BITS & PIECES OF A FANTASTIC CITY COMMISSION DISCUSSION ON ETHICS WITH RESPECT TO 4A & 4B CORPORATIONS

 

James McCoy

Attention:  James McCoy, City of Brownsville Agile Project Manager and "Host" of the City Commission broadcast.

Your audio was garbled.  It was only possible to pick up bits and pieces of what the mayor and city commissioners were saying.

That was not true when Evonne Lopez contributed remotely on the domestic violence proclamation nor when County Judge Eddie Trevino spoke on the proposed entertainment venue.

Just to see if the problem was my own hearing, I listened in briefly on the Maricopa County Livestream of the Cyber Ninja Audit of Maricopa County's 2020 Election.  It was crystal clear.

The City of Brownsville needs to work on its audio, plain and simple.

Despite the poor audio, the discussion on Chapter 38 of the city code on ethics with respect to 4A and 4B corporations was fascinating.

Just to backtrack a bit, old friend, Pastor Brad, prayed over the meeting from his seat in front of the city commissioner's table in the Brownsville Public Library meeting room.

Brad asked God for a blessing on the victims of flooding in our community and then for a special anointing on Mayor Mendez and the commissioners.  His prayer was offered "in the name of Jesus Christ," excluding other world religions.

APPLICATION OF CHAPTER 38 ETHICS CODE ORDINANCE TO 4A  AND 4B CORPORATIONS

Interim City Attorney Victor Flores

Interim City Attorney Victor Flores, who seemed to be auditioning for the permanent job of City Attorney, after saying three times this would be a "high level" topic, opened the discussion with a chart featuring the words "ethical," "legal" and "moral."

Then he excluded the "moral" part, saying that "we're not going to touch."  LOL

Legal, he said was "obvious."

So, we're back to "ethical."

What interim City Attorney Flores seemed to be after was "input" from the commission so he could rewrite and expand Chapter 38 of the ethics code and then bring it back to the City Commission for tweaking and approval.

Please remember that former Mayor Tony Martinez promised an ethics code and never delivered.  It wasn't until former City Attorney Rene De Coss took the bull by the horns to actually write an ethics code that we got to where we are today.

But, this discussion was focused on protecting the 4A "economic development" and 4B "quality of life" project funding from abuse.

Most seemed to agree that city officials and city employees should be barred from applying for 4A and 4B monies.

As Commissioner Pedro Cardenas said:  "If you were responsible for setting the guidelines, you shouldn't go near it."

Language in the city code restricting the family of city employees drew some attention from Commissioner Nurith Galonsky, saying:  "If the child of a city employee or official is 35, living in a separate household, should they be restricted from some of these programs?"

Commissioner Rose Gowen wanted to make sure the restrictions were not too broad, but precise, likening a physician treating a cancer with surgical precision, not a "sawed off shotgun."

Galonksky raised the subject of property tax exemptions, but some felt that was a discussion for another day.

Gowen volunteered that she had such an exemption, feeling she had the same rights as her neighbors to take advantage of the provision.

Gowen and Galonsky both wanted "entry level" employees of the city not excluded from helpful programs.

John Cowen referenced the "Mungia case," evidently referring to former City Commissioner Joel Mungia.

I'm not familiar with that matter.

Just an observation:  A few years ago, when people like Debbie Portillo, Estela Chavez-Vasquez and John Villarreal were on the commission, Commissioner Rose Gowen seemed to be the default intellectual.

There's been a considerable upgrade with Trey Mendez' familiarity with legal procedures, Galonsky and Cowen giving serious, thoughtful input and contrary to my initial expectations, Cardenas holds his own with common sense, cut-through-the-bullshit observations.

Jessica Tetreau, as always, comments from her life and city experience.

But, if this configuration of the Brownsville City Commission has a leader, it would be Roy de los Santos.  De los Santos comes to the table with ideas.  He had to be cautioned by interim City Attorney Flores that he was "going too far" at this preliminary point of the discussion.

Anyway, James McCoy, please get the audio fixed so the citizens can actually hear the proceedings and my report will be more accurate, more surgically precise as Rose Gowen might put it.

BTW, I'm glad to see the commission addressing some of the issues raised on this blog in recent days.