It was all there in black and white.
The design and construction of the new Brownsville South Padre Island International Airport terminal has been delayed for five months and its construction cost rose from $27.5 to $38 million partly as the result of Mayor Tony Martinez's interference thrusting a local architecture firm that did work for him in his private business and was chum of his son at St. Joseph Academy.
These facts were first revealed in a letter from the architect chosen to design the new terminal expansion – CH2MHILL of Englewood, Co. – where they requested a change order from Airport Director Bryant Walker in a letter dated Sept. 21 saying that as a result its fees will increase from the original $1,650,000 to $2,500,925, an additional $850,925.
The new additions to the passenger terminal area were added by the city and its local architect, Origo Works, increasing the original size from 65,000 square feet to 85,000 square feet. Also, the Custom and Border Protection asked that the original 14,000 square feet be increased by 9,000 square feet for Federal Inspection Service (FIS) areas to 23,000 square feet.
Those changes, said James Kirshbaum, the engineer for CH2MHILL, were not in the original engineering specs provided to the company when it submitted its response to the city's Request for Proposals (RFP). As a result, he said, not only the cost of the engineering services, but the changes in the original design will balloon the original construction cost estimate from $27.5 million to $38 million.
The hiring of Origo Works, an architectural firm associated with Mayor Tony Martinez, were all done at his urging and were done outside the city's procurement process.
"The other item that has caused additional design and management effort is the coordination with our local architect, Origo Works," wrote James Kirshbaum, the engineer for CH2MHILL."As requested by the mayor, we engaged Origo Works to help incorporate 'local' architectural features and elements into the original design. This effort extended the conceptual design phase of the project by approximately five months, resulting in significant additional efforts by CH2M, Corgan and Origo Works." (Click on graphic at right to enlarge.)
And although Walker assured the commissioners that the $11 million increase in construction costs cited by CH2MHILL in the letter requesting their additional fees was not set in stone, by approving the additional design funds to draw up the plans, that is the total estimate for the additions.
It is worth noting that Javier Huerta, one of the principals of Origo Works, graduated from St. Joseph Academy before graduating from the University of Texas at Austin.
He and his firm also list work done on the mayor's businesses, including Spanky's Burgers and Rincon de la Paz off Palm Boulevard. Both businesses list their principal as Martinez, and list his law firm's address at 1206 E. Van Buren Street as their mailing address.
Commenters to this blog have noted that Huerta and one of Martinez's sons were classmates at St. Joe's before both graduated and parted ways.
The letter from Kirshbaum indicates that the firm hired Origo Works to lend a "local" flavor to the terminal's design and delayed the project for a full five months.
It is interesting to note that one of the projects Origo Works lists "on the board" is the St. Joseph Academy Alumni Student Center, the school which Martinez and his son attended.
17 comments:
Can somebody take the fking keys away from this "golden girl" before he "mayor" bankrupts the dam city.
I understand that Mayor Blue Jean is paying for that extra amount since it is his fault.
HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! Is he getting half of that increase in his pocket. Come on one of you so great lawyers in Brownsville. You know the law so lets get going with an impeachment process for this guy. El monas se esta burlando de nostros y nadie hacemos nada. No faltan
huevos a todos por dejar que siga siendo sus chingaderas. Hecheno fuera. Y tu, Mayor, no te da vuerguenza que la gente piense eso de ti. Salte tu a la chingada. Do us one favor.
If the original estimate increased by 36.19 %, then it should be put up for bids again. Change Orders of this magnitude is a way to undermine a fair bid process, by bidding lower than competitors, knowing they make up the difference and more through these huge change Orders. This is not good for the taxpayer when the difference is over 10 million dollars or 36.19 % over the original projected cost, but in our city it is business as usual. The same occurred at the sports park and look at the fiasco that turned out to be.
Eso Patricio!
Why do we need to pump money into an airport that has no airplanes, or passengers. Everyone drives to Harlingen. Quit wasting our money. Reduce our PUB bills Tony, and live within our means.
They are friends of Cesar de Leon and Tony Martinez. ST. JOE BOYS. Look it up.
Nice artwork. With a simple face change, it could be:
Pat and his check, Charlie and his golden parachute, Carlos Elizondo and his misdeeds or even Erasmo with his history of fraud!
PAT: Calmate Pat, it's a freaking blog. Stop burning your brain cells over people's opinions. BIG freaking deal.
Why is it that some do not want Pat to post and keep rehasing the check issue when he was found not guilty? Pat has been very outspoken on who and how he was framed, but that is ignored by the Pat hater who constantly attacks him. Could it be they are the ones who wanted Pat out of the way and prefer Tony Martinez shannigans? Or is it just personal hatred towards Pat, which brings to mind Charlie Atkinson and Rick Longoria who were always attacking Pat on the city comission. I know alot of people want to read Pat's comments affecting our city, inspite of what those who keep attacking Pat post. Pat knows what he is talking about and no one is forced to read his posts so keep posting Pat.
