CITY MANAGER NOEL BERNAL'S CHALLENGE~PULLING THE CITY OUT FROM UNDER THE SCOURGE OF COMPADRISMO

City Manager Noel Bernal

When new City Manager Noel Bernal arrived at the end of 2018, Brownsville was indeed a sick puppy with leadership in many key positions unqualified, uncertified or simply incompetent.

It's little wonder that for the last few decades Brownsville's progress moved along at about quarter speed with even much smaller, far less charismatic Harlingen whipping its ass with regularity.

Stating it bluntly, Bernal inherited an administration whose engineering director was a non-engineer, an incompetent in public works, a head of the library without a degree in library science or anything else and a transit system hemorrhaging money and a history of horribly frequent breakdowns.  

It's the way of compradrismo, a system in which your resume' is who you know or, better yet, WHAT you know about someone in power.  

It was also the way of Charlie Cabler, Bernal's predecessor, who was plucked from the ranks of cop to be first an Assistant City Manager, then City Manager, something he'd never studied or trained for, causing many to scratch their heads in wonderment about who or what he knew to be elevated to that position.

Cabler's tenure seemed almost visionless, simply maintaining, not growing, only putting out fires.

Paul Calapa, former Purchasing

Director, City of Brownsville

 

I'm also told that compradrismo reared its ugly head when Jerry Hedgecock, without a Masters in Library Science, was elevated to leadership over the Brownsville Public Library.  Hedgecock, a crony of former Purchasing Director Paul Calapa, knew where the bodies were buried, so to speak, and was rewarded with a totally undeserved appointment, elevated over three library system employees who did have the requisite Master of Library Science.

Jerry Hedgecock

Knowing Hedgecock was unqualified to be the library's director, the City of Brownsville did an end around that might not get the attention of the State of Texas, creating a new department and position altogether for Hedgecock, naming him Director of Public Information Services, then placing the Brownsville Public Library under that umbrella.  Creative compadrismo!

From the editor:  Our next installment will deal with the perception of the City Manager by Brownsville administrators.  I'm spoken with several and, surprisingly, there seems to be a consensus.