Mark Sossi, City of Brownsville Try to Stiff Firefighters
by Jim Barton on Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at 2:40pm
Mark Sossi is easily the most expensive City Attorney in Brownsville history, but not because of his $120,000 retainer by the City of Brownsville for legal services or his alleged $60,000 annual windfall from GBIC. The true cost of Sossi has to include botched cases lost, mishandled legal matters, step asides where other firms are called in to do his job, etc., the totality of which is measured in the hundreds of thousands.
The City of Brownsville is currently in a legal fight over a contractual "me too" provision in their negotiated contract with the firefighters. Actually, the city lost a similar fight with the Brownsville Police Officers Association in 2009, appealed the decision, were on the verge of losing that appeal when then newly hired Mark Sossi tried to strike a deal.
That deal with the police officers included raises and lump sum payments not offered the fire fighters, thus putting the city back in court. Much of the morning's oral testimony in the 445th court concerning the fact that negotiators were trying to hammer out a new collective bargaining agreement with the police officers while settling the lawsuit. The city is represented by highly paid Ricardo Navarro and Alan Ozuna, partners in a firm specializing in labor law. City Attorney Mark Sossi scowls behind them as an exhorbitant consultant and witness.
The Navarro, Ozuna skillset is not so much winning cases as working them. They benefit financially from lost cases because they will likely pinch hit for Sossi on the appeal. But they also benefit because of their connectiion with a self insurance pool the city has become infatuated with. We wrote this back on September 16:
"The website for Navarro, which includes Ozuna, lists labor and employment law, collective bargaining and civil service as among their areas of expertise. They also represent the Texas Municipal League Intergovernmental Risk Pool or TML-IRP, a self-insurance group charging an administrative fee to the city of Brownsville. A wooden TML plaque is prominently mounted in the 4th floor hearing room of the city commission building. A self-insurance group tends to resist claims, putting them into the appeal process. The two labor law specialists could find themselves in a no-lose situation if they can work for TML, but still be hired guns for the city when appeals are pursued."
So Navarro and Ozuna have no incentive to be effective in court. They win when Brownsville loses. They win when employment cases go to arbitration. They win when appeals are made regardless of the outcome. They still make their money. It appears the firefighters will also get theirs. The financial loser in all of this is the city with the slogan "On the border, by the sea".
BPOA was on the verge of losing the city's appeal in 2009. That's why the new contract approved by the commission smelled like calabaza. Sossi doesn't work for United Brownsville. He works for BCIC and GBIC. That's where he gets the extra cash. Your ignorance is showing.
ReplyDelete"BPOA was on the verge of losing the city's appeal in 2009. That's why the new contract approved by the commission smelled like calabaza. Sossi doesn't work for United Brownsville. He works for BCIC and GBIC. That's where he gets the extra cash. Your ignorance is showing."
ReplyDeleteI believe anonymous is correct about Sossi working for GBIC. I think he or she is incorrect about BPOA being on the verge of losing the appeal.
Jim
"I think he or she is incorrect about BPOA being on the verge of losing the appeal."
ReplyDeleteIf BPOA was on the verge of winning the appeal, why settle? Why did they endorse Carlos Cisneros who was on the commission that stood in the way of their raise?
"If BPOA was on the verge of winning the appeal, why settle? Why did they endorse Carlos Cisneros who was on the commission that stood in the way of their raise?"
ReplyDeleteTo the first part of your question, simply turn it around. If the BPOA was on the verge of losing the appeal, why would the city settle for a contract including lump sum payments and raises? As for the second part of your question, I simply don't know.
Jim
Carlos Cisneros arranged to cut a sweetheart deal with BPOA to settle and negotiate a new contract and settle a weak lawsuit filed by BPOA before the appeals court had a chance to hear the case. Cisneros was determined to get the BPOA endorsement since the Brownsville Unions Coalition decided to endorse Melissa Zamora. Cisneros convinced the majority of city commissioners to give the newly hired attorney Mark Sossi free reign on giving the police officers a 15 percent raise up front with back pay and a lump sum of $2800.00 and an additional 9 percent raise over the life of the contract for a total of 24 percent even though Ric Navarro warned the commission that they would be liable to the fire fighters if Sossi had his way. At the time, the commission quietly ratified the new BPOA contract and no one complained about the cost. Now, they want to blame the fire fighters for a percieved financial burden the city claims they are in but the fire fighters have been left without any pay increase since 2007.
ReplyDeleteOverheard whisper in court after Ric Navarros star witness Mark Sossi testified in Fire fighters contract hearing...."That man is as intelligent as a sack of hammers"....
ReplyDeleteOctober 27, 2011 10:33 PM, winner winner chicken dinner.
ReplyDeleteOnce again Jim your ignorance showed. You didn't know enough background to make the right guess. Because that what your story was a guess. Make an update and a correction to your story because your readers don't deserve to be misinformed by the likes of you.
Jim, I for one admire your research into this matter. You don't have a dog in this fight yet if it was not for yours and other bloggers, the citizens who appreciate all your good work would probably never know about what goes on with these legal vultures.
ReplyDelete