Most employees can count on a team member to step in and share the workload when necessary, but that’s not the case for Thomas Plapp – he basically built Harris County Department of Education’s (HCDE) fixed asset database from the ground up. Buried deep within the halls of the North Post Oak location, you’ll find our January Employee of the Month among the overused, outdated and obsolete equipment.  

Plapp joined Business Services more than 30 years ago but moved to Facilities when supervisors recognized his eye for detail.  

“Thomas is one in a million; nothing gets by him,” exclaimed Construction Director Joe Carreon, who has supervised Plapp for six years. “We’re very grateful to have him within our division. Honestly, I wish I had 10 Thomases.” 

The fixed assets clerk is responsible for updating and maintaining inventory records for thousands of pieces of equipment and furniture, preparing reports on the condition and value of those products, facilitating the transfer or disposal of division assets and more.  

When Plapp began in this position, he completed the inventory process within three months. However, as the Department grew to include larger divisions like CASE for Kids and Head Start, he was forced to reinvent the entire system. 

“When I first came here, we still had faulty metal numeric tags, and sometime in the 1990s, we switched to the barcode tags you’re familiar with,” Plapp said. “They make things a little easier to scan. We were even able to design a new series of tag numbers and categories of assets to differentiate products and make for easier tracking.”   

Plapp’s change in protocols remains the standard today and is one of the reasons the Employee of the Month can pinpoint where any item is located among HCDE’s more than a dozen locations. The skill comes in handy for the point of contact between Facilities and other divisions when questions or concerns arise with fixed assets or when striving to ensure HCDE remains in compliance. 

“Thomas makes sure that when the auditors are looking for certain information or assets, he knows where to find it,” Carreon said. “He knows if you have a laptop at home. He knows how many devices each employee has. He is a wealth of knowledge. I feel like Thomas is one of those employees you can’t live without, so I nominated him for Employee of the Month.”  

Plapp enjoys assisting employees when not tagging or physically tracking down various pieces of HCDE property. 

“I like to help people when they are trying to look up something because I invented tag logs,” Plapp described. “In the early days, I was forever rummaging through file cabinets, but now I can look up items by their number or year by just going to a spreadsheet.” 

That is how he met members of the Marketing and Client Engagement (MCE) team, housed just down the hall from his office.  

“He walked over and gave us all the information that we needed to complete our transfers, and then we just started talking and getting to know him,” recalled MCE Coordinator Lanette Gonzales-Tonsul. “I got to see this softer side of him, and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this man is amazing!’ We thought he was quiet, but he just needs a little prompting, and if he’s comfortable, he opens up.”  

Gonzales-Tonsul has a heart for inclusion and decided to adopt Plapp as a member of the MCE team. They sat together at the NPO holiday party and invited him to their division holiday gift exchange, where they learned about the Employee of the Month’s life outside of HCDE and his love for growing pineapples.  

“My father was a noted entomologist who worked at Texas A&M University, and a lot of him rubbed off on me because we grew up with a big garden,” Plapp said. “We always had fresh vegetables growing up, so I learned many plant-growing skills from him.” 

What started as an experiment in 2014, when a friend gave Plapp and his wife a pineapple plant, quickly became his new favorite hobby. The couple now manage eight pineapple trees and have even visited the Dole Plantation in Hawaii to learn more about managing and maintaining healthy produce.  

“He’s promised to bring some pineapples over so I can try them, but I’m still waiting for them,” laughed Carreon. 

Added Gonzales-Tonsul: “I think being at work is much more than just doing our jobs. I think we’re here to make a difference in the lives of those around us, and sometimes we’re so wrapped up in deadlines and what we’ve got going on that it’s easy to forget that we work with real people outside of just our division who have their passion projects.”   

Though his daily responsibilities are outside the hustle and bustle of HCDE hallways, Plapp still manages to put a smile on the faces of employees lucky enough to cross his path. He felt grateful for being named the Department’s Employee of the Month for his meticulous work ethic. 

“I was very surprised because the type of work I do is very complicated and tedious, and it’s the kind of work that I’m sure you’ve heard the old saying, ‘You can’t please everybody,’” smiled Plapp. “I suspect many people get frustrated with the process because it can take a while for a lot of my work, especially involving asset transfers and approval. So, no, I was not expecting to receive this kind of an award.”  

Plapp built the fixed assets clerk position from the ground up, shaping it with unmatched dedication and ingenuity. He’s become an integral part of the Department’s success, and it’s no wonder those who know him can’t help but express their admiration. 

“We just love him, absolutely love him,” Gonzales-Tonsul said with a smile.