UPDATE: Timeline Detailing Our Ongoing Communication with BISD About Bus Fires

Photo by Miguel Roberts, Brownsville Herald

Two fires within the space of a week, October 4 and October 9, 2013, were preceded by another fire, April 10, 2013.  

The two October 2013 fires involved buses by the same manufacturer, the International Corporation.  
With the two October fires, 30 and 29 students, respectively, were led out to safety by alert bus drivers.

International Corporation's parent company, Navistar, hired an investigative team to research the cause of the fires as did BISD.  Neither of those reports completed November 2013 were ever released to the public by BISD.  

BISD Attorney Miguel Salinas

On May 28, 2014 we filed a request with BISD under the Public Information Act seeking copies of both reports.  A certified letter from BISD Staff Attorney Miguel Salinas arrived 10 working days later stating that our request had been forwarded to the Texas Attorney General claiming an exception under the Texas Public Information Act sections 551.001-552.154.

5 days later we received another certified letter from Salinas with an enclosure of the district's claim of pending litigation.  A large section was blacked out.

Notice above that Mr. Salinas claims that "Litigation had been contemplated since the November 2014 draft report was received and long before the subject request of May 29, 2014."  He must have meant the draft was received November 2013 as "November 2014" is still in the future.  Salinas also states that "the information at issue is intricately and specifically linked to the contemplated litigation," implying litigation has been merely "contemplated," not actually initiated.  

An earlier MMB article reported a tip we received concerning possible contributing causes to the fires:

1. BISD school buses inspected were observed with an accumulation of accelerants in the engine compartment; oil and other fluids. This is a basic maintenance issue corrected with regular spray washing of the engine compartment. A spark could ignite.

2. An aftermarket "fuel-saving" device was installed in a number of buses, compromising the integrity of the fuel line. Fuel line bursting or leakage around this insertion may have been a combustion source.

So far BISD has denied our PIA request based on "contemplated" litigation.  That litigation does not appear to be considered against IC, Navistar, for two obvious reasons:

1.  Over half of the BISD bus fleet were manufactured by the International Corporation and continue to be in use.

2.  BISD recently ordered and received a large shipment of IC parts, indicating they plan on continued usage of IC buses.  

Also, if the issue is solely maintenance related, BISD would not sue their own maintenance department.  All of the above leads to speculation that the aforementioned company distributing the aftermarket "fuel saving" device may the object of BISD's 

"contemplated" litigation. 

BISD PIO Drue Brown

Here is our Public Information Request filed via Public Information Officer Drue Brown June 14, 2014:

Dear Mrs. Brown,


I'm requesting copies of any invoice within the last ten years from Emissions Technology of Texas, LLC, also DBA as Eco Fuel Enhancer/ 1373 CR 128, Floresville, TX 78114

Thanks,

Jim Barton

We will continue to keep posting developments in this matter as they occur.

 

GBIC Board Meeting, 6/19/2014~Oscar Garcia, Jr., Project Manager for Jacobs Engineering, Company Hired to "Implement" Multi-Billion Dollar Industrial Corridor, Port of Brownsville Development

Oscar Garcia, Jr., Project Manager
for Jacobs Engineering, San Antonio

After spending $454,000 tax and rate payer dollars on the Greater Brownsville Infrastructure & Development Plan,  GBIC or the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation, agreed to spend another $185,000 to "implement" Phase I of the plan.  

Only one firm, Jacob's Engineering, replied to the Request for Quotation, RFQ, on the project, initially bidding $750,000 to implement the project in 3 phases.

Jason Hilts, BEDC  Director, introduced to the GBIC Board, represented by 3 actual board members along with  Finance Director Pete Gonzalez and legal representative Mark Sossi, to Jacob's Engineering's Project Manager, Oscar Garcia, Jr.  Garcia, the son of outgoing UTB President Juliet Garcia, was also Project Manager for Su Clinica Familar, the Carlos Marin-owned medical clinic on Alton Gloor.  

