TERCERO UNDER THE GUN AT TODAY'S TSC BOARD MEET

By Juan Montoya
No matter where on today's Texas Southmost College agenda President Lily Tercero wants to look, things don't bode well for her administration.
If she starts at the top, item 5 is the report from Financial Advisor Noe Hinojosa, of Estrada Hinojosa Investments and runs smack into serious issues with TSC's report to the Securities Exchange Commission about a fund balance that has been reported as being exactly the same in this year's report as in the previous one, an almost unheard of occurrence.
Hinojosa questioned Tercero's administration about this and will divulge the results of his inquiry before the full board. If Hinojosa had questions, you can bet TSC's bottom dollar the bean counters over at the SEC will have some of their own. If any deliberate or misleading information was contained in the report, potential penalties for the college could be in the offing.
As if that wasn't bad enough, if she looks at the agenda from the bottom up she will run into Item 13 that reads: Discussion and Possible Action on Special Counsel Report.
This little hot potato of an item has to with the investigation ordered by the board into the extension of the windstorm insurance by the administration without board approval. That potential illegal extension could cost the college dearly.

The board of trustees directed TSC's legal counsel Frank Perez to launch the investigation after they discovered that the college's windstorm insurance contract had been extended without the matter going before the board.

The extension – and the rebidding and awarding the coverage – will cost additional funds that could have been saved if the administration had been on top of things and had informed the board months before the coverage expired.

Perez hired outside counsel to investigate how the windstorm coverage lapsed without the board being informed and who ordered the extension.

During a recent meeting, Tercero said she had approved the extension based on recommendations from"staff."

When pressed on which "staff" had made the recommendation, she threw Carlos Pecero, TSC's administrator in Business Services, Finance & Administration, under the proverbial blame bus. But the fact that Tercero had renewed the windstorm policy without sending the item out for bids or even consulting the board irked the members.

The board, caught in a dilemma between Tercero's action and the hurricane season which is upon the Texas coast, put a majority in the mood of rescinding the contract which currently runs from April 7, 2016 to April 6, 2017.

Pecero said that when the administration discovered the policy was about to lapse, there were only two weeks left in the policy and felt they had no choice but to extend it.

Reports by other blogs, notably Jim Barton's Brownsville Observer, said that the coverage by BTW calls for an annual premium for basic windstorm of $829,789, but, adding the excess windstorm protection for damage beyond a certain threshold, adds another $214,000, taking the premium to over $1 million annually.

Trustee Trey Mendez suggested aiming for an August termination, not liking the thought of a company benefiting from an illegal, unlawful or voidable contract.

Pecero hinted that rescinding the contract might lead to recovering a very small amount of the premium, "possibly only $40,000." Two buildings, currently on the policy as qualifying for a "superior construction discount," no longer qualify for that discount and would have to be insured at a higher rate.

The special counsel, a first-rate investigator who was an Asst. Cameron County DA before he went into private practice, will recommend to the board whether any criminal acts took place and whether they are prosecutable,

And, to make matters worse, there is an Item 7 of the agenda titled " Update on Associate Nursing Program" which has been halted by the State of Texas which prohibited the college from enrolling any new students and threatened to withdraw its approval of even having the program at TSC unless at least the entire graduating class makes an 80 passing grade. Texas A & M University has stepped in and is assisting TSC to try to make the cut. If the students don't reach that passing level, the program– which used to be the jewel of the community college – will die.

In contrast, Texas State Technical College in Harlingen has chalked up another 100 percent passing rate for Vocational Nursing class this semester.

“This is our third time receiving this pass rate,” said TSTC Vocational Nursing Program Chair Adriana Hinojosa-Vassberg. “We’re very proud.

“The vocational nurse is a very hands-on occupation, but we do expect our students to possess a lot of critical thinking and decision-making skills. The vocational nurse is responsible for domestic duties, and also has a high level of thinking. They have to figure out why a person is feeling a certain way.”

While people may assume that being part of such a program may take quite a bit of time to complete, the process is actually a lot shorter.

“The program itself is one-year, but we do require prerequisites before they begin, which will make their total time at TSTC about two years,” said Hinojosa-Vassberg.

Can Tercero, hanging on to her position by her fingernails, say the same?