MPO MERGER WITH HIDALGO ON CITY, COUNTY'S AGENDA

By Juan Montoya
After years off fending off the efforts to include the Brownsville Metropolitan Planning Organization with those of  Harlingen/San Benito, and that of Hidalgo County claiming it would put Brownsville at the mercy of the larger county upriver, Martinez was outvoted.

Not only is the city commission on board for the merger, but so is Cameron County. Both entities have resolution on their agendas today authorizing Martinez and County Judge Eddie Trevino to go forward with the merger.

Even though estimates provided by Texas Dept. of Transportation District Engineer Pete Alvarez in previous MPO meetings showed that the city would receive at the very least an additional $12 million if the merger occurred, Martinez has been adamant about losing local control. He made no mention of any projected additional funds.

"It is the policy of this board not to pursue the merger," he wrote Alvarez in October 2017. "We continue to discuss this ad nauseum...It will obliterate the local control for Brownsville. We are being asked to give up the autonomy we have to control the destiny of our community."

That drew protests from Cameron County Pct. 1 commissioner Sofie Benavides who said Da Mayor
had not asked the other members for their opinion before he wrote the letter giving the MPO merger his thumbs down.

TxDoT's Alvarez countered that under a governance scheme that in the bylaws being formulated is included the concept of a supermajority where the bigger cities in the three existing MPOs would get weighed votes, with Brownsville possibly getting 6 votes and a small community like Los Indios one.

The model envisions the merged MPOs having a board of 42 members, with Hidalgo accounting for 66 percent of the vote. However, in order for any project to be approved, the item would have to get 75 percent of the vote (supermajority), giving Cameron County leverage to decide the outcome of any agenda item with 9 or 10 percent of the vote.

"If 9 or 10 percent of Cameron County votes against any item, it will be quashed," Alvarez told Brownsville Navigation District commissioner and MPO rep John Wood.

Alvarez said that so far, all nine Texas State Representatives in both counties have signed a resolution in favor of the merger as has a unanimous Cameron County Commissioners Court. Cameron County elected state officials including then-State Rep. Rene Oliveira, Rep. Eddie Lucio III, and Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr. have also voiced their support for the merger idea as long as a model making a supermajority included in the bylaws.

Alvarez said such a merger would help the region obtain more transportation funding and positively impact economic growth. Treviño said the merger would give the RGV the fifth largest MPO in Texas. Treviño said that would make the area eligible for monies containing about 83 percent of Texas Department of Transportation funding compared to the 17 percent of money it competes for now.

Currently, there are two Metropolitan Planning Organizations or MPOs. The resolutions call for merging the Brownsville, Harlingen-San Benito and Hidalgo County MPOs.

One project that could benefit from the merger is the “East Loop Project” which has been in the development process for nearly 30 years. It was envisioned and part of a county bond issue during the Tony Garza administration. The loop  would divert truck traffic from International Boulevard and connect it to the Port of Brownsville.

Privately, some city commissioners took Martinez's side and argued that at the MPO merger would be a bad deal. Despite Alvarez's assurances, they maintain the merger does not guarantee additional funding.

 The East Loop was already on the city's 0-year plan, they say, and add that the merger will not end well for Brownsville.

(In the photo above, a double-tandem 18-wheeler carrying gasoline or other fuels barrels last Canales Elementary School. The construction of the East Loop, on the books for decades, will redirect such traffic away from International Blvd. and toward less populated areas in the Port of Brownsville's direction.)