SKINFLINT TONY MARTINEZ DOESN'T WANT TO PONY UP

By Juan Montoya
Once in a while, one has to marvel at the gentility of some legal representatives of local governmental entities.
This is especially true in the case of Cameron County's Civil Litigation counselor Juan Gonzalez.
Gonzalez told the local daily that the sticking point that was not permitting the City of Brownsville (read Tony Martinez) from starting construction of Morrison Road west of McAllen Road (by Academy) was that the city had not followed the correct application process, or protocol, to begin construction.

Once that is done, Gonzalez said, then there would be no hangup there.
Apparently, the county is owner of the abandoned railroad easement and requires the city to go through the application process for a construction permit. The county would have to deed the easement over to the city before the crews can come in and start the construction.
As Paul Harvey used to say, there's more to the story. And here it is.
Remember when Mayor Tony Martinez pulled all the stops and had a ceremony celebrating the opening of the West Rail Bridge project? Martinez had the ceremony and invited everyone and their mother to the event, mindful that the county had already had their opening ceremonies before.
Well, Martinez was celebrating the first international rail bridge in more than 100 years on someone else's nickel. In Spanish it's called "la corva." In fact, Martinez held a banquet for all the dignitaries he invited with the exception of the city commissioners, which made them all sore afterwards. It is said that commissioner rick Longoria was upset he didn't get the DJ gig.
Martinez knew full well (or should have known) that the city had welshed (with apologies to those of Welsh origin) on the county-city agreement to share the costs of the relocation and purchases of right-of-way to build it. In fact, the city had issued bonds to pay their share.

Apparently, Martinez probably didn't get the legal briefing from his cracker jack city attorney Mark Sossi that the city owed the county about $2.5 million for its share of the relocation. But that's about par for ethics-challenged Sossi who had to have a court order him to pay a $160,000 settlement after his former law firm sued him charging he kept the firm's money instead of depositing into their account.
It's this little $2.5 million sticking point that has made the county call in its debt before issuing the construction permit the city needs to go forward with the Morrison Road improvements.
In fact, county sources have told us that the city had actually gotten a construction permit from the county via the good offices of county administrator David Garcia and had acted to rescind it when they found out that it had been issued. Garcia, apparently, had no authority to ask the engineering department to issue it.
The county's legal counsel overrode Garcia's interference and sent the city a cease and desist letter before they started the improvements.
"The county got the deed to the abandoned easement from the railroad," said a county insider. "They can't build on county property."
Then there's another little issue of abatement that has to be dealt with, they said.
Over the years, the passing of hazardous cargo through the easement may have deposited hazardous chemical or other materials on the grade that have to be cleaned up (abated) before any construction can begin.
And what happened to the city's share of the costs that were supposed to be paid through the bond money?
"Maybe Martinez used it to buy La Casa del Nylon for $2.3 million," quipped a county worker.
County legal counsel expect the city to own up to its debt either in money or though some other consideration before the required permits are issued.
"If Sossi had written the code of ethics Martinez told him to write some five years ago, maybe we wouldn't even have this problem," the county worker said.
"And that's the rest of the story..."