Tuesday, May 23, 2017

TIME TO MOVE PAST B.E.D.C. FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT?

By Juan Montoya
On October 16, 2014, the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation signed a three-year agreement with the quasi-governmental board of the Brownsville economic Development Corporation to foster economic development in the city and create jobs for its residents.
It's mission was grandiose.

"The BEDC (will) provide advice to the GBIC regarding economic development issues, perform due diligence on economic development projects requesting incentives, make recommendations regarding the expenditures of GBIC funds, monitor the workforce needs of the community and work with local industry and educational training providers to encourage development of a workforce to meet the needs of the community."

Toward that end, GBIC, which receives about $4.75 million as its 1/4 penny share of the city's annual sales tax, approved the three-year contract and paid BEDC $1,672,400 each of those years. Of that total $957,4000 was for its operational budget, $415,000 for marketing, $120,000 for business and corporate recruitment (foreign direct investment), and a consulting budget in the amount of $180,000.

Over the last three years to end in September 2017, the GBIC will have provided the BEDC board and its directors and staff a grand total $5,017,200 to fulfill its contractual obligations and bring economic and job growth to the city.

On Wednesday, the BEDC comes before its funding source (the GBIC board) to report on economic development, the projections for growth and its accomplishments.

To put it mildly, the BEDC's performance has been an abject failure and currently does not even have an executive director after Jason Hilts, the unqualified CEO which had been hired by the BEDC since 2002, suddenly resigned amid rumors of federal scrutiny of the organization's activities here and in Latin America, specifically Colombia.

The current state of affairs between GBIC and the BEDC can only be described as a "disconnect," with each entity going about its business with little communication on a number of crucial economic development parameters that directly impact on their stated missions to cerate good-paying jobs to the community that funds them.

To begin with, when the new board of the GBIC met for the first time, they asked GBIC attorney Mark Sossi for the contract between both entities. It took Sossi months before he could come up with the document to provide the new members. For this ethically-challenged lawyer, it's about par for the course.

Once they had the contract in hand, GBIC members discovered that under the agreement both signed, BEDC is obligated to provide GBIC:

1. With an annual audit which it had not done until they demanded it.
2. With BEDC's annual budget to GBIC for review, something the BEDC board and administration never did

3. BEDC was to keep GBIC appraised of its activities and operations to insure compliance with the goals and endeavors set forth in the contract, something else which BEDC has also failed to do.

4. A GBIC "performance committee" was to meet annually with the BEDC Executive Committee over the life of the three-year contract to review the goals, activities and performance of the BEDC as previously agreed upon and to set new goals, activities and performance criteria for the coming fiscal year. The BEDC also failed to observe that part of the contract and the annual meetings have never been held.

5. The BEDC and GBIC were to meet on a quarterly basis (every three months) to discuss activities and performance completed to date in relations to established goals. The quarterly meeting would give GBIC the ability to monitor goal achievements and modify goals when needed. That was also never done.

6. Additionally, during each of the quarterly meeting that never happened GBIC was to be shown the cumulative expenses and revenues for the preceding quarter together with all prior fiscal quarters of the contracted years to be reviewed collectively.

7. BEDC was to provide the GBIC the minutes from the BEDC board meetings. It never did.

8. BEDC was also under contractual obligation to provide GBIC with a certified audit of all its funds prepared annually by a certified public accountant within 90 days of the close of BEDC's fiscal year. This was also not done by the BEDC.

9. BEDC was to make available for inspection, at a reasonable time and place, at the request of the GBIC, any and all of BEDC's financial records. Not only has this contractual obligation been ignored by the BEDC Executive Board and administrators, but it has strongly resisted opening is financial to the GBIC.

The contract can be terminated prior to the term by mutual agreement of both parties, by either party for cause or without cause, for any reason and upon 120 days with written notice, or should either party default in conforming with or adhering to any requirement and the default is not corrected within 15 days.

In the event of termination, BEDC shall be entitled to all compensation earned by it to the date of the termination computed pro rata through the date, but shall not be entitled to any further compensation under any circumstances.


Given the BEDC administration and its board's failure to meet its contractual obligations on its three-year $5,017,200 contract, as we said at the top of this post, it may be time to move past it to achieve the true economic development this community so desperately needs.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just another way to create jobs and spread the wealth while the taxpayers take it in the shorts. Asi marcha la vida en Browntown.

Anonymous said...

So what?!!!!! What does it mean to me??????

Anonymous said...

Anonymous at 2:36. STFU, Frank Mar! Grow up, pendejo !

Anonymous said...

It seems that BEDC has failed to comply with rules of the agreement with GBIC. But, did GBIC ever demand BEDC to comply?? Did the city government provide any oversight of either?? Both seem to have turned into "shadow governments" and Mayor Tony Martinez and his commission allowed this situation to exist. Again, the city officials have failed to oversee the actions and requirements of city entities and never held anyone accountable. More failures of the Tony Martinez tenure as mayor.

Anonymous said...

So what exactly GBIC done to improve the Brownsville economy?

Anonymous said...

YOUR WROTE THIS ARTICLE PROBABLY TO CHOP AT THE BEDC AND BRING IT DOWN - BUT THE WAY I SEE IT THE GBIC DID AND IS DOING A LOUSY JOB OF ENFORCING A CONTRACT.

PLAIN AND SIMPLE.

SO WHO IS MAKING GBIC ACCOUNTABLE FOR LOUSY, PATHETIC CONTRACT MANAGEMENT? WHO?

WHY ARE THEY CALLING THE SHOTS WHEN THEY ARE UNDERPERFORMING THEMSELVES?

IT SEEMS TO ME THAT GBIC IS THE ONE THAT NEEDS TO BE REVAMPED. YOUR ARTICLE FLIPPED ON YOU.

GBIC IS THE HEAD - BEDC IS THE BODY - THE HEAD IS SUPPOSED TO CONTROL THE BODY - IF THE HEAD DOESN'T CONTROL THE BODY DOES WHATEVER THE HELL IT WANTS.


Anonymous said...

OK, BEDC performance to contract has shown evidence to be poor, irresponsible, reproachable. What's next? Accountability?

Hire the old non-performing people to work for GBIC??? Why are the same people that were at BEDC now working under the GBIC roof? It doesn't make sense???

Also, why is an underperforming attorney still retained???? This needs to CHANGE NOW!

Would GIBC board be smart by NOT WORKING with the same incompetent people?????

Wouldn't you think that accountability rewarded with a new job does not make sense?

rita