BARTON REPORTS BERNAL CRACKING DOWN ON COMPADRISMO

By Jim Barton

Brownsville Observer Blog

When new City Manager Noel Bernal arrived at the end of 2018, Brownsville was indeed a sick puppy with leadership in many key positions unqualified, uncertified or simply incompetent.

It's little wonder that for the last few decades Brownsville's progress moved along at about quarter speed with even much smaller, far less charismatic Harlingen whipping its ass with regularity.

Stating it bluntly, Bernal inherited an administration whose engineering director was a non-engineer, an incompetent in public works, a head of the library without a degree in library science or anything else and a transit system hemorrhaging money and a history of horribly frequent breakdowns.

It's the way of compradrismo, a system in which your resume' is who you know or, better yet, WHAT you know about someone in power.

It was also the way of Charlie Cabler, Bernal's predecessor, who was plucked from the ranks of cop to be first an Assistant City Manager, then City Manager, something he'd never studied or trained for, causing many to scratch their heads in wonderment about who or what he knew to be elevated to that position.

Cabler's tenure seemed almost visionless, simply maintaining, not growing, only putting out fires.

I'm also told that compradrismo reared its ugly head when Jerry Hedgecock, without a Masters in Library Science, was elevated to leadership over the Brownsville Public Library. Hedgecock, a crony of former Purchasing Director Paul Calapa, knew where the bodies were buried, so to speak, and was rewarded with a totally undeserved appointment, elevated over three library system employees who did have the requisite Master of Library Science.

Knowing Hedgecock was unqualified to be the library's director, the City of Brownsville did an end around that might not get the attention of the State of Texas, creating a new department and position altogether for Hedgecock, naming him Director of Public Information Services, then placing the Brownsville Public Library under that umbrella. Creative compadrismo!

(From El Rrun-Rrun, July 18, 2018.)

(Juan Jose Guerra, the bespectacled gent with the red tie looking down at the podium, started working part-time for the city in 1997 as an administrative technician at the library after graduating from the University of Texas at Brownsville in 1996 with a Bachelor in Science at a $5.80 per hourly rate ($6,075 yearly).

Guerra worked his way up from there and eventually went on to get his Masters in Library Science at North Texas (Denton) in 2002 and came back to work for the city. He graduated from Denton with a 3.75 GPA. Over time (more than 16 years), he has been promoted to the top spot of City Library Director and now earns – according to city salary records – $64,426 a year.

Hedgecock, the big guy in the dark suit with striped tie, is Brownsville's Public information Services Director. He came to work for the city as a computer technician from Harlingen in 1993 where he ran a magazine printing service. He started at $7.96 per hour.

Over the years Hedgecock rose through the ranks to automation technologist, systems analyst, etc., and filled in when there was an vacancy as assistant librarian, acting library director, acting supervisor, etc., Then, when an opening for head of Informational Services in 2006, he applied and made the top three.

The evaluator at the time said Hedgecock got along well with others and knew his way around the system. Among his friends was former city manager Charlie Cabler who regularly approved raises and promotions for Jerry.

The educational requirements were for "A bachelor's degree or education and training equivalent to four years of college education in business, liberal arts, or four or more years in the appropriate field."
That sealed it for Jerry and the evaluator chose him over two other applicants, even though he only has a GED, a high-school diploma equivalence one gets when you don't complete regular high school.

His personnel file is crammed with certificates of attendance to diverse one-day seminars from "Keeping Your Cool," "Sexual Harassment," "Bullying," FEMA Hurricane Awareness and Emergency Management, and the like, as does Guerra's.

Right now he is listed in the city salary schedule making $78,132, almost $14,000 more than Guerra with his Master's Degree.)