Pat Lehmann Proposal Fails to Pass BISD Board But Will Be Reconsidered

Pat Lehmann

Pat Lehmann, a close associate of convicted RICO felon Carlos Quintanilla, continues to show a keen interest in the Brownsville Independent School District.  In 2010, Lehmann, along with Quintanilla, Art Rendon, Ben Neece and Juan Montoya collaborated to form a political action committee, named the DefeatZayasCortezPowers P.A.C.   Cleverly, none of the above wished to serve as officers of the P.A.C., but instead they recruited Mary S. Rey and Argelia Miller to serve as figurehead President and Treasurer respectively.

As reported in this blog in previous articles, the purpose of the P.A.C. was to elect trustees who would eventually dismiss the $14,300,000 lawsuit against Healthsmart for overcharges.  Carlos Quintanilla, had been commissioned by Ted Parker, the former majority owner of Healthsmart, to a accomplish this task, both at BISD and in the City of Lubbock who had also sued Healthsmart for overcharges.  Earlier this year, the trustees elected and supported by Quintanilla; Cata Presas-Garcia, Lucy Longoria, Christina Saavedra and Enrique Escobedo, did Quintanilla's bidding by dismissing the suit.

Valley Scooters of Texas

The huge $500,000,000 annual budget for BISD is simply irresistible for valley and non-valley businessmen wanting to make money and Pat Lehmann wants to make money.  Lehmann runs at least two businesses from the same address at 1748 Central Blvd.; VSoT or Valley Scooters of Texas, a small showroom displaying cheaply made Chinese motorcycles and scooters Lehmann sells for about twice the price they can be purchased for online, and LCA Consulting Solutions, a company that analyzes your solid waste pickup and charges for finding ways to save money on the utility.  While Lehmann has not yet proposed the district buy his Chinese motor scooters, he did propose at the October 2, 2012 BISD board meeting that his trash analyzing firm be retained by the district for a fee to be named later.  Below is exactly how the item appeared on the BISD agenda:

E. Recommend approval of the following Bids/Proposals/Purchases:

21. Recommend awarding RFP #13-035 Consultant Services for Analysis of Solid Waste
Services (Re-Bid) to LCA Management Consulting Solutions, Brownsville, Texas to
provide services and to authorize administration to negotiate a fee. 

The fancy language on the web site describes what the company does for the client in this way:
"We are supported with the necessary tools and information to keep current on all waste related issues and the latest technology and methods to reduce your waste and recycling expenses."

A Mean Mister Brownsville reader explained it in a different way:
"Pat Lehmann was voted down before the board to receive a consulting contract with the district. . . . . . . . . . He wanted a 50/50 split with the district for every dollar he would save for the district in their trash collection fee's. The way this works, is that he would go around and eliminate one dumpster at each high school and a few at the middle schools and he would get half of the savings. At $1,000 dollars for each dumpster about ten dumpsters, that is a 10,000 savings for the district per month, 5,000 for pat! The district pays 1.3 million a year for trash collection. The maintenance dept is responsible for the trash collection contract with the city and they have no idea what is going on with the dumpsters. That same department has the biggest budget in the entire district and they are totally inept!"

I'm not certain about all of the details above, but BISD does spend $1,200,000 annually on solid waste pickup.  There is certainly money to be made here.  Lehmann's proposal failed, receiving a 3-3 vote with Christina Saavedra absent from the meeting.  Minerva Pena objected to the language in the agenda item as it seemed to leave the fee to be earned by LCA Consulting Services not fixed, but open to negotiation.  One of BISD's legal team, asked for a legal opinion, said the wording was acceptable.

After the item went down to defeat, "Doctor" Escobedo indicated the item would be brought up again at the next board meeting.