlisted member and an officer in the U.S. Army Reserves, where his work assignments included human resources, operations and supply management. He has also served as Director of the Bureau of Human Resources for Sedgwick County Kansas.

Mayor White thanked Buchanan for his leadership and willingness to help smooth the transition. Buchanan has spent 25 years with the City, 23 of them in the Solid Waste Management Department. A graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Houston, Buchanan is a Vietnam veteran and holds the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves.

The mayor particularly cited Buchanan for his organizational and management skills and noted his leadership in developing, organizing and carrying out debris removal plans following natural disasters such as Hurricane Rita in 2005 and Tropical Storm Allison in 2001. Following Allison, the Department under Buchanan's direction, maintained its regular collections schedule while simultaneously collecting one year's worth of debris volume in 2 months.

The solid Waste Management Department employs about 500 people, 70% of whom are operations personnel serving almost 300,000 households. Beginning July 1, it will take over service from a private contractor for another 85,000 Houston households. The City expects to make gains in efficiency and save money in making that switch, which will require a change of service days for a number of households. More information on the upcoming service changes citizens can log on to www.houstonsolidwaste.org or call 3-1-1, the City's Customer Service Hotline.