LUCIO TO SIGN JAIL COMMISSARY CONTRACT WITH ZAYAS, CORTEZ

By Juan Montoya

All that's needed to formalize the lucrative jail commissary contract between Cameron County and Snakre Vending LLC (AKA Rick Zayas and Ruben Cortez), is for Wandering Sheriff Omar Lucio to sign the papers after Jan. 1.

After a bid committee of five county staff members (including two non-sheriff employees) reviewed bids from six companies, the scoring on the bids indicated that the best deal for the county was offered by Snakre Vending. This is the same company that has held the contract

for the sale of goods to prisoners. The contract was first signed on 2005, after Lucio took office, but expired this past January.

However, Lucio said in August – seven months after the firm had operated without a contract – that he wouldn't seek proposals from prospective firms until 2010.

"This contract doesn't have to be approved by the commissioners court," said purchasing agent Mike Forbes. "The state statutes give the sheriff wide discretion in awarding the contract in the commissary."

Forbes said that Lucio didn't even have to go out for proposals on the contract, but that in order to assure county residents that things were on the up and up, he asked the auditor's office to help with the specifications on the bids.

Cameron County budget officer Javier Villarreal, auditor Marthan Galarza, and supervisor Pete Sepulveda formed part of the committee. Two supervisors – one freomthe Ruben Torres Correctional Detention Unit and one from the Rucker-Carrizales center – also participated. Although the recommendations were not unanimous on Snakre, Forbes said the scoring on the the firm's proposal scored high on all the members' tally.

"All he (Lucio) needs to do is sign the contract and that's that," Forbes said.

The new contract is for three years with an option for renewal for an additional two years. At that time, if Lucio is no longer sheriff, the new elected official will decide whether to go out for bids again, continue to award the contract to Snakre, or simply award the contract to any company he/she wants.

The contract has proven lucrative to Snakre, according to county auditor records.

In 2008, annual commissary sales totaled $847,129. Snakre received a total of $697,260 or 82.3 percent of gross sales. The rest, according to the sheriff's department, was spent on "behalf of inmates."

Forbes said that the details of the percentages to go to the county and the company would be released when Lucio signs the formal contract.

Snakre is managed by Zaycor Management Company. Brownsville Independent School District trustee Richard E. Zayas owns Snakre Vending. Fellow school board trustee Ruben Cortez Jr. also has ties to Snakre. Zayas and Cortez are the directors of Zaycor Management.

Gus Reyna, Lucio’s chief deputy, is Cortez's first cousin. Reyna has denied that his relationship with Cortez had any bearing on the awarding of the contract to Snakre. He told the Brownsville Herald that he didn’t know his cousin had an interest in Snakre when the contract was awarded.

Forbes said that Lucio probably went through the bid proposal process to squelch criticism that politics was behind the awarding of the contract.

"I think he might have wanted to put that to rest," Forbes said.

Lucio told newspaper during his 2004 campaign for sheriff that former Sheriff Conrado Cantu should have publicly advertised for proposals to secure the best commissary deal for the county.