Given the diminishing returns we have been getting from the City of Brownsville on Requests for Information, we dug through our convoluted files and were able to (amazingly) come up with a Memorandum of Understanding between the City and the Brownsville Historical Association on the Charles Stillman Laureles Ranch House.
The MOU was signed by City Manager Charlie Cabler (oops) and BHA Director Priscilla Ann Rodriguez in Nov. 9, 2012.
The MOU is titled "Memorandum of Understanding Regarding Transporting Charles Stillman House" and states that "the city has been given a house once occupied by Charles Stillman known as Los Laureles Ranch House..."
Under the terms of the MOU, the city estimated that the cost of moving the house from Corpus Christi would be about $65,000."Because of the historical, educational, and general public importance of having the home of the founder of Brownsville in the city he founded, City is willing to contribute $25,000 to the BHA to (solely and exclusively) assist in relocating the house to Brownsville.
Now – about a year and three months later – a presentation by Assistant City Manager for Finance Pete Gonzalez indicates that the city has already spent $39,000 without bothering to go to the city commissioner for approval of the funds although it has gone over the $35,000 discretionary limit.
There is nothing in the MOU that states that the city was going to use money from $3 million awarded it from its share of a settlement with American Electric Power Texas Central Co. And – perhaps more importantly – there has been no agenda item on a city agenda asking the commissioners to approve the outlay from those funds.
What does a utility settlement have to do with restoration of a structure from the 1850s that didn't even use electricity or even running water and was supposed to give relief to city utility ratepayers?
Gonzalez and Cabler could well argue that the $39,000 came in two outlays of less than $35,000 – $25,000 and $14,000 – and that the last figure was an emergency expenditure for them to meet the terms of the agreement the city reached with the UT for the use of the property the house was on next to the Cueto building. The UTB is to build a parking lot for there in lieu of rent. The city is currently on the hook to pay the original owner $90,000 over the next three years and retain a first option to buy after that time.
There is more.
Under the MOU, the "BHA will...within a reasonable time after its arrival, have the Ranch House open to the public during such regular hours as BHA deems appropriate. BHA hereby assumes all responsibility for maintenance and operation of the Ranch House."
Hear the hit coming?
How much do you think that restoring the ramshackle structure that now graces the linear park will cost the BHA (us) to return ti to its past grandeur as Charles' love shack out in the llanos of the King Ranch?
And since the BHA agreed to assume "all responsibility for maintenance and operation" of that monstrosity, does that mean that we can expect significant outlays of public cash to spruce it up and maintain it ad infinitum?
City of Brownsville administrators and its mayor are a giving bunch. It's bad enough that numerous pioneer families were victimized by Stillman and his cronies in the bitter past, but now they continue giving the public's assets in memory of the Robber Baron that did it.
7 comments:
Where was Dagoberto when this was happening?
Juan, you do understand that the majority of Brownsville citizens don't even know the Stillman "Love Shack" is at Linear Park and even more don't care. Local citizens are fine with corruption as long as it doesn't impact their entitlements or cut off the power to their TV. 'Da Mayor Tony Martinez understands this and like his hero Barack Obama, will depend on this ignorance to allow him to dictate city policy. We are losing the wars in the Middle East, we are losing the war on poverty, we have lost the drug war, but poverty continues to expand....which means ignorance is growing in this region and in the nation. This public apathy and ignorance expands socialist government, expands the size of government, and lets the government play a role in every aspect of out lives.
Wow, that Charles Stillman guy must be really old....to have signed the MOU in 2012!
Juan, no big deal its just taxpayers monies its ok, mm
Worthless mayor. No values, no manners, no nothing. He thinks he's superior to all of us. Typical St. Joe shit. Another part of that shit pile next to Gowen and Julieta.
I am one of many decentants of those pioneer families that were victimized by the Stillmans and his corrupted cronies.
I am totality aganist the city spending any Tax Payers Dollars on this Love Shack that was used for sexual encounters. I do not aggree with where this building is now standing which is owned by the Tax Payers as well. Public Property used to show a bad immage of a building onced used for sexual encounters so he could hind from family and others? Not Good...
The city needs to figure out how to get rid of this eye sore to the city and move on to better projects that benefit the city and it's people.
Get rid of this vacant building...NOWWWWWWW. Maybe some volunteer firefighter mind do the job...lol. (read the stories in the paper)
If it belonged to an old Meskin, they would not bother!!!
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