Hilts explained to the board that Jacob's Engineering, the only firm responding to their RFQ, had agreed to work for only $185,000 by breaking their initial bid up into 3 phases.  Phase 1 will find "funding" for the industrial corridor project and also locate investors during a 4 month timetable.

Mean Mister Brownsville with McCaffrey

Last October Robin McCaffrey of Needham, McCaffrey & Associates, Inc. had been awarded $454,592.08 for a plan specifying where manufacturing, light and heavy industry, etc. can be located in the 22,000 acre industrial corridor including the Port of Brownsville.  

Carlos Marin

Interestingly, an anonymous commenter to this blog warned back in November 2013:  "Marin is behind this corridor also Jim. He owns interest all around the corridor. He is the biggest thief in Brownsville. He is pushing now to make Oscar Garcia Jr. the director at GBIC,..his trusted puppet. The item was tabled in yesterday."

That comment proved to be prophetic as the GBIC has now hired Jacob's Engineering to "implement" McCaffrey's half-million dollar document and Jacob's Engineering has hired Oscar Garcia, Jr. to be their Project Manager.

It's all about control of the development of the industrial corridor.  

Other developments mentioned by Hilts at the board meeting:  

The FAA will release the final results of their Evironmental Impact Study July 7 with SpaceX' decision on the launch pad location soon to follow. Magic Valley has agreed to provide electricity to the Boca Chica site.

TDF funding has been applied for "Project Sizzle," the concept to bring a Finnish Foundry and Italian Machinist firm to the Port of Brownsville.

Hilts also mentioned a "Project Mandarin" and "Project Luca."  

BHA Director Priscilla Rodriguez Explains Stillman Museum Grounds Tree Removal

BHA Director,
Priscilla Rodriguez

Brownsville Historical Association Director Priscilla Rodriguez tendered her resignation in February, but is staying on until a new director is found.  Rodriguez described the garden area of the Stillman Museum as one of those loose ends she wanted to tie up before passing the baton to the next administrator.

"We had to remove the ash trees planted over 30 years ago for several reasons,"  Rodriguez stated.

"They had experienced decay and posed a threat to the Stillman House during the next storm, whether this summer or next.  Also, the roots of the trees were making the brick pathways of the garden uneven and unsafe," she stated.  

"Our overall plan is to restore the garden authentically to its original era with, not just cosmetic plants, but medicinal, edible and herbal plants.  We plan on adding peach, pomegranate and roses.  We will comply with the city's tree ordinance by replanting sabal palms, but further away from the house so as not to obstruct its view from the street.  We will try to preserve the pecan tree at the back of the house known as a refuge for the Red Crowned Parrot."

City Forester Roy Reyes

Our inital call to City Manager Charlie Cabler was redirected to City Forester Roy Reyes.  Mr. Reyes stated that the ash trees were interfering with growth in the garden by blocking out the sun.  He said the cutting would be "mitigated" by replanting mature trees.  He suggested we contact BHA Director Priscilla Rodriguez since he was under the impression that she and Larry Loff had authorized the removal.  

Who Removed Mature Trees from Charles Stillman Museum Grounds and Why?

Mature Trees Before Removal

Stillman Museum Grounds~6/18/2014

City Commission Basking in the Afterglow of "All-America" Designation

Debbie Portillo with Pete Gonzalez,
 Rose Timmer(on the right)

In a feel-good moment worthy of the 1995 movie Mr. Holland's Opus, City Commissioner Debbie Portillo read from a prepared script, describing the drama and suspense associated with the huge delegation sent to Denver at taxpayer expense to receive a plaque from the Civic League, designating Brownsville an All-America City.

The flowery words read by young Ms. Portillo were likely written by Grant Coordinator Roxanna Rosas.

"Roxanna was in the hotel lobby till 1:00 AM writing all our acceptance speeches," Portillo gushed.  

