Will Mark Sossi Finally Be Terminated by the City Commission at the August 15 City Commission Meeting?

City Attorney Mark Sossi

City Attorney Mark "It's Legal" Sossi, the proverbial "cat with nine lives," may have reached the end of his employment with the City of Brownsville.  Of course, that rumor has circulated before.

An action item on the agenda for the August 15 City Commission meeting opens the way for a vote on Sossi's continued employment with the city:

C) Consideration and ACTION to evaluate the City Attorney and Legal Services of the City of Brownsville and to deliberate the appointment, employment, evaluation, reassignment, duties, discipline, or dismissal of a public officer or employee; or to hear a complaint or charge against an officer or employee. (Commissioners J. Tetreau/B. Neece)

Never a good hire by the City of Brownsville, Sossi's resume' is littered with theft, malpractice and incompetence, including a $167,363 judgement for pocketing funds intended for his previous employer, the Willette & Guerra Law Firm, stealing another $20,711.66 from the Texas Workforce, intended for employee unemployment benefits, a $100,000 tax lien from the I.R.S. as well as two malpractice lawsuits from Brownsville residents who thought retaining the City Attorney in private practice might be a good idea.

Sossi's magnum opus, however, has to be his highschoolish power point, at Mayor Martinez behest, against the broadcast of the public comment of Brownsville taxpayers at City Commission meetings. Sossi, perhaps possessed by some despot's demon, argued that blocking the broadcast of public comment would lead to a greater diversity of commenters. Joseph Stalin, Vladimir Lenin, Karl Marx and Adolf Hitler all applauded from their graves!

Mr. Sossi, an ill-advised hire during Pat Ahumada's last term as mayor, has proved to be the gift that keeps on taking, blocking governmental tranparency at every possible turn, resisting democratic principles as if they were carriers of the Zika virus. Sossi has morphed into the city's enabler, including the unethical mayor, certain city commissioners and the challenged, but overpaid, city manager.

The recent brouhaha over an ambulance service operating within the city, allegedly without proper licensing, may, finally, be Sossi's undoing.

Theoretically, if Commissioners De Leon, Neece, Tetreau and Munguia vote to terminate Sossi, a tie-breaking vote by Mayor Martinez will be unnecessary.  In that scenario, Commissioner Gowen may choose to simply side with the majority so as not to be linked with Sossi's shenanigans in perpetuity.

Personal issues could indeed make Commissioner Longoria the lone holdout, or not.