Methods of Respecting or Circumventing the Public Information, Open Meetings Acts by Brownsville City Boards

Citizens, bloggers and other interested parties are not permitted to waterboard, slip truth serum into drinks or even interrogate for a dozen hours under the harsh glare of a yellow light bulb.  When they seek information about what city officials are doing, why they are doing it and how they are spending money, they rely on laws enacted to make democracies act somewhat like democracies, namely the Public Information Act(Formerly the Open Records Act and Freedom of Information Act) and the Open Meetings Act.

Just to illustrate the need for such laws, consider the rationale behind the Mayor and City Commission's purchase of 11 properties downtown for $3,500,000.  Neither the mayor nor any of the City Commissioners have been forthcoming as to the reason or reasons for all of that speculative real estate activity.  The mayor has not even told the taxpayers yet that he is having an office remodeled for his use as mayor at 1101 A, E. Washington Street.  If you simply attended City Commission meetings, read the Brownsville Herald or watched local television news, you would not have an inkling about these activities.

City Attorney Mark Sossi

Even when laws are passed to facilitate the flow of information, there is resistance within the City of Brownsville.  That resistance does not  come from City Secretary Estela Von Hatten who obviously forwards a request immediately to the appropriate city department as noted by the forwarded email at the top of most responses.  It most assuredly comes from City Attorney Mark Sossi who fights free speech and the flow of information at every turn.  Few have forgotten his buffoonish, devious power point against the broadcast of public comment at city commission meetings or his ruling that United Brownsville is not subject to the Open Meetings Act as it is an unelected, informal entity.

More subtle, but effective buffers to information flow occur at the various city boards where tax money is spent and decisions are made with little citizen oversight or knowledge.  The relative hospitality of these boards to visitors varies greatly and is evolving daily.  Little, but tangible things like where visitors sit with respect to board members, the availability of informational handouts being discussed as well as agendas, even the frequent cancelling and rescheduling of board meetings can be a deterrent to keeping up with developments.  At some board meetings, talk is almost at a whisper or mumbled to exclude visitors intentionally or unintentionally.

We've been auditing four city boards regularly and will describe our assessment of the relative openness, hospitality of each board to visitors.

Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation
These meetings are cancelled without public notice including two out of the last three.  For one meeting, the agenda posted on the door simply had "CANCELLED" written across it.  The last time a note on the door, read "Closed for one hour."  After working the door handle, a BEDC employee opened it and told us the meeting had been cancelled.  The City Secretary's list of boards, meeting times and contacts includes a phone contact at the BEDC office. If a meeting is actually held, it is at the BEDC meeting room, Suite F of the ITEC Center on Mexico Blvd.  Millions of Brownsville sales tax dollars are diverted to this entity, making monitoring an absolute necessity.  Out of 8 or nine board members, Sandra Langley and Ruben Gallegos, Jr. greet visitors.

Last month the GBIC, Port of Brownsville and P.U.B. spent nearly half a million dollars on a study/plan for an industrial corridor including the Port of Brownsville with the Brownsville Herald not reporting a word.  They also committed $302,000 to V.I.D.A., a group claiming to move welfare recipients into well-paying jobs.  They claim, with no documentation, to have moved 43 Brownsville residents off welfare into jobs with an average salary of 35,000 just last year. Charities not connected with military veterans are not covered under the Public Information Act and V.I.D.A, with total contributions from valley cities in 2012 of $4,175,516.  VIDA Director Myra Caridad Garcia with a salary of over $124,000 per year, refused to respond to my information request.

To his credit, Board Member Ruben Gallegos, Jr. did find out for us the total fee paid to Needham-McCaffrey & Associates, Inc.($454,592.08), the urban planning firm from Dallas hired to do the industrial study.  We usually sit behind Jason Hilts, who does most of the talking, followed by Gallegos.  Mark Sossi occasionally chimes in.  Visitors sit against one of the walls, while board members occupy an unnecessarily large table with room for a small resaca in the middle.

Brownsville Metro Transit Authority Committee
This board meets one Wednesday per month on the second floor of the multimodal bus terminal. We drove downtown for one meeting we found out the next day had been cancelled.  Another time, we arrived on time, but could not get passed the locked door to the elevators.(That problem has since been rectified with a security guard monitoring the access door.)

This board is more hospitable than the GBIC, although before the last meeting we were warned not to make a comment.(That has since been clarified and I noticed Board Chairman Daniel Lenz has just inboxed me.)  At the last meeting one of the agenda items we were most concerned with was the bus maintenance report. We were the only attendees not receiving a copy of the report as it was discussed.  After the meeting, Assistant Director Andrew Munoz, promised to email us a copy of the report the next day after he made a couple of corrections. That never happened.  We were not able to report on the actual situation with respect to bus maintenance and breakdowns despite our attendance and request.  The flow of information was skillfully stifled.

This board monitors the status of the downtown parking garage and we've made a couple detailed reports.  That continues to be of great interest to us.

Brownsville Airport Advisory Board
This board in some ways is the most hospitable, information friendly of all the boards.  Chairman Manuel Alcocer asks visitors to identify themselves and ask any questions they have for the board. That led to my story on the connection between SpaceX and extending the runway to 12,000 feet published last month.  Aviation Director Larry Brown and Business Development Manager Michael Jones do most of the talking.  Jessica Tetreau-Kalifa and David Belleperche were added before the last meeting.  Tetreau was delayed until the Executive Session because of a family emergency. Belleperche was a no-show.

Three reports are eerily similar each month; Larry Brown's financial, factored to percentages up and down by month and for the year in cargo, tonnage and take-offs, Michael Jones' always has an unidentified prospect nearly signed on and maintenance always mentions weed-eating, tree trimming and chillers that are now working.  This board desperately needs new ideas and new life as the airport is in disrepair and stuck in the 80's.

One person that may know the actual condition of the Brownsville Airport is Mayor Tony Martinez if this email message is correct:  "Jim, Tony sure does travel a lot.  Any idea where or why he goes??? . . . his car is in the parking lot week after week after week. . . .I see him board either United or American.  I always wonder where he goes. . Yep, his car is here now in the weekly lot."

Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation
Probably the least hospitable board of all, likely by design.  Board members mumble among

themselves with a lot of inside small talk.  One board member(Sandra Langley?) did give us a handout so we could follow along at one meeting. Rose Gowen and Sandra Langley are the most frequent participators.

Chief Financial Officer Pete Gonzalez was the only board member who spoke to us at the last meeting we attended.