Of the delegation of forty or so, 15 had their travel requests approved to the tune of $24,120 at the previous City Commission meeting.  Assistant City Manager/Finance Director Pete Gonzalez had to ask for an amended budget to pay for the trip. The taxpayers are likely on the hook for the other 25 as they came from Porter High School and UTB, both taxpayer-supported entities.

Gonzalez, likely conscious of the huge expenditure, was said to have "walked the nine miles from the hotel to the Civic League event, because, according to Portillo, "he didn't want to take a cab."  Yes, it was a night of hyperbole.

The members of the delegation were introduced individually to spontaneous applause, as if returning war heroes or winners of the NBA Championship.  Rose Timmer, a major player in curbside recycling, was absent, recovering from a "procedure."  Portillo promised an event would be scheduled "at a later time" for the city as a whole to join in the celebration.

Just how the city will benefit from being one of ten small towns determined to be "All-America" by the Civic League can be difficult to put in words.  We'll leave it to Mayor Tony Martinez, in words quoted in yesterday's Brownsville Herald, to articulate what the plaque means to the city.

Mayor Tony Martinez

“It’s kind of hard to define in the sense of exactly what it gets you or what it doesn’t get you,” Brownsville Mayor Tony Martinez said. “It’s a real tribute to the city staff for all the work they’ve done.  “Its kind of like, we’re an All-America City, which kind of means we’re progressing and we’re doing a lot of things right so it’s kind of a feather in your cap to be able to say that and so I’m just real proud of my Brownsville that we were named. The city staff has really worked hard and the city commissioners have been very supportive. It was a collaborative effort which I’m very proud of.”

Obviously, Roxanna Rosas didn't help the mayor with his remarks.

Brownsville's Downtown, Constantly Changing~Bars Close, Bars Open, Bars Reopen

Inside Peek at the Remodeled Palm Lounge, 8th & Elizabeth, the old haunt of bloggers Juan Montoya and Jerry Mchale in their Brownsville Herald Days.  The old lounge featured a metal trough behind a curtain for urination.

The Domino's Bar, located on the bottom floor of the Cameron Hotel, moved across the street on E. 9th and morphed into Las Vegas Nights

A Group from Mexico has leased and is remodeling the bottom floor of the Manatou Building in E. 12th, a whopping 6,000 sq. ft.  It is next to the former Bora Bora Club that used to utilize the parking around Market Square.  It's doubtful anyone has told the Mexican investors that the city plans to eliminate the parking around Market Square for a green space.

Remodeling taking place at 1249 E. Adams for a "new" La Movida Nueva, replacing the other one down the block.  

Two lots fenced in for work to start on the new Downtown Parking Garage

Stop Work Order Issued for Mayor's Downtown Office, Brownsville Police Substation, Museum, Et Al

STOP WORK ORDER
"Please refer to Omar Ochoa @ Building
Inspections Department as soon as possible."

                                                      

                                                      O.E. Garcia

It all started with Mayor Martinez wanting a downtown office. No one in city administration had the gumption to talk him out of the ill-conceived idea.  It's not like Brownsville citizens would be able to walk by the office, peer through the commercial glass and see the mayor hard-at-work on city business.  The mayor is hardly ever in town and the office would more likely be locked, idle, the desk calendar open to a day months before.

Tony's Original Downtown Office Becomes the
unused "Brownsville Downtown Revitalization
Information Center"

Tony's original plan was carried out with the lease of the property at 1101-A E. Washington for $6,000, commencing October 8, 2013, expiring October 7, 2014.  It was an odd move by Tony since the city owns a good deal of unused office space without leasing more property.

After spending an additional $14,000 for renovations, not to mention labor with city trucks outside constantly for a month or so, Mayor Martinez got spooked. Perhaps, it was our articles or citizen inquiries, but, to save face, the leased building's use was changed from the mayor's downtown office to the Brownsville Downtown Revitalization Information Center.  

The idea for a mayoral office had not been shelved, just it's location changed as the mayor turned his attention to the trinity of small properties purchased by the city at 609, 611 and 615 E. 11th Street for $41,000, $41,000 and $42,000 respectively.(Later, the City Commission would add an additional $141,000 for remodeling.)

