WORFORCE CENTER M.O.U. VOTE PITS B'VILLE VS. B'VILLE; PORT COMMISSIONER TITO LOPEZ IS THE MAN IN THE MIDDLE

By Juan Montoya

No matter which way the vote goes at the noon special meeting at the Port of Brownsville on the Memorandum Of Understanding between the Brownsville Navigation District, Texas A&M and Harlingen's Texas State Technical College to build a workforce training center, the damage has already been done.

The board voted unanimously last Wednesday to table the matter. Now we understand that at the urging of chairman John Reed, Port CEO Eddie Campirano placed the item back on an agenda for the specially called meeting.

The question now becomes: Does Reed have the two votes from the remaining four commissioners needed to pass the MOU? And if he doesn't why put it on the agenda?

Supporters of Texas Southmost College have objected to the community college being denied a seat at the table in the first draft of the MOU and complain the college board and administration were left out of the planning until they got wind of the it during a luncheon June 26 held at the port.

Why, they asked, did the port exclude the college district, which encompasses the navigation district, not made an equal partner with the outside institutions? If Brownsville taxpayers fund both institutions, why is the port - according to the MOU - agreeing to give away its assets and fund the construction of the center.

No one knows the exact amount the center would cost, but estimates range from more than $1 million to as high as $8 million.

Over the course of the following month, as the three partners moved toward a vote to approve the MOU, A&M and the port commission say they made overtures to TSC to be part of the M.O.U., but community college supporters say the college was offered a supporting role to TSTC and A&M and that the amendments offered were an afterthought after they complained of being left out.

Dissatisfied, they called a press conference on the day before the vote and - joined by Brownsville mayor Trey Mendez, a former TSC trustee - stated their disagreement with the port of "Brownsville" giving away the store to Harlingen and A&M.

There is no disagreement between any of the players that workforce training is critically needed for local students and workers. And no one disputes the fact that the more players involved to bring training and other asset to the table the better. But instead of building on that agreement and moving forward, both sides are entrenched in their positions.

After the MOU was tabled, CEO Campirano (a former TSC trustee and currently on the Advisory Committee with McAllen's A&M facility) placed it on today's agenda for a special meeting.

This MOU is the original one and not the one with the amendments that included TSC as a main player.

It is said that Brownsville is a small city with a lot of people in it. As in the days of yore, everyone is related to everyone else, or so it seems. Often, people find out that they are related to someone they just met. In this case it is no different.

TSC board trustee Art Rendon just happens to be BND commissioner Esteban Guerra's uncle. And BND commissioner Ralph Cowen is City of Brownsville commissioner John Cowen's uncle. John Cowen's business (Roser & J Cowen Logistical Services) deals with US & Mexican Customs brokerage clients located at the port and another uncle runs the Cowen Warehouse Services and does extensive business with port clients.

Ralph Cowen and Guerra have spoken out against the MOU, but it remains to be seen whether this resolve will hold at voting time. For their part, port commissioner John Wood and chairman Reed have been ardent supporters of the pact.

That leaves commissioner Tito Lopez, who owns a transport service st the port, as the Man In the Middle, a role that he doesn't relish.

"Ever since I cam back from Mexico where I was representing the port for about a week, I have had countless emails and phone messages about this vote," Lopez said, declining to voice either his approval or disapproval of the upcoming MOU vote today.

"After more than 11 years of serving on the board, I hope that the vote on this item isn't all I'll be remembered for," he said.

The analogy to TSC declining to continue its "partnership" with UT System is often mentioned and TSC's critics says that just as TSC ran out UT, it is now running out A&M. But that is faulty logic since in the case of the UTB-TSC divorce, accepting Julieta Garcia's plan would have meant doing away with the community college and transferring all its assets to the UT System. No such destruction is contemplated here, just the port putting its real estate and assets to A&M and TSTC's disposal.

The controversy has generated the customary vitriol on social media with those supporting the MOU called "traitors" and has deteriorated into a "gringo vs. Mexican/us vs. them" conundrum, albeit a phony one. Others - predictably - are calling for lawsuits. What it has done is pit brother against brother, pariente vs. pariente, and the various political factions against each other.

"This no longer a Brownsville versus Harlingen issue," said a local political observer. "It has become a Brownsville versus Brownsville issue."