Tuesday, March 10, 2015

IN WAKE OF $3.3 MILLION CONTRACT PROBE, BISD EMPLOYEE BENEFITS DEPT. GOES INTO FULL DAMAGE CONTROL MODE

By Juan Montoya
The Employee Benefits Department at the Brownsville Independent School District has gone into full mode damage control mode  following the disclosure that federal and state investigators are looking into the award of a $3.3 million insurance contract without the approval of the district's board.
The director of that department, Judy Cuellar, was said to have placed Employee Benefits staffer Ernesto de Leon Jr. on administrative suspension after weeks of suggesting that he may have kept files from some bidders without authority.
De Leon, who was not one of the staff members who participated in the insurance evaluation committee that made the recommendation that the district award the lucrative $3.3 property, windstorm, hail, boiler machinery insurance to McGriff and Seibels and Williams of Houston, Texas.
The district insurance evaluation committee which recommended McGriff were Cuellar, Payroll Administrator Kenneth Lieck, Warehouse Adm. Kent Wittenmore, CFO Lucio Mendoza, Finance Coordinator Mark Alaniz, and Belia Rodriguez, a representative from the purchasing dept.
The three BISD board members who head the insurance committee are Cesar Lopez, Jose Chirinos and Carlos Elizondo.
Cuellar apparently suspected de Leon Jr. might have been feeding another insurance company inside bid information because his brother Don de Leon, is a representative of Klements Insurance, one of two companies that was deemed a non-bid by the insurance committee, reportedly because they could not contact companies who provided windstorm insurance who were locked in by McGriff already.
The companies that were considered were McGriff and Bordon's Insurance of Corpus Christi. Documents submitted by the two companies showed that the identical same carriers were listed in both the bids, leading some to conclude that the Bordon bid – because it was higher than McGriffs using the same companies – was a "straw" bid to assure McGriff the contract.
The district let out Request For Proposals (RFPs) for the insurance early December 2014. The policies on the district's property ran out January 31.
After a majority of the board at their January meeting instructed the administration to rebid because they thought the price was too high, BISD CFO Lucio Mendoza instead decided to allow McGriff to continue providing the service and then-superintendent Carl Montoya approved his recommendation. A purchase order and a check for the $3.3 million was made out to McGriff.
That check was later returned after the board found out that Lucio and Montoya had acted without the authority of the board in contracting with McGriff.
Later, the district approved the continuation of the coverage for 90 days, including the windstorm insurance. That means that at the end of April, a new award will be made. Regardless, McGriff will collect $1.3 million for the 90 days that includes windstorm protection even though hurricane season does not start until June, more than a month later.
The district in the past has had to take McGriff to court because its carriers refused to pay the district for damages suffered during a recent hurricane. A court ruled in favor of the BISD.
Cuellar, sources say, had been "dogging" de Leon as the matter heated up, forcing him to file a grievance against her for harassment.
Just last week, before spring break, she reportedly went to his office and accused him of having unauthorized files on the bidders for the insurance and went directly to a file and pulled one belonging to Montalvo Insurance of Weslaco, one of the companies she and the rest of the insurance evaluation committee members, had declared a non-bid.
She also seized de Leon's computer, they said.
"How did she know where to look for that file in the first place/," asked a BISD employee who works in the district's main office. "Everyone thinks that file was planted there as an attempt to divert the attention of the insurance investigation by law enforcement."



20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is he de leon the one who ran for the tsc board?

Anonymous said...

As an insider Cuellar planted false and misleading information. She's been on the take for some time . Let us not forget Mendoza too.

Anonymous said...

Judy Cuellar, a conniving woman, she scares people, i hate to say this but, she's evil. No heart, no soul, no nothing. We don't, I'm sorry to say because of the way she carries herself, need her. May god help her and may she find herself and eventually learn to do the right thing. May she find peace within herself and live a righteous life.

Anonymous said...

Judy Cellar and Mendoza should be the ones suspended and investigated along with kent, Lieck and Mark Steven. Kent and Lieck have no business being in the employee committee, they are both former Insurance Administrators makes one wonder why the insist on staying on??

Anonymous said...

The word out is Cesar Lopez has a lot to do with this Insurance fiasco. After what he did in Mercedes bid rigging with Escobedo's business the FBI and Texas Rangers should be on him. What a scum loser.

Anonymous said...

Fire her ass...

Anonymous said...

Juan this story is sooooo full of holes!!!!!!!!!!!! You are just twisting the facts. Everyone knows that Deleon is in the camp that pays you to print stories. Come on, who do you think you are fooling?????

Anonymous said...

Very sad!

Anonymous said...

The truth always comes out, I don't think Juan is so stupid to print non-factual information. These board members and Judy are so stupid they are hanging themselves. Greed and stupidity will bring them down.

Anonymous said...

You are really saying Mendoza wittmore and l ieck are honest?

Anonymous said...

What is there interest in insurance when it's not there job?

Anonymous said...

The Kick-back is their sole interest my friend .

Anonymous said...

Please provide documents to support the holes in this story. Juan has provided documents which prove what happened.

Samuel Whittemore said...

why was mr. de leon sr. on the bond oversight committee in the past…remember he and cata presas tried to make a deal on a small parcel of land next to veterans high school…they tried to justify it as a bus turn around… at least kent whittemore is qualified.. he has all his insurance credentials - check his certifications… he has no ties to anyone except doing what is best for bisd and its employees.

Anonymous said...

wow, so is this De Leon employee put on paid extended vacation time? C'mon guys, this is peanuts....stuff like the under the cover $3 MILLION contract, issued by the CFO is more. Btw, yup, the K. Wittenmore is way more qualified and is a no BS fellow. Shit, put this guy in the Finance Department, and he can clean house and put order. Too many wanna-be Administrators shooting the breeze with the Secretaries or gossiping with their minions.

Anonymous said...

Ernest DeLeon Jr. is a saint compared to everyone else. But dis reader can't say da same about his brother. I heard dat he and da Klement guy were in bed together. Dey were trying to use Jr's insider info as the BISD risk manager and his brother's political connections to work with Klement to land da BISD jackpot. Da Klement guy was real close to being indicted a few years ago for similar shit. Do your homework.

Anonymous said...

This whole entire department need to be reassigned. There is no doubt, that Judy Cuellar and possibly others are taking some sort of kick-backs.

Anonymous said...

Wrong person to clean house!

Anonymous said...

The Klement guy has done a great job exposing the current carrier in cahoots with some in employee benefits department, and possibly some board members. Keep exposing this Mr. Klement regardless of these distractions!

Anonymous said...

Ernest De Leon is taking the fall . His brother Don is a piece of shit. Investigate the rest of the insurance department. Investigate BISD !!! Tax payers money going to waste. Oh well, this is Brownsville. Corruption is the number one paying job. \
WAKE UP PEOPLE !!!!

rita