The Tire Keeps on Turning

by photo by Jana Birchum

Fallout from the city’s scrap tire mess continued this week with the suspension – without pay – of a Fleet Services “contract compliance specialist” who officials said improperly accepted a “loan” from fired Tire Program Manager Bill Janousek.

According to an April 27 memo written by Fleet Services Officer Gerry Calk, contract specialist Reba Bacon Reed – whose job is “assuring that Tire Contracts are in compliance” – acknowledged taking a $4,000 loan from Janousek. She paid back $250 and said Janousek forgave $3,000, Calk wrote. “Your position as Contract Compliance Specialist ... is vulnerable to influence and it is imperative that you maintain the appearance of non-influential actions and decisions in the performance of your job duties,” he wrote. “Your accepting money from the Fleet Tire Program Manager, Mr. Janousek, compromised your Fleet Services position.”

Bacon had already been put on paid administrative leave April 15; her unpaid suspension runs through May 4. Additionally, she will remain on disciplinary probation through Oct. 29.

Reed’s suspension is the latest event in the fallout related to the city’s failure to track thousands of scrapped tires, which wound up mouldering on a piece of property in Southeast Austin. Janousek, whose job it was to oversee the scrap tire program – among other tire-related management duties – was placed on paid administrative leave late last year. He was ultimately terminated this month for violating personnel policies in connection with giving more than $30,000 to Victor Almaguer, who runs Vic’s Tire Service and leases the land where the city’s tires had been abandoned. According to an investigation report prepared by the Human Resources Department and Labor Relations Office, Janousek told the city he’d given the money to Almaguer – a former city contractor who fixed flat tires on city-owned vehicles – as a loan. Almaguer said that was not true and that Janousek had actually paid him the money to keep him quiet about “illegal activities” Janousek was allegedly involved in regarding contracts related to the tire management program.