Friday, April 28, 2017

COWEN CANCELS MEETING WHERE HE WANTED TO ISSUE BONDS AND TO RAISE TAXES "NOW"

By Juan Montoya

Something funny happened on the way to a Brownsville Independent School District's Facilities Committee meeting.
Facilities Committee chair Phil Cowen decided he didn't want to hold the meeting scheduled for today and which included the item to discuss "bond issue and raising taxes now."


As we said before, this is the same trustee that as a candidate boasted of how he had build numerous district facilities in his prior stint as a board chairman hand had done it "without raising property taxes."
In the next item he wanted vendor Paragon, who has garnered millions in contracts with the BISD, to give him a quote on building four soccer fields and avoid the bidding process because they are Buy Board vendors.


That is just the tip of the Cowen "BISD Proud" iceberg.

The next items were not really agenda items. Rather, they were more like directives to the administration on 3.,4.) whether to bid out for Porter or stick with the current design and whether to stick with Requests For Proposals and when and how the board should review the responses 5.) Whether to use half of the Tax Reorganization Election monies to build a Fine Arts Pavilion and if the BISD should entice the city to help build it 6.) To expand the vendor list to include Houston and northern Texas contractors to get more bids and better deals 7.) Discuss adding tennis, golf, swimming, and rowing (?) into elementaries, middle schools and high schools (whenever appropriate).

If all these items seem to be discussions by one person rather than agenda items for the consideration of committee members, you are right. It seems that Cowen is the sort who talks aloud as he types so it unfolds more like a tedious argument than an agenda.

Let's see what the Cowen idea factory spews out next time.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Can't believe that board members haven't been taught how to prepare an agenda for a meeting, especially if the intent is to make any decisions or to recommend issues to the entire board. Just like all the Cowen's....often their mouth overloads their ass. Why doesn't BISD host competitive wrestling (rasslin to some) in the schools. School districts in the upper valley have had lots of luck for boys and girls. Too many think of wrestling as a sport for large people...but in reality in team wrestling, it is the small guys and girls that carry the team. And we should have a great rowing team....lots of river crossing adventurers in the community.

Anonymous said...

Does this surprise anybody that this old fart wants to raise taxes now that he is in office. A True liar, I mean lawyer... Lies his way to victory and then screws you. He is trying to raise taxes to make up the money that Tia Esperanzita owes for those rings that were illegally purchased/accepted, whatever you want to call it.. This Cowen dude learned from the best. Remember he had a family member who was Eddie "who gives his ass up to the republicans and runs as a democrat but really is a crooked republican" Lucio.. This Cowen guy now is just as slime as Lucio... The Feds should be looking into BISD with all their dealings. That's if the FBI isn't already looking into BISD.. By the way Juan, isn't Dannenbaum being investigated by the FBI and files have been seized? Isnt this the same company that Eddie Lucio was involved with in Willacy County and with the Bridge to No Where that cost us taxpayers 15 million for some bill boards? You better run Lucio, you might be getting a knock on your door from the FBI.. Its about time...

Anonymous said...

This guy is a pawn and a big joke he's already grabbing his ankles ,voters should start recalls on these idiots.

Anonymous said...

Which idiots are you talking about? The 3 newly elected ones? If so, I vote with you! If all of them would use their heads instead of their pockets, they could help make BISD even greater, hugeeeeeee! Instead they devote themselves to personal agendas and vendettas and hide behind the trustee's table. One of them is super intelligent, but it is all about her and what she wants - not what is good for the children and employees of BISD

rita