AUDIT HINT: BEDC MESS WAS WORE THAN ANYONE THOUGHT

By Juan Montoya

A sanitized "reputational  due diligence" report of former Brownsville Economic Development Corporation CEO Jason Hilts and other principals indicates that even before the establishment of a failed Colombian office, Hilts had participated in self-dealing in association with Oscar Garcia Jr., son of former UTB president Julieta Garcia.

Some of the details can be gleaned from the report generated by PricewaterhouseCooper auditing firm for the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation (GBIC).

Garcia Jr., who later went on to be appointed a member of the Brownsville Public Utility Board, was granted $180,000 in 2007 to set up a company called GenteNet that was supposed to bring access to Internet service to impoverished Brownsville barrios, therefore the "Gente" in GenteNet. He was listed as GenteNet's president when he made his pitch for the cash.

Hilts, who became the BEDC's CEO in March 2002 until his resignation on April 2017, was listed as GenteNet's "agent" and listed the firm's address as 301 Mexico St., Suite F-1. That address is the same listed for the BEDC administrative offices.

This was in 2007, five years into Hilt's 15-year stint as the BEDC CEO.  So far, no one can tell what work product was delivered by Garcia Jr. Hilts, or GenteNet. And no one seems to know hat happened to the $180,000.

As part of GBIC’s guidelines, companies applying for job creation incentives had to produce at least 20 jobs that pay a minimum of $9 an hour, and create primary jobs, although these jobs, too, never materialized

How could the BEDC executive board - knowing Hilts was BEDC CEO - dish out $180,000 to GenteNet knowing he was its "agent" and that the company's office was in their own office? The organization's exempt status was automatically revoked by the IRS for failure to file a Form 990, 990-EZ, 990-N, or 990-PF for 3 consecutive years.

Garcia Jr., obviously a quick study, followed the steps of his mentor and when he was made chairman of the BPUB,  signed off on the $454,000 Brownsville Strategic Infrastructure and Land Management Plan and the utility split the cost three ways with the Port of Brownsville, and the GBIC.

That study was drafted by Robin McCaffrey of Needham, McCaffrey and Associates, the same firm that worked on the City of Kyle Comprehensive Master Plan, under the name of Mesa. McCaffrey was hired when Mike Miguel Gonzalez was the mayor in Kyle.

Gonzalez later became the executive director of United Brownsville. At the time McCaffrey went under the name of Mesa.

The so-called master plan identified 35 small-area sites and called for the development of commercial corridors and recommended that the development of the plan be split into three phases at a total cost of $750,000. The firm recommended that United Brownsville be placed in charge of implementing the plan using funds from public entities.

The Coordinating Board of United Brownsville included then-IBC President Fred Rusteberg, UTB vice-president Irv Downing, and Julieta Garcia, former UTB president and – coincidentally – mother of Garcia Jr.

Garcia Jr., seeing his opportunity, resigned his position on the PUB board, signed on with Jacob's Engineering, and snagged the first phase study with a $185,000 price tag. However, the GBIC and the other entities declined to award the firm the remaining $407,878 for the Phase II Small Area Plan of the "study" after seeing the work product generated by Garcia in the first phase.

The Hilts' legacy of economic development and its dismal results overseen by a seemingly blind BEDC board is still bedeviling the efforts of the city and the GBIC. It may take years of work to overcome this neglect.