Daniel Albert's unorthodox approach to his job as City Council's highest-paid staffer has assumed added importance this fall with his pursuit of the District VI seat on the Houston ISD board of trustees.

Albert asks voters to weigh his qualifications and let him help lead the nation's eighth-largest public school system: His bachelor's in biomedical engineering from Tulane University, his law degree from North Carolina Central School of Law, his three master's degrees.

He highlights his public service as chief of stafff for freshman City Councilman Steve Le, citing his work with city departments to clean up illegal dump sites, install speed bumps and replace street lights in District F.

Many civic leaders in southwest Houston view Albert's work differently, however, saying they rarely see him in the district and struggle to get answers when they contact Le's office.

This may be due partly to Albert's infrequent presence at City Hall. City records show Albert uses his employee badge to swipe into city buildings less than three days a week, on average - a clear outlier among the 16 chiefs of staff for Houston's council members.

Albert certainly has plenty to keep him busy.

In addition to his full-time job in Le's office and his campaign for school board, he is an attorney with a private legal practice specializing in real estate and tax law. Until last May, he also was a student in an online Auburn University master's degree program for real estate development.

Le, who took office at the start of 2016, said he has no problem with Albert working outside the office via cell phone and email, and calls him an exemplary employee.

It also is not clear that Albert has violated city employment rules, which require only that he work 80 hours every two-week pay period to earn his $116,100 salary. City rules let full-time salaried workers like Albert list 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. workdays on their timecards even if that is not accurate - employees, for instance, could work six hours one day and 10 the next - as long as they reach a full 80 hours biweekly.

Still, the city's Office of Inspector General, in response to questions from the Houston Chronicle, is looking at whether Albert is fulfilling that obligation.

Albert defended his work, saying he often handles city tasks from his home or law office, works remotely on out-of-town trips, and attends evening and weekend events that ensure he puts in the 40 hours per week reflected on his timecards.

"I make sure my boss knows what I'm doing. I communicate with him frequently, all the time," Albert said. "I'm still making all the phone calls I need to make, I'm still monitoring my staff, I'm still making all the approvals, I'm still reading every email and responding to them."

Le praised Albert's performance and called questions about his work habits a "witch hunt."

"The bottom line is, all the tasks that I have assigned to him, have they been done? And if they've been done according to my satisfaction, then he's accomplished the job I hired him for," Le said. "Sometimes, he'll come here and he'll stay here overnight, like sleeping here. I've never seen Daniel to slack off. That's not in his nature."

Albert, 39, filed his HISD candidacy in August, reporting that he had lived in Texas continuously for three years and in District VI for 12 months. County records show no evidence he voted until Le was on the city ballot in November 2015; the only other election in which he has participated, records show, was the next month's municipal runoff.

Albert's web page lists one campaign plank: Accountability.

"Financial accountability requires sorting through the $2.1 billion dollar budget line by line and asking does it make sense?" Albert's website states. "Is this spending require(sic)? Is it a need or a want?"

Records raise questions

Albert's first responsibility is to his boss, and Le says he is fully satisfied.

Cell phones, email and the Internet have blurred the lines between personal time and work, and Albert, after all, is under no obligation to report daily to City Hall. Nonetheless, Albert said in an interview that he only works remotely on Fridays.

City records suggest it's even more frequent than that: He swiped into city buildings on 222 days between the start of last year, when Le took office, and Aug. 11. That's an average of 2.7 days per week.

Albert's 15 peers - who make, on average, $82,100 to his $116,100 - reported to a city facility on 364 days during the same period, an average of 4.4 days per week.

Albert, in fact, repeatedly has gone more than a week without using his employee badge to swipe into a city facility, records show.

Payroll records also show Albert went all of 2016 without recording any time off other than city holidays, not using a vacation day until March, his 15th month with the city. In that case, city officials said an administrative aide amended his timecard on his behalf two weeks after the fact to list a cruise to Australia and New Zealand as a vacation rather than as days worked. That change came three days after the Chronicle requested his payroll records.

