MAYOR DID NOT FILE AFFIDAVIT ON CONFLICT OF INTEREST

Me: Michael Lopez <michael.lopez@cob.us>
Dear Mr. Lopez, this is a formal request for any or all affidavits of conflict of interest that have been filed by Mayor Tony Martinez in relation to the discussion and vote on the bids for the tax resale properties held at the meeting of Nov. 3, 2016.

Michael Lopez <michael.lopez@cob.us>
1/8/16
to me
Good morning,
The City of Brownsville is not in possession of any records responsive to this request


By Juan Montoya
Just as a matter of covering all the bases, we asked the City of Brownsville Secretary Michael Lopez to provide us with the required affidavit of potential conflict of interest that has to be filed by elected officials if they discuss or vote on an issue in which they may gain a benefit.
We referred to the bid for a tax resale property located directly adjacent to Mayor Tony Martinez's old law office at the corner of 12th Street and Van Buren.

We knew that after months of haggling over the sale of the law office with Texas Rio Grande Rural Legal Aid, the talks had stalled because that organization required more parking space. When Martinez learned that the half lot was among 16 pieces of property, he bid to purchase it and he acquired it for $5,200. The property was assessed by the Cameron County Appraisal District at $13,500. There is no way of knowing at what price Martinez eventually sold the law office – plus an additional 3,000 square feet of parking spaces – to the TRGRLA.

All approved the sale on Nov. 3 and the 16 properties were sold. The buyer of the half lot of Lot 3, in Block 153 with a street address of 1242 Van Buren St. was Antonio Martinez, the same Antonio Martinez who signed as mayor accepting for the city of Brownsville (See still photo of the moment the unanimous vote was cast below).


In the months following the sale – after Martinez had paved the half lot and turned it into a parking lot, the TRGLRA bought Martinez law office properties assessed at $336,124 by the Cameron County Appraisal District.

There is no record of what the TRGLRA paid Martinez for his offices. But given the added parking spaces provided by the half lot Martinez acquired with his illegal vote, conservatively, that price tag could conceivably go over $500,000. The $5,200 investment in the tax resale property allowed Martinez to reap $100,000s more on the sale of his offices held up by the lack of adequate parking spaces.

The appraisal district's files show that the TRGLRA purchased the property from THT Tales LCC, a corporation with offices at 1206 Van Buren, in Brownsville which lists Martinez as its principal on Nov. 1, 2016.

The Texas Local  Government Code §§ 171.001-.010.  states that: A public official who has such interest is required to file, before a vote or decision on any matter involving the business entity or real property, an affidavit with the city’s official record keeper, stating the nature and extent of the interest. Id. §171.004(b).

In addition, a public official is required to abstain from further participation in the matter. Id. However, a public official that is required to file an affidavit is not required to abstain from participating in the matter if a majority of the members of the governing body have a substantial interest and are required to file and do file affidavits of similar interests on the same official matter. Id. §171.004(c).

The evidence is in the city's agendas and minutes for all to see, Further, the taped meeting of the Nov. 3 meeting presided by Martinez and the vote on the item is available on the city's website and shows that Martinez voted to make it a "unanimous" vote.

That same property was transferred to THT Tales by TM Valley Enterprises on June 24, 2011. TM Valley Enterprises also lists its offices at 1206 E. Van Buren Street in Brownsville and lists Tony Martinez as its president.