Former Interim Planner
Ramiro Gonzalez

The plans for the three small properties seemed in constant flux;  first a "downtown, central mayor's office, police substation and meeting room," then changed to mayor's office, "museum" and substation. Now, the Brownsville Downtown Revitalization Information Office may be relocated there.  Charlie Cabler says the BPD has not decided if they want a substation, etc.  

When we noted this constant planning on the fly, we got this criticism, perhaps from a city planner just 5 minutes from "clocking in:"  

April 29, 2014 at 7:55 AM

"City government at work escapes you, Barton. Things - and plans - change. If you don't like the way things unfold in town, run for office! Barking from a dead mesquite ain't cuttin' it, dude."

So, now the work comes to a complete halt with a STOP WORK ORDER by the City of Brownsville.  A city insider hints that the young interim planners, Ramiro Gonzalez and Roman McAllen, may have failed to get a city permit before starting work.  Perhaps, the oversight was caught by the new Planning Director Michael Warrix, who started work June 2.

Brush, Colorado Wins 2014 All-America City Award~Marshall, Texas Falls Short

Downtown Brush, Colorado. . . Winner of the 2014 All-America City Award Along with Brownsville, TX and 8 other towns.  Only 10 of the 
25 finalists were declared winners.

Large Brownsville Delegation of Award Seekers

All-America City Plaque featuring a 

pic of Denver, Colorado

Regardless of the Rhetoric, Children's Safety NOT A High Priority at BISD

Dr. Carl Montoya, Superintendent of BISD

BISD Superintendent Carl Montoya mouths empty platitudes about putting the children first, but is powerless to control the mindless musical chairs shifting of department heads out of their comfort zone into unfamiliar territory.  

This practice didn't start with Montoya, but he's been too weak to stop it, himself being a mere pawn of a few trustees who only pretended to advertise the superintendent's job because, in Montoya, then interim superintendent, they had found a perfect "fit" for their agenda.

Hector Chirinos, former
Director of Transportation

No administrative position has been used more frequently as sort of a BISD purgatory than the role of Director of Transportation.  
High school principals, administrators who've fallen out of favor somehow have been routinely and vindictively placed in this department so critical to the safety of BISD students.

The oversight of the safe, daily transportation of 50,000 students, critical maintenance of a huge fleet of buses and other vehicles, route scheduling and the work schedules of over 300 employees is not something you toss to a newbie just because of some personal slight or personality conflict, not if you REALLY care about the safety of kids.

Consider this:  If the Brownsville Independent School District actually advertised for a Director of Transportation would they hire a high school principal from Indiana without any experience in running a transportation department?  Hell no!  

Then giving that assignment to former high school principal Hector Chirinos or former special needs director Art Rendon or former Porter High School Principal Brenda Fernandez, is equally mindless as it puts the safety of the children in jeopardy.  Even if, over time, the new administrator gets somewhere near up to speed, why do that? 

Former Porter High School Principal Brenda Fernandez, to her credit, threw herself into the job, quickly getting a commercial driver's license so she could drive the buses she supervised.  During her tenure the BISD Transportation Department received an award as the best school bus system in Texas.  She has since upgraded her job status twice after leaving Brownsville, now managing a large bus system in Florida.

Chirinos took a different approach as Director, getting chummy with the vendors, ordering hundreds of thousands of dollars of unneeded parts, tires, parts and electronics.*  Anyone experienced in sales understands when a public entity orders a truckload of unneeded items, the authorized purchase agent received an "incentive."   That was Hector's big "F U" to the BISD administrators sticking him in Transportation.

Please don't ever tell me BISD puts kids first.  Not when they use the position of Director of Transportation as punishment for those who do not "play ball" with the Superintendent and trustees.  

