AT THE PORT: A REPORT MADE TO ORDER TO JUSTIFY PERSONNEL PURGE

By Juan Montoya

Nobody will say how the report originated, who ordered it, or whether and how an evaluation of the operations of the Brownsville Navigation District's Accounting Department performed by the board chairman's bookkeeper will be used.
All that the Port of Brownsville is willing to say is that the report "has been presented to the board at a previous meeting" and that the rest – who ordered it, who approved it, and why it was done in the first place – falls under the shield of "personnel matters" and no comments will be forthcoming.
But anyone reading the $8,975 report titled "An Evaluation of Operations of the Accounting Department (Suggestions for Improving Efficiency and Effectiveness) performed by Hales-Bradford LLP (HB) will immediately discern that the very thing discussed (and recommended) by its authors deals first and foremost with specific recommendations of transfers, promotion and displacement of the port's personnel in that department.

On its website, the firm describes itself as "an accounting, tax, and consulting firm that has been serving the people of the Rio Grande Valley for over 50 years. Our mission is to provide our clients with the highest quality, client oriented, professional services with an extra measure of personal attention."

However, it lists only two people on it staff, Bill Bradford and his son Billy Jr. There is no Hales mentioned anywhere and we can only surmise that that person is either no longer with the firm or died a long time ago. Of the two remaining "partners," only Jr. is listed as a certified public accountant. There is only one office, on Price Road in Brownsville, listed as its main business site.

In contrast, the port's auditors are Long and Chilton Long Chilton, LLP, the largest locally owned accounting firm in the Rio Grande Valley that "ranks with the largest independent firms in Texas. Established in 1951, Long Chilton started with small separate offices in Brownsville, Harlingen and McAllen. The firm now has 11 partners and over 85 employees and professional staff, among them Carlos Barrera and Nacho Garza, the former mayor of Brownsville.

Barrera was appointed by Gov. Rick Perry as chairman of the Texas State Board of Public Accountancy in  2011. That board regulates public accountants and administers the certified public accountant (CPA) exam in Texas. In addition, Barrera is a member of the American Institute of CPAs, Texas Society of CPAs, Rio Grande Valley Chapter of the Texas Society of CPAs, Governmental Finance Officers Association, and Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.

Now, why would the port, whose assets easily top $1 billion, chose such small firm to perform an "evaluation" of its multimillion operations?

The question then becomes, say port watchers acquainted with the report: "If Long and Chilton in its yearly reports and audits never made any recommendation to the BND that it "evaluate" its accounting department, why was it even performed?

We asked the BND that same question only to run into the "personnel matters" dodge. Specifically, we asked:

1. Why didn't the port's auditors (Long and Chilton) say anything about the department in their yearly audits and assessments?

What the report does state in its very first paragraph is that "Hales-Bradford (HB) was engaged by Mr. Eduardo Campirano, port director and CEO of the BND to evaluate the operations of the accounting department and provide suggestions for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the department's operations."

Apart from Chairman John Reed, apparently, no other member of the board was included in ordering the report, sources tell us. Campirano was an assistant manager at the Brownsville Public Utilities Board when Bradford Jr. was a member of that board. And it appears that Bradford does the personal bookkeeping for Chairman Reed and Mark Hoskins, his brother-in-law and director of the Gulf Stream Marine stevedoring company, which led to our next question: 

2. The study indicates that Port CEO Campirano initated the evaluation. Has the board of directors implemented the suggestions and recommendations by Hales-Bradford?

All we got for out troubles was that the report had "been presented to the board" and nothing else.

Now, it is common knowledge that Hoskins, the director of the Gulf Stream Marine, has been at odds in the past concerning the payment of cleanup and storage fees with the accounting department, specifically its supervisor Debbie Duke.  In fact, among the factors leading to the firing of past Port CEO Bernard List was his refusal to charge Gulf Stream Marine for cost arrears it owed the port. This led Duke to become the lightning rod and catch the heat for the payment disputes.

In fact, after a few backhand compliments on the accounting department's operations, the report singles out Duke for removal as supervisor of the department after a cursory listing of check receipts, receiving, billing, payroll and other mundane subjects germane to the issues of day-to-day operations, etc.,

For a report (and an administration) that seeks to remain "personnel matters" neutral, the Hales-Bradford 11-page missive has no such compunctions about naming port employees it wants banished from the department. It reads on page six:

"3. Change of Debby Duke's Duties.

a. currently Ms. Duke performs multiple duties not directly related to the accounting department such as Risk Management and supervisor of elections. Her depth of knowledge and experience make her a valuable asset to the BND, and we believe she would be evne more effective is she did not have responsibility for supervising the accounting department.

b. Accordingly, we recommend that the BND reassign Ms. Duke to allow her to focus on other duties, and hire a new Director of Finance to oversee the accounting department. We believe that such a person would bring a fresh perspective to the department's operations which would be beneficial to both the department and the BND's overall operations."

A final telling point about the Hales-Bradfor report is the list of people interviewed for its preparation. Besides Campirano and BND counsel Dan Rentfro, the entire personnel in the accounting department is listed as is assistant harbormaster Keri Dann, three stevedores including Nico and Ken Shaefer, Lee Ostos, and Mark Hoskins. (Nico, by the way, is said to be eyeing a candidacy for a vacancy on the BND board.)

It's interesting that while this report was being prepared, the preparers neglected to interview Tommy Alvarez, the harbormaster with more than 40 years experience in port operations while they did interview Dann,a 24-year-old who had just been employed less than six month before after a stint with the Coast Guard.

Alvarez was still on board when the report was being prepared. Still more troubling is why Long and Chilton weren't interviewed at all for the report. If anyone knows the ins and outs of the port, wouldn't it be the firm that prepares its yearly audits?

And was Hales-Bradford told that Duke is one of those rare port employees who doesn't think twice about spending 50 to 60 hours and burning the midnight oil above and beyond the call of duty and pouring over her number when it's necessary?

"If ever there was a report with conclusions built into it from the get-go, this appears to be it," said a former port employee. "Why wasn't Alvarez interviewed? Could it be that he wasn't going to be a yes-man for Campirano's plans to use the report for some other ends? Or perhaps it had to do something with last year's tax rollback that he insisted on her preparing when he knew the budget couldn't sustain it just to please the political aims of the board?"

Our last question to the port was:

3. Will (the Hales-Brafford report be heeded) and Debby Duke be replaced and a new director of finance hired by the board?

That, as the port says, is a personnel matter.
Now we'll see whether Tito, Martin and Carlos will do as the paid consultant wants them to or if they step in and set the port's direction as an elected board should do.