Albert also confirmed he traveled to Auburn to graduate with his master's degree in real estate in May, then went on a cruise with his family. He did not swipe into a city facility on 25 of that month's 31 days, including one stretch of 13 straight days, city records show. With the exception of four vacation days and Memorial Day, however, his time card listed him working from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday each week. He said he worked remotely during the trips, which he is permitted to do.

Twice this year, Albert also appeared in a Fort Bend County courtroom on behalf of legal clients in divorce cases, even though paperwork he filed with the city authorizes him to do legal work only on weekends. A city ordinance also requires that outside work permission forms be renewed annually; Albert's authorization expired in June, before one of the two hearings.

Le said Albert has blanket permission to work a flexible schedule - such as working late after attending a morning court hearing - as long as he works the required number of hours. He said Albert's outside employment form should have been updated to reflect weekday work, however.

"Originally, before he opened up his practice, that was our intention," Le said of weekend-only legal work, "but there should have been an updated version that he filed."

Former city attorney David Feldman, who left the city a year before Le and Albert came to City Hall, said the process of tracking whether an employee is working a full 80 hours per pay period warrants review, adding that if there is evidence someone is not doing so, it would be a serious matter.

Le said he would be concerned if inaccurate timecards were filed, but said Albert's performance has given him no reason to suspect he has failed to work the required number of hours.

"If he was not working, then he should file that he's on vacation or taking time off or whatever, but if he's working off site then he's working off site," Le said. "I haven't had any reason to doubt it because the work he's performed for me actually exceeded what I expected."

Mayoral spokesman Alan Bernstein confirmed the city's Office of Inspector General, a group housed within the city attorney's office that probes allegations of employee misconduct, is examining the issue.

"This matter will be given the appropriate consideration by OIG," he said.

Mixed reviews

Albert said the quality of the District F office's work is more important than when he does it or which desk he sits at, adding he believes all but a few constituents would say Le's office is responsive.

Albert said he's at City Hall less frequently than his peers because he must stand in more often for Le, a physician who operates clinics in Cleveland.

"The only thing I can think of is that I have more responsibility than others, and I have to go to more events than others on behalf of my boss," he said. "I'm always working. I'm always checking my email, I'm always out and about, I'm always going to events."

District F, which covers the southwestern corner of the city, struggles with civic engagement, recording the lowest voter turnout of the 11 council districts in each of the last three municipal elections. Many civic clubs are dormant, and representatives of about 40 neighborhoods and groups could not be reached; a dozen others declined comment.

Of the more than two dozen District F civic leaders interviewed about Albert and the district council office, almost all said they do not see Albert at events. Most of those who had cited the same large town hall gatherings at which numerous public officials and civic leaders were present.

A few civic leaders, mostly the heads of Vietnamese groups, said they had no complaints about the office and said they see Albert regularly.

Anh Tran, of the Vietnamese Community of Houston & Vicinities, said Albert attends many of his events, of which there are about three each month. The group also has hired Albert to do legal work, he said.

"He's a lawyer, so whatever advice we need, we also seek, and he's very open to us," he said. "He offers whatever we need, but I think we've used him only one time."

A few others said Albert or his colleagues have been fairly responsive, but most civic leaders expressed dissatisfaction with the District F office.

"I don't know what he does, but I know they're not in the office a lot," said Marie Lee, who is known as the "mayor of Alief" and is president of Alief Community Association. "If I need something I do call them, but it takes an arm and a leg to get an answer."

Sally Leidal, a Parkglen civic leader, said it takes her four to five emails before she can get an answer out of the District F office.

"There's a serious failure to communicate," she said. "They never seem to know what's going on."

To attain the District VI seat, Albert must convince voters to give him a shot ahead of appointed incumbent Holly Maria Flynn Vilaseca and serious challenger Robert Lundin.

Albert launched his campaign by lending himself $30,000, campaign filings show, helping him fund banner advertisements now hanging at Hong Kong City Mall. The loan also let him enter October with more money on hand than either of his opponents, even though he collected just four campaign contributions totaling $750 as of Sept. 28.

Whether that advantage translates into votes will become clear Nov. 7. Early voting starts Monday.

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Mike Morris reports on the policies and politics of the nation's fourth-largest city. Email him here and follow him on Twitter here.