COUNTY COMMISSIONERS TAP SEPULVEDA FOR COUNTY JUDGE

By Juan Montoya
Cameron County commissioners accepted the resignation of county judge Carlos Cascos and appointed County Administrator Pete Sepulveda to replace him.
Cascos will be sworn in as Texas Secretary of State March 7.
Cascos nominated Sepulveda, who is also the executive director of the Cameron County Regional Mobility Authority and earns some $220,000 from both entities. It remains unclear how his appointment will affect his duties at the CCRMA.
Cascos made the motion to nominate Sepulveda and was seconded by Pct. 1 commissioner Sofia Benavides. Pct. 2 commissioner Alex Dominguez and Pct. 4 commissioner Dan Sanchez voted for. Pct. 3 commissioner David Garza – who was also considered a candidate for the position – voted against.
Also present at the commissioners court meeting was former County Clerk Joe Rivera, the Democratic Party candidate wo lost to Cascos last November in the general election. Many thought the commissioners would vote to appoint Rivera, a fellow Democrat.
The selection of Sepulveda was first broached by Cascos when the announcement was made that Gov. Greg Abbott had tapped him for his next secretary of state, but was opposed by Garza who said the appointment would constitute a conflict of interest if Speulveda was allowed to maintain his directorship of the CCRMA.
However, Cascos argued that keeping Sepulveda, who has been instrumental in major ongoing infrastructure projects in the county would provide continuity to their success.
One of the more important projects is the long-delayed opening of the first new rail crossing between the United States and Mexico in over 100 years. The rail crossing will link Brownsville and Matamoros and, on the U.S. side is known as the West Rail Relocation Project.

Sepulveda was born in Rio Grande City and earned a Bachelor’s degree in business administration and finance at Texas A&M University.
CCRMA has projects on the go worth $2 billion. With Sepulveda as its head, the CCRMA has worked on rail projects, highway projects, and international bridge projects, and that the partnerships it has developed at the federal, state and local level has led to important regional projects being developed to the north and west of Cameron County.
In a December 2014 interview with the online newspaper Rio Grande Valley Guardian, Sepulveda lauded the work of the CCRMA.
“We have leveraged a lot of funding from Texas Department Of Transportation (TxDOT) and that has made us successful,” he said. Sepulveda then listed the top goals the CCRMA board set for itself. “At the end of the day we are about creating jobs, improving economic development, creating a better quality of life, improving mobility for our region, including Mexico, alleviating congestion in urban areas and ensuring efficient trade corridors,” he said.
Also on the drawing board or under construction are plans for second causeway to South Padre Island,  FM 550 toll road that will link I-69 East to the Port of Brownsville, a link between I-69 Central in Edinburg and I-69 East north of Harlingen along FM 1925, and a possible extension of FM 1925 westwards to Starr and Zapata counties.
“This is a great project (bearing in mind) the UT-Rio Grande Valley and the UTRGV Medical School component and the second access to South Padre Island. It will be an alternative to I-2 (Expressway 83)," he said in the interview.
Cascos said that Sepulveda would not run again for the position in 2016 when the position will be open. He said that was one of the reasons that he favored Sepulveda's nomination.
With Cameron County elections Administrator leaving April 10, the directors of the county's Health Department and of Planning and Management also scheduled to leave, it is obvious that a complete reorganization of the county structure will have to be undertaken by Sepulveda as one of his first tasks as county judge.