16 Trips to Bogota, Colombia Highlight BEDC's Public Information Response

Bogota, Colombia, the #1 Destination of BEDC Officials

In the pursuit of economic development for the City of Brownsville, BEDC operatives traveled sixteen times to the exotic destination of Bogota, Colombia during fiscal years 2013-15.(We've published the full report just below this article.)  While typically a combination of Jason Hilts, Gilberto Salinas and Olga Ramos made the Colombia trip, one contingent included as many as eleven.  

Graphic by Diego Lee Rot

From inside City of Brownsville government, a frequent flier was Mayor Tony Martinez, with five trips mentioned, most international.  The mayor, BEDC President Jason Hilts and Tony Cappella made one sojourn that included the countries of Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey.  Yes, Tony Martinez is more than willing to travel the world on the taxpayer's dime, but couldn't make it to the town hall meetings on Lincoln Park, downtown parking or even the City of Brownsville employees annual party, cementing the perception of the mayor as an elitist, with no interest in the common citizen.

An anomaly in the list of trips furnished by Jason Hilts were 5 visits to Brownsville, Texas, of all places, by Olga Ramos.  These were cleverly labeled by Jason Hilts as "Inbound Mission I, Inbound Mission II, Inbound Mission III, Inbound Mission IV and Inbound Mission V."  Perhaps, there is some logical explanation for the taxpayers to foot the bill for 5 trips to Brownsville.

As reported in a previous article, $312,541 of taxpayer monies were spent on travel by the BEDC during the three years.  

We requested a more detailed report, including the cost of each trip.  Mr. Hilts said that was possible, but the labor involved would necessitate charging a $270 fee.  Here is how Hilts delineated the charges:

Labor, 4 hours to locate/compile travel costs for 2013 @$15.00 per hour.     $60

Labor, 4 hours to locate/compile travel costs for 2014@$15.00 per hour.      $60

Labor, 4 hours to locate/compile travel costs for 2015@$15.00 per hour.      $60

Labor, 6 hours to prepare summary spreadsheet and electronic redaction @$15.00 per hour
                                             $90

Total for Labor & Overhead $270