By Juan Montoya
In the end, the continuing saga over the 11th-hour appointments by lame-duck mayor Pat Ahumada of a majority of the members to the Brownsville Housing Authority board of directors may be left in the hands of his successor, Mayor Tony Martinez.
A motion for a Temporary Restraining Order against the former mayor by BHA Chairperson Beatriz Lopez asking the court to stop Ahumada from removing her over alleged improprieties was removed from lawsuit status Tuesday by 357th District Court Leonel Alejandro who opted to send the matter back to Martinez to determine whether the new mayor and city commission wanted to do.
Lopez filed the motion for the TRO after Ahumada sent Lopez a letter informing her that she was being removed from her position because of alleged improper acts on her part in not sitting his three replacements on the board.
Ahumada had removed Lopez just before he chaired the last city commission meeting. He was served with a copy of the lawsuit during that meeting.
And, under the bylaws of the BHA, the swearing-in of new members and election of officers can only take place in a regular meeting.
In the waning days of the mayoral campaign, Ahumada replaced three board members (a majority) that included Art Rendon, Pat Lehmann, and Rosario Gonzalez. He replaced them with Andy Muñiz, Silveiro Capistrano, and BHA resident Ludivina Garza in what has been called the BHA Massacre. Staff members said he walked the three into the BHA offices and swore them in himself.
Then, after Lopez and the remaining member, local attorney Ruben Herrera, did not hold a special meeting to elect new officers as Ahumada had requested, he summarily replaced her with Troy Whittenmore, an administrator with the Brownsville Independent School District.
Whittenmore also serves as vice-chairman of the City of Brownsville Planning and Zoning Commission, and his appointment would seem to go against the city charter prohibiting a person from serving on more than one board.
However, what raised many eyebrows about his appointment is that Whittenmore's brother Kent, a risk benefits cooordinator for the BISD when BHA Director Tony Juarez was the Chief Financial Officer with BISD, was instrumental in getting Juarez fired when he filed a grievance against him for not recommending a local insurance broker for the district's lucrative $40 million employee insurance contract.
A meeting scheduled for the last week of May was cancelled after Ahumada was served.
Lopez then sued asking the court to issue an TRO to prevent her removal without due process and to have a trial on the merits.
She asked the court to enjoin Ahumada from replacing her as chairman because he "will be allowed to replace plaintiff and impermissibly influence board policy and autonomy and violate state law."
Under the charter of the City of Brownsville, the mayor appoints all five members of the BHA board, although his right to remove them is limited by state law.
Lopez charged in petition that the mayor can only remove a commissioner of a housing authority for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or misconduct of office.
Further, she charged that state law requires that she be given a copy of the charges on the 10th day before the date of the hearing on the charges, and an opportunity to be heard in person by counsel at the hearing.
In an article that appeared in Expreso, a Matamoros tabloid, Ahumada charged that he had discovered "corruption" in the BHA in the cosing days of his administration. He charged that the board had "illegally" extended the contract of Director Juarez without notifying him. Further, he cast dark hints of a relationship between Lopez and Juarez (ellos tienen una fuerte relacion mas alla de lo normal).
In reality, BHA minutes indicates that Juarez had asked the board for a three-year extension on his contract with a severance-pay clause. Members instead opted to grant him a one-year contract without severance.
In the article, Ahumada point to the contract extension as "illegal" and "advantageous" to Juarez by the board.
"The BHA is an autonomous board," said a former member. "We don't have to ask permission from the mayor on what we do. In this case, we did what we thought was most appropriate in the interest of the BHA and the city."
Since the mayor's appointments were not seated during a regular meeting as the BHA bylaws stipulate, and Lopez's removal apparently was not done within the due process required, it may be up to the new mayor to either appoint new members, or accept Ahumada's appointments over the course of his administration.
The BHA board meets Thursday. The city commission meets next Tuesday.
In the end, the continuing saga over the 11th-hour appointments by lame-duck mayor Pat Ahumada of a majority of the members to the Brownsville Housing Authority board of directors may be left in the hands of his successor, Mayor Tony Martinez.