From El Rrun Rrun blog by Juan Montoya about Chirinos' performance as Director of Transportion:

Add caption

"Let's start with the little things. Chirinos kept something called an "Activity/Motivational Fund Account" in his budget which came from the profits of the vending machines at Transportation against BISD policy. That was put to an end with no accounting of the proceeds and the money now goes to the district's miscellaneous revenue fund like all other departments. It was, in other words, a slush fund.  Chirinos even diverted the revenue from transportation department vending machines into a fund he controlled.  "Control" of the department was maintained by allowing inordinate amounts of overtime to drivers and employees.
The auditors found an inventory that kept steadily growing from 2007-2008 to 2010-2011, finally decreasing in 2011-2012, when Chirinos was gone.
* During those four years, the accumulated inventory increased by $325,868. It wasn't until Rendon took over in the 2011-2012 budget that it decreased by $277,749.
* Of the 3,841 parts with a value of $792,535 in inventory, approximately 698 items with a value of $89,144 had become obsolete. They no longer fit any of the buses on the district's fleet. The district had to eat the loss.
* The useful life of 46 tires worth $5,020 had expired. These tires could no longer be used or sold.
* Variances in the inventory due to "miscounts, theft, disposal or removal from inventory without corresponding record" totaled $16,092.
The auditors recommended that the department implement a "just in time" outsource method with vendors that would reduce inventory, and save warehouse space and costs. That "JIT" system is now in place.
When the auditors visited the Transportation warehouse in 2012 they found it stacked to the roof with and "excess amount" of miscellaneous office supplies that included three LaserJet printers still in the box that had been purchased in 2009 and 2010. Cases of paper clips, file folders, computer paper and other office supplies filled the sides of entire walls.
* Curious to see whether a sample audit of 200 fixed-assets would turn up any discrepancies, the auditors found that a camera worth $589, a battery backup worth $477, at least four radios worth over $300 and an external hard drive worth $263 were missing."
* During a 100 percent fixed-assets inventory, auditors discovered that 11 items totaling $100,377 could not be located in the department."

Seeking Information on the School Bus Fires Despite Rebuff from BISD

Photo by Miguel Roberts, Brownsville Herald

A blog article pandering to local interest might be entitled:  "Joe Rivera Pachanga to Serve Bud Light!" Identifying school bus safety issues is not a sexy topic. After our last article on the subject, a reader, who later identified himself as "Dags," stated:  "Waste of time for all concerned. Get a job, Jim."

Without quick action by two BISD bus drivers, 30 and 29 students respectively could have lost their lives in the school bus fires.  How is it a "waste of time" to detail the causes of those fires and share the results of two independent inspections of BISD buses relative to those causes.  Why wait until dozens of Brownsville school children die in a bus fire and it becomes a national issue?

BISD Public Information
Officer, Drue Brown

With our request for the two reports detailing the cause or causes of the October 4 and 11th school bus fires effectively, but politely, denied via BISD Public Information Officer Drue Brown and Staff Attorney Miguel Salinas, we reached out to other avenues to get information.  We will check with the Attorney General's office in a couple weeks regarding the status of his recommendation as to whether or not BISD should release the reports to us.

Meanwhile, Navistar, the parent company of IC or the International Corporation, has some of the same responsibilities as BISD when it comes to the public dissemination of information.  While BISD is a taxpayer-funded entity, Navistar is a publicly-traded entity.  Just as BISD has a Public Information Officer, Navistar has a Manager of General Business Media Inquiries.  My calendar is marked for an interview with that administrator.

Why would Navistar, the parent company of the International Corporation, release reports that BISD refused to release?  Their incentive may be to clear up any misconception that the fires were due to a manufacturing defect, if that is indeed what the reports indicate.  Even rumors, however inaccurate, associating their buses with spontaneous fires, would not be good for business.  They have a manager of media inquiries for this very purpose, to protect and enhance the company image.  Real dollars and cents are involved here.

Meanwhile, the Mean Mister Brownsville blog has heard from "someone in a position to know." The information shared is beyond mere rumor, but falls below the standard of information documented by an actual report.