If FAA funding is involved, there could be serious federal procurement laws violated by the City, in addition to the concerns Pat pointed out about change order threshold. The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) will probably come knocking on the City's doors asking for more info if Mayor is indeed a Principal at Origo as that further triggers additional conflicts of interest via personal enrichment. With all the real estate shenanigans already under the Mayor's belt, I'm not shocked at all.
Someone needs to check into this ASAP. Pat? Did the Mayor make this decision on his own without a majority vote by the City Commission? If it was required to go through the regular procurement process as Ahumada suggests because of the big change, then that seems illegal. The procurement laws are in place so that people like Mayor Martinez don't just go around and give the bid to his buddies that do business for him in private. Was Cesar De Leon involved in this too?
After a bid contract is awarded, can a city later decrease or increase the amount of its purchase or the quantity of work to be performed? Even after a bid has been awarded, a city may still increase or decrease the quantity of work to be done or the materials or supplies to be furnished if it is necessary to do so. Such changes may not increase or decrease the original contract price by more than 25 percent. If the city wants to decrease the contract amount by more than 25 percent, it needs to obtain the approval of the contractor for such a change. There is no comparable authority for the city to simply gain contractor approval to increase the amount of the order by more than 25 percent. In such a situation, the city would need to seek bids or proposals for the work or products that would be beyond the 25 percent amount. See this https://www.tml.org/p/procurement_easy%202015.pdf
I agree. I want to read Pat's comments. The tone of his detractors is meant to demean him and seems rather personal. I wish this person would grow up or shut up.
Anonymous 9:30 AM and those who stand up against bullies who attack just to deam and humiliate me, which does not work. Anonymous went as low as thretening to call animal control, which will hurt all pet rescue groups. I do not fear him, nor anyone who I speak out against for what is right and I am almost certain I know who he is and will respond accordingly when the time comes.
There is no problem with having differences of opinion, but it should not be personal hatred. he keeps bringing up the check and arrests, which has nothing to do with the discussions on city issues, but they attack because they are weak and are cowards.
These haters do not hurt me, they hurt our city, because look at where we are at now. No one can argue the city was going in a better direction than it has been since I left office (i.e., Tenaska, rate increases, real estate deals, bicycle lanes that are not even used (bicycle trails yes, but no lanes)).
Again thank you to those who like read my posts and know that I care about our city, even if we have differences of opinion, which is perfectly okay. Thank you.
In response to the airport expansion bid and change orders to the contract bid winner, which is obvious to those who understand what is right and wrong. The process has its guidelines and the mayor cannot act on his own, but he does have a lot of influence on the direction things may go. However, it is up to the commisison and management to keep things in check, along with the purchasing agent that understands the impact change orders have.
In this instance, the integrity and ethics of the bidding process has been compromised with the change order exceeding 36% and the hiring of an architect by circumventing the process through the contractor that was awarded the bid and the mayor's influence on the outcome of the process that has lead to question the ethics and integrity of the original bid and now the change order.
Management and the purchasing agent can justify any change order they want, but upon scrutiny it does not pass the smell test and in this instance mandates putting out the expansion project for bidding again. The commission should step in and force the issue to have it rebidded, because it is obvious the huge change order exceeds procurment procedures designed to protect taxpayers investments and are meant to make sure the taxpayer gets the highest return on its investment, which in this instance is the contract to expand the airport.
Although, I personally filed complaints with the AG for similar blatant deals that indicates corruption and was referred to the local DA, which made me laugh. However, I urge the reader to file the complaints with the AG, because if enough complaints are filed then they are forced to act. In my opinion the DA is selective, but may also be forced to take action if enough complaints are filed so file your complaint with the Attorney General Ken Paxton; P.O. Box 12548; Austin, Tx 78711-2548.
I wonder why they had a ground breaking ceremony months ago without no funding or plans in place?
Donde esta el maricon de Robert Luna?! Cuando hay proyectos donde no se mochan con el bien que preocupa de los change orders, pero cuando viene del Mayor o de contratistas que se mochan con el, no pone peros. Ya saquen a todos los corruptos de la ciudad!
“Staying silent is like a slow growing cancer to the soul and a trait of a true coward. There is nothing intelligent about not standing up for yourself. You may not win every battle. However, everyone will at least know what you stood for - YOU.”
― Shannon L. Alder
Corruption exists because we elect corrupt individuals and we justify it in one way or another. It will take courage to bring real change to the city commission, which is going to require a strong team to run in a slate when the next election comes around in order to be able to bring the change needed to move our city forward in a constructive and progressive path. To wait till the last minute or to run candidates individually will prove disastrous, which is what the mayor and members on the commission count on to maintain control to continue with the deal making.
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