A motion for a Temporary Restraining Order against the former mayor by BHA Chairperson Beatriz Lopez asking the court to stop Ahumada from removing her over alleged improprieties was removed from lawsuit status Tuesday by 357th District Court Leonel Alejandro who opted to send the matter back to Martinez to determine whether the new mayor and city commission wanted to do.
Lopez filed the motion for the TRO after Ahumada sent Lopez a letter informing her that she was being removed from her position because of alleged improper acts on her part in not sitting his three replacements on the board.
Ahumada had removed Lopez just before he chaired the last city commission meeting. He was served with a copy of the lawsuit during that meeting.
And, under the bylaws of the BHA, the swearing-in of new members and election of officers can only take place in a regular meeting.
In the waning days of the mayoral campaign, Ahumada replaced three board members (a majority) that included Art Rendon, Pat Lehmann, and Rosario Gonzalez. He replaced them with Andy Muñiz, Silveiro Capistrano, and BHA resident Ludivina Garza in what has been called the BHA Massacre. Staff members said he walked the three into the BHA offices and swore them in himself.
Then, after Lopez and the remaining member, local attorney Ruben Herrera, did not hold a special meeting to elect new officers as Ahumada had requested, he summarily replaced her with Troy Whittenmore, an administrator with the Brownsville Independent School District.
Whittenmore also serves as vice-chairman of the City of Brownsville Planning and Zoning Commission, and his appointment would seem to go against the city charter prohibiting a person from serving on more than one board.
However, what raised many eyebrows about his appointment is that Whittenmore's brother Kent, a risk benefits cooordinator for the BISD when BHA Director Tony Juarez was the Chief Financial Officer with BISD, was instrumental in getting Juarez fired when he filed a grievance against him for not recommending a local insurance broker for the district's lucrative $40 million employee insurance contract.
A meeting scheduled for the last week of May was cancelled after Ahumada was served.
Lopez then sued asking the court to issue an TRO to prevent her removal without due process and to have a trial on the merits.
She asked the court to enjoin Ahumada from replacing her as chairman because he "will be allowed to replace plaintiff and impermissibly influence board policy and autonomy and violate state law."
Under the charter of the City of Brownsville, the mayor appoints all five members of the BHA board, although his right to remove them is limited by state law.
Lopez charged in petition that the mayor can only remove a commissioner of a housing authority for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or misconduct of office.
Further, she charged that state law requires that she be given a copy of the charges on the 10th day before the date of the hearing on the charges, and an opportunity to be heard in person by counsel at the hearing.
In an article that appeared in Expreso, a Matamoros tabloid, Ahumada charged that he had discovered "corruption" in the BHA in the cosing days of his administration. He charged that the board had "illegally" extended the contract of Director Juarez without notifying him. Further, he cast dark hints of a relationship between Lopez and Juarez (ellos tienen una fuerte relacion mas alla de lo normal).
In reality, BHA minutes indicates that Juarez had asked the board for a three-year extension on his contract with a severance-pay clause. Members instead opted to grant him a one-year contract without severance.
In the article, Ahumada point to the contract extension as "illegal" and "advantageous" to Juarez by the board.
"The BHA is an autonomous board," said a former member. "We don't have to ask permission from the mayor on what we do. In this case, we did what we thought was most appropriate in the interest of the BHA and the city."
Since the mayor's appointments were not seated during a regular meeting as the BHA bylaws stipulate, and Lopez's removal apparently was not done within the due process required, it may be up to the new mayor to either appoint new members, or accept Ahumada's appointments over the course of his administration.
The BHA board meets Thursday. The city commission meets next Tuesday.
2 comments:
Ahumada screws everything up in his life. He can't help it.
Ahumada is in possession of a letter from a concerned citizen that witnessed BHA Director Juarez and BHA Board Chair Lopez engaged in adult sexual acts. They were in a downtown church (of all places) parking lot during Charro Days. Shame on them, and they were in a BHA owned vehicle.
Funny that the BHA Director gets an overly generous contract renewal including, but not limited to, a 10% plus rate increase. How long has it been since the BHA employees have had an increase, let alone a 10%+ increase?
The lawsuit filed by Ms. Lopez, who is the attorney? Are rummors true that she is using the BHA attorney therefore, not paying for her own legal bills but letting the citizens foot the bill?
I can go on....
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