NOT ONLY GBIC, BUT SOSSI P.C. FORFEITED CORPORATION

By Juan Montoya
If it's any consolation that city contract attorney Mark Sossi allowed the corporate charter of the multimillion-dollar generating Greater Brownsville Incentive Corporation to be forfeited by the Secretary of State by neglecting to file its four-year report and changing its agent of record (himself), he was equally negligent to file the report on his own registered corporation.
Secretary of State records indicate that the corporation Mark Sossi, P.C. has been forfeited since 2010 because the attorney also failed to file his corporate report.
In our previous post we indicated that Secretary of State Nandita Berry had she had ordered the GBIC domestic corporation status because of the entity attorney's (Sossi) failure to file its report due once every four years.
In a letter dated Nov. 14, 2013, GBIC was notified by the Texas Secretary of State's Reports Unit's Business and Public Filings Division that "the corporation's right to conduct affairs has been forfeited...for failing to file the report. The corporation's right to conduct affairs may be revived by submitting the...report. It should be completed and received by this office on or before March 14, 2014."
And the letter continued warning the GBIC that "failure to file the periodic report when due could ultimately result in the involuntary termination of the domestic corporation or the revocation of the foreign corporation."
Then, on March 21, the same unit notified the GBIC that it had forfeited its corporate charter.
The GBIC which was incorporated in 1992, cites as its purpose "to expedite and enhance economic and industrial development in Brownsville, Texas, in accordance with the Texas Development Corporation Act of 1979, codified as Article 5190.6 of the Texas Revised Civil Statutes, and to administer the distribution of the proceeds of certain development bonds issued and the proceeds of certain development sales taxes, received on behalf of the City of Brownsville (and the Brownsville City Commission)."
In fiscal year 2013, the GBIC and its sister corporation (The Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation, the BCIC), have received $4,231,263 each. The two entities receive a quarter penny each from the city sales taxes. The city's general fund keeps the other half.
This fiscal year starting October 2013, each has received $1,828,145 as of the end of February.
And it's not as if Sossi wasn't getting well paid for his work. He collects $5,000 a month from the GBIC as a retainer, a total of $60,000. This is on top of his gig with the city commission.
The city has been paying Sossi (DBA as Good Government Law Firm) $120,000 a year since March 2009. That totals to $180,000 for part time work.
The GBIC annual report of expenditures covering the first five months of fiscal year 2014 up until February indicates that Mark Sossi P.C. has received $25,000 from the Type A corporation.
According to the State Comptroller Susan Combs, The Development Corporation Act of 1979 gives cities the ability to finance new and expanded business enterprises in their local communities through economic development corporations (EDCs). Chapters 501, 504, and 505 of the Local Government Code outline the characteristics of Type A and Type B EDCs, authorize cities to adopt a sales tax to fund the corporations and define projects EDCs are allowed to undertake.
The GBIC is a Type A corporation and the BCIC is a Type B corporation.
Type A EDCs are typically created to fund industrial development projects, such as business infrastructure, manufacturing and research and development. Type A EDCs can also fund military base realignment, job training classes and public transportation.

The way the sales tax proceeds for these two entities is divvied up goes something like this. A prospective applicant for the funds is vetted by the 30-member board of the Brownsville Economic Development Council which then makes its recommendation to either the GBIC or BCIC for funding. 

All the members of the BEDC must belong to the Brownsville Chamber of Commerce and must be in good standing.

The board of directors of the GBIC include Sandra Langley, President, David Betancourt, Ed Sikes,  Al Villarreal, and city commissioner Jessica Tetreau-Kalifa.
Betancourt is the Cameron County Treasurer.
The GBIC administrative staff includes Jason Hilts, President/CEO, Gilbert Salinas, Executive Vice President, Lizzy de la Garza Putegnat, Director of Business Retention and Expansion.

Salinas, by the way, is also executive vice president for the BEDC, the group that decides which projects to recommend to the GBIC for funding. Hilts is also the CEO for the BEDC. Both Salinas and Hilts – as are commissioners Tetreau and Estela Chavez-Vasquez – are ardent supporters of the plan to offer SpaceX billionaire Elon Musk up to $15 million and other "incentives" to set up the commercial launch pad on Boca Chica Beach.
The board for the Type B BCIC is composed of chair (and city commissioner) Rose Gowen, vice chair Jude A. Benavides, Blanca Perez-Moreno, Ruben O'Bell, Mary Elizabeth Hollmann, city commissioner Estela Chavez-Vasquez, and C. Frank Wood,. It's executive director is Rachel Flores.
But we digress.
As we said earlier, as far as the State of Texas is concerned, the GBIC no longer exists and has forfeited its right to conduct affairs in the state since November 2014. Yet, it has continued to operate and shell out funds for various projects and fund ongoing incentives, including the salaries of Salinas, Hilts and Sossi and the BEDC staff.
Now we find out that not only does this nonexistent corporation continue to manage the millions in tax revenues it is receiving, but that it has also been paying Mark Sossi P.C., another corporation that has forfeited its right to conduct business in the state to the tune of $25,000 in the past five months.
We couldn't make this up if we wanted to. No wonder we're the laughing stock of the Rio Grande Valley.