FWIW, here is what we've been told:

1.  BISD school buses inspected were observed with an accumulation of accelerants in the engine compartment; oil and other fluids.  This is a basic maintenance issue corrected with regular spray washing of the engine compartment.  A spark could ignite.

2. An aftermarket "fuel-saving" device was installed in a number of buses, compromising the integrity of the fuel line.  Fuel line bursting or leakage around this insertion may have been a combustion source. 

The alleged device may or may not be the ECO Systems Fuel Enhancer sold by Emissions Technology of Texas, LLC, 1373 CR 128, Floresville, TX.  Ben Talamantez is shown as the owner on company documents.

Emissions Technology of Texas has lined up several large customers in the RGV and the region, including:
Victoria ISD, Mercedes ISD, Kingsville ISD, Leander ISD, Donna ISD, Alice ISD, Pharr ISD and Zapata ISD.  No mention is made on their website of Brownsville ISD being a customer.  

The website promises "at least 10% in fuel savings, cleaner air and healthier school employees."  Here is an excerpt from the company's website:

Employee Health

Children ride the bus a few years, but your employees are exposed to emissions from your bus fleet for a lifetime. ECO Systems has helped to reduce harmful particulate exhaust from school buses. Particulates and NOx are major contributors toward asthma attacks in children and are proven to be a cancer causing risk as reported by the American Lung Association.

We're not saying the cause of the fires was connected to the installing of Eco Systems Fuel Enhancers on any or all BISD buses.  If they were, how secure were those installations?  

As for the International Corporation buses having some sort of manufacturing defect, BISD's fleet continues to be composed of a majority ofInternational buses.  Recently, we're told a large order was placed for International Corporation parts. Does it sound like the bus fires were started by a manufacturing defect by International Corporation, Navistar? 

Our Public Information Request to BISD About Cause or Causes of School Bus Fires Sent to Attorney General

Photo by Miguel Roberts, Brownsville Herald

This past October two BISD school buses caught fire within a week, carrying 29 and 30 student passengers respectively.  Since both buses catching fire were made by the same company, a team of inspectors hired by, but independent of the International Corporation, known also as IC or Navistar, flew in to inspect their buses.  BISD Superintendent Dr. Carl Montoya also brought in an independent inspection team.  Neither team's report has ever been made public by BISD.

Photo by Miguel Roberts, Brownsville Herald

Even before the two reports were finalized, human nature could explain the attention given to the specific manufacturer of the two buses catching fire, as in BISD Trustee Presas-Garcia's comment at the time:  "We have to face the battles, but we overcame that. We all understood it was Thomas buses and Thomas buses were purchased. So International buses were not purchased this time around. We want whats best for our students and safety is priority for our district."

Had the reports identified a manufacturing defect, one could expect a quick national and international reaction, recalls, lawsuits and probes into the manufacturer's methods, techniques and quality control.  

Drue Brown, BISD Public
Information Officer

Still, without being able to examine the actual reports, anything said about the cause of the fires is simply speculation.

Our initial Public Information Request to obtain both reports as to the cause or causes of the school bus fires of October 2013 was filed via email with Drue Brown, BISD's Public Information Officer.

The ten business days public entities have by law to respond expired today and I called Mrs. Brown.  

BISD Staff Attorney Miguel Salinas

Mrs. Brown indicated she was aware of my request, that it had been sent to BISD's legal department.   Brown mentioned possible "pending litigation," stating that I would likely receive some paperwork from Staff Attorney Miguel Salinas.  

Just to clarify things, I reiterated that my request was for two reports, one initiated by the International Corporation, the other by a firm hired by BISD.  To forewarn me, Mrs. Brown indicated that one of the reports may not have been submitted to writing.  When I questioned the reasonableness of such a report not being written, Mrs. Brown thanked me for my interest and ended the call.

Of course, a report is not complete until it is submitted in written form.  No check would even be issued for a mere oral statement that could not be corroborated.  

Below are the two documents we received today from BISD.  Can anyone seriously question that knowing exactly what caused these school bus fires is necessary to protect the district's students?

