IS BEDC DOING END RUN TO TAKE OVER GBIC? MARTINEZ NOMINATES NICK SERAFY SET TO JOIN GBIC BOARD

By Juan Montoya
Following the non-renewal of the three-year $5.3 million contract of the Brownsville Economic Development Council to vet firms for incentive funding by the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation, members of its executive committee vowed to continue on their own.

How they would raise the equivalent amount to continue the BEDC was never revealed, only that the existing board would ask its members to raise the money. Realistically, it was hard to believe that the members would pitch in $5.3 every three years.

Now we understand that some of the BEDC supporters are making an end run and having city commission members stack the GBIC board and its vetting committee with similarly-minded people who will be sympathetic to their purposes.

Some city staffers are saying that City of Brownsville Mayor Tony Martinez has picked Nick Serafy of Serafy Laboratories to be on the GBIC board. And the GBIC vetting committee already has Realtor Craig Grove and CPA Gregg McCumber appointed and are awaiting the appointment of a third member.

The other members of the GBIC board are city commissioners Cesar de Leon and Jessica Tetreau, Cameron County Treasurer David Betancourt, and John Cowen. Serafy – if his appointment goes through – would replace former city commissioner Deborah Portillo.

But is is the vetting committee makeup that is raising eyebrows because they would in effect direct the $5 million in annual monies from their on-quarter cent share of the city's sales taxes. With only three members appointed by the GBIC board, it would in effect guide funding policies for the GBIC toward providing incentives for firms to come to Brownsville or expand here.

"With three members, all it would take is two votes to recommend companies for funding," said a city staffer. "And with De Leon on the ropes as a result of his taped remarks, Martinez thinks he can control the GBIC with his appointments. That's a lot of power for two people to have."

Other critics point out that both Grove and McCumber live in the Rancho Viejo Resort and not in Brownsville.

"What do people in Rancho Viejo know about the conditions that face Brownsville workers if they don't even live in the city," they ask.

Among those mentioned to join the two has been Billy Bradford, another CPA, which lead some to question whether qualified Hispanics without ties to the city commissioners or mayor could not be found.

After the city commissioners questioned the GBIC and BEDC's efficiency, three joined the board and voted not to renew the BEDC contract.

Until this past September the BEDC's 33-member board sat in on reviewing companies' applications for incentives funding. And despite the fact that it could count on a handful of successes, it acquired a reputation of wasteful spending and extravagant trips that included expensive trips for local politicians, including Martinez and other public officials without showing any results. The real power on the BEDC was the 10-member executive committee.

The former director, Jason Hilts, resigned after commissioners questioned his extravagant spending and his funding of an office in Colombia. After three years, the office had not produced any results in terms of jobs for local residents and it was shut down shortly before Hilts resigned and left.

"We get the same people getting appointed over and over to local boards that control the public nickel and we have not seen any tangible results," said the city staffer. "The GBIC ordered a reputable firm (Price Waterhouse) to do an audit of the BEDC's operations and that is still to come. We are hearing that the report might be turned over to law enforcement if it reveals activities that might be considered dishonest or even criminal."