News reports – so far unconfirmed by official sources – indicate that the five-year tenure of Mike Gonzalez Jr. as the head of Brownsville's ad-hoc government organization United Brownsville has come to an end.
Sources say that Gonzalez, 39, was let go this week.Calls to his executive secretary Laura Matamoros has drawn a blank, with her insisting on an email query before she "looks into it" to give social media and answer.
Gonzalez Jr., a former mayor of Kyle, was tapped as executive director of United Brownsville by the three-member, self-appointed, so-called United Brownsville Coordinated Board on April 2006 to a one-year contract at $6,500 a month, or $78,000 for 12 months, to assist in the implementation of strategies identified in Imagine Brownsville, the city’s comprehensive plan generated during former mayor Eddie Treviño's tenure at an estimated costs of more than $1 million paid to Carlos Marin's Ambiotec engineering group.
He's been there ever since.
News reports at the time of his hiring stated that Gonzalez attended Texas State University in San Marcos, formerly Southwest Texas State University, where he earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in finance and computer information systems.
He is a licensed real estate broker.
In 2002, Gonzalez moved to Kyle a community of about 25,000 people eight miles from San Marcos with his wife Linda.
Even after he was hired at United Brownsville, Gonzalez and Linda have kept their homestead exemption there and are still registered to vote there. They have never registered to vote in Cameron County despite United Brownsville's stated adherence to civic engagement.
She is a certified public accountant.
Gonzalez said at the time of his hiring that the greatest challenge is that “the needs of a community are always greater than the capacities that are available.”
A primary aim, he said, is creating jobs. He was right, apparently, because so far United Brownsville cannot claim that it has produced the jobs promised, despite a five year subsidy from at least eight publicly-funded entities at $25,000 each.
Those are the city of Brownsville, Brownsville Public Utilities Board, Brownsville Navigation District, Brownsville Independent School District, University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College, Brownsville Community Improvement Corp. and the Greater Brownsville Incentive Corporation.
So far no announcement has been made to the media by United Brownsville or the so-called Coordinating Board.
2 comments:
United Brownsville is like the U.S. Congress....they don't live by their own rules and laws. United Brownsville failed Julieta Garcia in her bid to be a major player in the new UTRGV. There is little evidence that United Brownsville has, like Hillary Clinto, any success....except to make some money for their members and waste tax dollars. Not only should Mike go away...the entire organization should go away.
¡Hierba mala nunca muere! Just like those pesky weeds, you get rid of some over here and you find some more growing over there. Their seeds are spread thru bird droppings, you know. Where there was one, you are bound to find another close by. Those money grubbbers, they're like a terminal cancer.
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