At the last meeting of the Brownsville economic Development Council, members were told that the organization contracted by the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation at more than $5 million per three-year period had decided they no longer needed their services as of Sept. 30.
Reports indicate that the receipt of the termination letter made BEDC executive committee member Keith N. Uhles, an attorney with the firm of Royston and Razor, vowed to keep the BEDC operating despite the fact that the GBIC is its only customer.Witnesses say that Uhles exploded and said he would try to sell memberships in the BEDC to continue operating using the organization's saved funds totalling near $360,000 paid them by the GBIC.
Some observers say that one reason that Uhles may have gone ballistic is because his firm is reported to be doing work for SATA, an Italian manufacturer that was vetted by the BEDC and received a $1.8 million award from the Texas Enterprise Fund with a $1.8 match from the GBIC on the BEDC board's recommendation.
SATA has committed to invest $114 million and create 300 jobs in Brownsville.
The termination notice came in the form of a letter from the GBIC's chair and city commissioner Jessica Tetreau-Kalifa (Click on graphic at left to enlarge) and complied with the terms of the contract which paid the BEDC to search for potential firms who would bring their operations to Brownsville in exchange for tax abatements and incentives from the city. Under the terms of the contract, the BEDC would vet the companies and recommend the levels of incentives that the GBIC would offer.Under a three-year contract with the GBIC, they get paid $1,672,400 each year, for a total of $5,017,200. That contract ends this September.
The contract can be terminated prior to the term by mutual agreement of both parties, by either party for cause or without cause, for any reason and upon 120 days with written notice, or should either party default in conforming with or adhering to any requirement and the default is not corrected within 15 days.
In the event of termination, BEDC would be entitled to all compensation earned by it to the date of the termination computed pro rata through the date, but shall not be entitled to any further compensation under any circumstances.
After a series of embarrassing disclosures on the activities of the past executive director (Jason Hilts) and diminishing returns from the BEDC, the current GBIC board of directors sent the BEDC its termination notice effective Sept. 30.
Some of these disclosures indicate that the BEDC made a $5,000 cash advance to Hilts and sent it to Colombia and only after the "loan" was discovered, he was allowed to repay it in cash and no more was said about it.
Former BEDC vice-president Gilbert Salinas is now the interim Executive Director for the GBIC as the board searches for a permanent director. Under the new scheme, the GBIC will vet its own companies and recruit potential firms to relocate in the Brownsville area using its own staff.
Sources say that there are more disclosures in the horizon as the budget and expenditures of the BEDC are scrutinized.
10 comments:
And how much money has this "partnership" cost the tax payers????? Where are the jobs and when is the promised progress going to show its face in Brownsville????? Why can't anyone give the public a real timeline for all the promised jobs and businesses??????
Just a squeaking swamp rat
More of this shit, juanito? write about the city. About real people!
That Gilbert Salinas guy is a piece of crap! He's a backstabbing, crock of crap, who thinks...repeat...THINKS he knows what he's doing, when in reality he sounds like an idiot every time he speaks at meetings and has no idea what he's talking about! He left BEDC, (only after he got all the gossip from everyone and used it against them) to go to GBIC. What makes the GBIC board members think he won't do the same to them, get all the gossip from them, and then use it against them at another entity to move on up! No one likes him, he's and arrogant, pathetic slime.
My car just popped a wheel. I'm stranded on 14th street
Fuck you , Diego ! Hope a drunk bastard hits you!
Diego find a bar drink a beer and pinch a fat ass for me
And what does GBIC exactly do for the community? No jobs, no commercial growth. The city should consider doing away wiith this corporation, the GBIC employees are drawing huge salaries and to top it off, big bonuses. Totally unacceptable.
Maybe they can get United Brownsville to hire them....no wait!
Goibert salinas jumped ship when things were getting hot at bedc. Everyone should remember that gilbert salinas was at bedc when there was little produced by bedc, when suspicious travel to colombia and elsewhere occurred, when financial improprieties, possible fraud, took place. Gilbert salinas was there. Now he is taking some of the bedc staff with him, throwing a lifeline, to continue at gbic. Gilbert would not make it in the real world. Brownsville tax payers, you've been warned.
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