City Administrators Gift First Transit with A New "Can't-Fail" $1,400,000 Contract Despite Pitiful Performance

By the time First Transit Vehicle Services of Pompano Beach, Florida neared the end of their two year maintenance contract with the City of Brownsville to maintain Brownsville Metro's bus fleet, they were languishing at a pitiful 1,409 miles between major breakdowns on Brownsville city buses.

The contract that ended in October 2013 called for a performance measure of 4,500 between major breakdowns.  First Transit never came close to that yardstick and city passengers have suffered for it. Think about the elderly with a doctor's appointment waiting for a city bus in the hot sun, a bus that never came.  That has happened more often than any city's metro system should allow.

With major bus breakdowns far exceeding the contractual specifics, city administrators wisely placed First Transit on a month to month relationship to monitor their performance.  During those three months, the mileage numbers between major breakdowns got worse, not better, finally dipping to a mere 825 miles between major breakdowns.

As we illustrated in an earlier story:
"If you lined up the large city buses for Brownsville Metro's 19 routes and told the drivers to drive to El Paso, none of the buses would reach their destination, based on bus maintenance/breakdowns records released at the Brownsville Metro Advisory Board meeting June 4, 2014. Brownsville Metro buses currently average 825 miles between major breakdowns. The distance between Brownsville and El Paso is 829.6 miles."

City Manager Charlie Cabler

Incredibly, despite First Transit's performance getting worse, not better, city administrators including Lupe Granado in Finance, Robert Luna in Purchasing and City Manager Charlie Cabler agreed to a new, reworked contract with First Transit commencing January 14, 2014.(January was one of Brownsville Metro's worst months in recent memory in terms of major breakdowns with over 150 during the month.)

City Finance Director Lupe Granado told me in private conversation that the new contract was tougher, specifying 8,000 miles between major breakdowns.

Brownsville Metro Director Norma Zamora

Brownsville Metro Assistant Director Andrew Munoz told the Brownsville Metro Advisory Board that performance was getting "better and better" and was "twice as good" as the previous maintenance contract holder.(It should be pointed out that Munoz and Brownsville Metro Director Norma Zamora are employed by First Transit, being part of a "management contract" with the City of Brownsville.)

Those claims about the new contract and Brownsville Metro's performance are simply untrue.

Upping the mileage between major breakdowns from 4,500 to 8,000 looks good on paper, but means nothing if the city doesn't hold First Transit to that standard.  During the month of January, the very month the contract was signed, Brownsville Metro's buses serviced by First Transit were having breakdowns every 825 miles, nearly TEN TIMES THE CONTRACT REQUIREMENT.

Actually, on closer examination, the new contract "negotiated" between the City of Brownsville and First Transit is much weaker from the city's standpoint.  

As stated, the mileage between major breakdowns was raised from 4,500 to 8,000 on the new contract signed in January, but major breakdown's slice of the performance matrix was lowered from 20% to 15%.

Also, non-revenue vehicles, such as the sedans driven by management were separated into their own category.  Lupe Granado mentioned this proudly, as if it strengthened the contract, but, actually it weakens it.

Revenue vehicles(city buses, paratransit, etc.) are now "weighted" at 75%, while non-revenue vehicles (sedans, pickups, SUV's, etc.) are weighted at 25%.

By separating into two fleets, with the maintenance of revenue vehicles weighted at 75% of the overall contract, the major breakdown requirement is now weakened to a mere 11.25% of the total contracts.  (.75 X 15%=11.25%)  The other parameters, such as having 80% of the fleet in service, performing preventative maintenance according to the service schedule 90% of the time, completing repairs within 48 hours are so easy to meet, it's almost laughable.  Thus First Transit can meet the contract's performance matrix while buses are breaking down right and left, because the contract is so one-sided in First Transit's favor.  

We'll be sharing other details of this contract in subsequent stories, but it seems obvious that city administration did not protect the interests of Brownsville citizens, Brownsville Metro riders in negotiating this contract.