CITY MANAGER NOEL BERNAL JOINS MAYOR MENDEZ AND BCIC CHAIR LIMAS IN VIOLATING BASIC RULES OF ETHICS

Mayor Trey Mendez

As the year rounds out, Americans, including Brownsvillians, will be confronted by their obligation to fill out 1040 forms, along with the appropriate schedules, remitting any monies due the U.S. Government.

On Page 2 of 1040A taxpayers are asked to fill in a box that asks for Your Occupation.  

TaxAct, a business that assists taxpayers for a fee suggests the following:

Enter what best reflects your current occupation. Common entries are: Student, Laborer, Factory Work, Owner-Operator, Self Employed, Homemaker, Unemployed, Retired, etc.

Two young Brownsville men, Mayor Trey Mendez and BCIC Chair Michael Limas, have more than one potential listed occupation,

Mendez might list his occupation as a real estate investor, a restaurateur or an attorney.

Limas could truthfully call himself a real estate investor, bar owner or investment counselor.

The irony for both men is that the single thing injecting the most cash flow into their lives could be none of the above, but a governmental entity designed to help communities fund "quality of life" projects, the BCIC.

In the last two months alone, before the cat got out of the bag via local bloggers, Mendez was set for a BCIC payout of $280,000 and Limas $282,000, perhaps more than either made on their regular jobs during the fiscal year. 

Should the boxes on their respective 1040 forms show "grant seeker" as their primary occupation?

Both, of course, would say the grants were not "income," and, technically they weren't, but it's money they didn't have before they applied for the grants.

BCIC Chair Michael Limas

Mendez and Limas and their defenders would quickly say "the money was available to anyone," but was it?

Did you, Brownsville businessman, know about the grants?  Could you have used $200,000, $160,000 or even $80,000 to grow your business?

Did BCIC hold public workshops to educate the average citizen about applying for these grants that are funded by Brownsville taxpayers?

Was BCIC set up to enrich the board chair and the mayor or to lift up the ordinary citizen?

So-called "inside dealing" may have enriched Michael Limas in yet another way.

City Manager Noel Bernal

I've received several reports that City Manager Noel Bernal took it upon himself to transfer the City of Brownsville employees' retirement system from Nationwide to Equitable, the firm Michael Limas represents.

Did Michael Limas receive any sort of remuneration or commission for this sudden influx of business to the company he represents?  What do you think?

Did City Manager Noel Bernal get something in return for handing such a large chunk of business to Limas without so much as informing or consulting the employees involved beforehand.

Bernal might take umbrage at such a line of questioning, but that's the consequence of actions that give "the appearance of impropriety," Ethics 101.

Perhaps Bernal, who reportedly gave Ramiro Gonzalez the "resign or be fired" option for ethical violations, needs to examine his own ethics in the handling of this matter.