ELIZONDO SURFACES IN OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE AUDIT REVIEW

(Ed.'s Note: The recent controversy over the release of a review of the audit conducted by the now defunct City of Brownsville Audit and Oversight Committee under commission Ben Neece touches upon the potential conflict of interest between Justin Oakerson's International Academy of Emergency Medical Technology (“IAEMT”) and former Brownsville Independent School District trustee Carlos Elizondo. Neece, the chair of the oversight committee, hired Burton, McCumber and Longoria, External Auditors, to review the committee's findings. In the course of the review, Elizondo's relationship with the company which garnered contracts with the BISD came to light when it was discovered that the Cameron County District Attorney's Office had discovered that the former city fire chief had used a Harley Davidson motorcycle as collateral for Oakerton to get a loan from a local lender.) 

Finding # 4 – Conflict of Interest

"At the time of using of Intercity for non-emergency EMT service, Chief Elizondo was a board trustee on the Brownsville Independent School District (“BISD”). We have obtained evidence from the Cameron County District Attorney’s Office and minutes of a BISD board meeting that suggests that Chief Elizondo may have had a conflict of interest in relation to Intercity. Although the appearance of a conflict of interest exists, we are not able and do not render a legal opinion as to the existence of such conflict of interest.

However, on June 21, 2016, the BISD board of trustees approved agenda item #53 regarding a $165,000 contract with International Academy of Emergency Medical Technology (“IAEMT”) to perform Emergency Medical Science (EMS) basic certification training and to establish a Basic Fire Suppression curricula for 32 students.

In this agenda item, Chief Elizondo abstained from voting on this agenda item presumably because of a conflict of interest. IAEMT is commonly owned by Justin Oakerson, a director and member manager of Intercity.

In a supplementary report obtained from the Cameron County District Attorney’s office we identified a relationship between Chief Elizondo and Intercity. The report relates to an inquiry of a loan officer at a local bank regarding a request for a line-of-credit requested by Mr. Justin Oakerson as owner and managing member of Intercity.

The report states that at the time of the loan, the bank needed additional collateral in order to secure the loan. The bank officer recalled that a Harley Davidson Motorcycle (VIN# ending **63505) owned by Chief Elizondo was pledged to bank as security for the Intercity line-of-credit.

The Bank officer recalled that he had met with Justin Oakerson and Chief Elizondo and could not recall why
Elizondo, who was not an owner of Intercity, would have pledged his personal asset for Intercity.

City Secretary confirmed that there were no Conflict of Interest forms filed by Chief Elizondo."

(Ed.'s P.S.: However, Elizondo did file a conflict disclosure statement March 7, 2018, with the BISD that he was associated with a vendor, the International Academy of Emergency Medical Technology (“IAEMT”), owned by Justin Oakerton, and that he worked for the company as doing EMS/patient transfers with Intercity Ambulance for Emergency Medical Transport, LLC. IAEMT has since signed subsequent contracts with the BISD.

On June 28, 2018, the BISD answered a request for information and said that since 2014, IAEMT had received $943,980 in payments for its instructional services. Now, the question arises, if Elizondo used his bike as collateral for Oakerton's loan, did this predate his filing of a conflict of interest statement with the BISD when he was already conflicted? 

When did Oakerton apply for the loan for the IAEMT? Was it before March 7, 2018 when Elizondo filed his statement of conflict of interest?)