"I will tone down your legal expenses and bring stability, because you have chaos, and when there's chaos, lawyers make money." Baltazar Salazar making his pitch to be the Brownsville Independent School District board counsel back in April 1, 2013. He now earns $280,000, second only to the superintendent.
Special to El Rrun-Rrun
And so, with the veiled threat that he had snitched on board members to the appropriate authorities on unspecified "illegal activity," Rio Grande City Consolidated Independent School District board counsel Baltazar Salazar was terminated Monday after being the focus of a raucous board meeting last week.He had proposed that the board award him a three-year contract at an annual salary of $216,000.
Salazar - also the board counsel of the Brownsville Independent School District - was hired by the RGCCISD over the summer after he represented a majority of the board against two trustees represented by Ruben Peña, another Brownsville attorney.
But something changed over the week. At last Tuesday's meeting only board trustee Daria Babineaux voted to terminate him. This time, trustee Leticia O. Lopez made the motion to terminate, which was seconded by board President Eleazar Velasquez and Babineaux and trustee Daniel J. Garcia joined them.
Trustees Basilio “Bacho” Villarreal, Eduardo “Eddie” Ramirez and Noe Castillo voted against it.
Salazar exploited the "chaos" on the RGCCISD board when animosity between the two political factions on the school board prevented four trustees from holding a meeting at all. Villarreal and Ramirez were represented by Peña and the other four hired Salazar to represent them.
When those four board members were finally able to hold a board meeting, they fired Peña and replaced him with Salazar.
At their last meeting, Salazar's billing was questioned as too excessive and he countered that the administration had changed his report and charged it with presenting a "forgery" to the board.
According to the reporting by McAllen Monitor's Berenice Garcia, Villarreal questioned why the board members were concerned with the cost of Salazar’s services, pointing to the hiring of other attorneys and other expenses the district had accrued.
“The problem we have today is that we want to create motivation for our kids, for our teachers but, you know what, we have an RGCCISD circus here,” Villarreal said. “We have a circus here and until we’re willing to correct that, it ain’t going to happen.”
Salazar was also given the opportunity to speak and began by thanking the board for the opportunity and struck a righteous tone.
“I want the taxpayers to know, the residents of Rio Grande City, regardless of whether they keep me or not, I want you to know that my goals for this school district were the same — stability, maturity, financial transparency,” Salazar said. “I do not work for individual board members, I don’t work for majorities, I don’t work for minorities, I don’t work for the superintendent — I work for the whole board.”
But seeing the writing on the wall, he added that as an officer of the court, he had a responsibility to report illegal activity.
“And I will guarantee you that that has been done,” Salazar said.
When Villarreal, who voted against his termination, asked what he meant by that, Baltazar declined to clarify.
“As an officer of the court, there’s some things that I have to keep confidential but it has been done sir,” he said.
After Salazar’s firing became official, the board approved the hiring of Rene P. Montalvo as the new board attorney — also by a 4 to 3 vote.
Will Salazar be able to issue the same threat to BISD board members if they attempt to replace him with another lawyer? Is that why he is still board counsel?
At the BISD, the members (Ph.D.s, lawyers, court administrators, preachers, and a former DPS "trooper," etc.) sit in a million-dollar boardroom and are afraid to confront this bully. What does he know about them that prevents them from acting?A good start would be his failed efforts to expunge his felonies which theoretically makes him ineligible for employment in the district.
Click on link to see them.
https://law.justia.com/cases/texas/thirteenth-court-of-appeals/2013/13-12-00771-cv.html
12 comments:
CAVA, file a complaint a grievance with the BISD. Ask about him being a felon yet still hired by the stupid board.
Citizens unite!!
Ask the right questions
SO...HAD THEY KEPT HIM...he would not have reported them...
BISD has problems. INCREDIBLY top heavy...heavier THEN ever...but enrollment is down. Makes NO good business sense.
You would think with enrollment down...the top would be LEAN...but not so.
Add to that ...all the TOP is now a bunch of town-ers.
Relegating the expert locals to "water boys"....This board needs to be replaced by "outsiders" too....if those who elected them are considered "not worthy" and "lazy"...perhaps it is time to reconsider who we elect to represent us....
Can't fire him he'll speak the beans - pork and beans
The BISD board is hopless. Minnie, probrecita, is dumb as a stump. Sylvia is the embodiment of evil and will do her personal bidding at he expense of anyone who stands in her way. Erasmo meanders about the town is a chronic alcoholic haze. Phil is smart but has the personality of a doorknob, cannot generate a majority therefore just babbles incessantly to anyone who will listen. Prisci is at the end of Sylvia's leash so not much hope there. Laura appeared to be growing a pair for a while but relapsed into the clutches of Sylvia. But the most disappointing of all is Drue. She was our hope. She represented what is good about BISD and we all expected her to do the right thing. Now that is gone. She's thrown in with Sylvia and adopted Baltazar as their hit man. Ideals, ethics and morality seemed to have abandoned her. Drue, please wake up...please come back. The District needs you.
1:11 is ON target...especially the Drue Brown part. She looks down upon the people doing the actual work-and feels she was the ONLY one good in BISD.
The A the district earned had nothing to do with PR by the way....it was all scores..(teaching and leadership)
Big Disappointment.
Spill the beans, spill the beans NOW!
2:45 is absolutely correct. The people in the front lines, the administrators, teachers and students got the score. The board had nothing to do with it for they caused more turmoil in this district than any other board in the 100 years of existence. Someone else is right. The one who says that Minerva is dumber than a stump and is led by the nose by 'RING MASTER" SPA holding on to the leash and have la vieja pintada Prisi. As for Drue, many of her former friends have stopped talking to her cause her real truth finally came out in public. We are very disappointed with her sit back and listen attitude. Come on, Drue, get in there and speak your mind - Eras de la Faulk, remember? And SLP's comadre and now a buddy to SLP's disaster chignon.
Hire him at the city so he can finger everybody at that joint...
BISD with a decreasing enrollment has added more admistrative costs and waste then any other board.
Not even when BISD was building and peaking in enrolment did they have two fulltime attorneys, deputies, architects, etc..
Quite complaining about the cost of healthcare for the teachers, then wasting money on administrative costs, new positions, travel and frills.
7:17 is correct...Time for the Trooper to stand on her own and lead this district. Time for DB to realize she is being used and mislead.
Nobody is fooled--everyone knows who controls everything (bisd/tsc/city)..and it will EXPLODE.
So Top Heavy. New org chart. Outsiders please have the balls to put order and get rid of the fat. Drue you know the Department Admins drowning in swamp waters and are so unethical. The hiring of unqualified people and consultants is out of control and it needs to stop.
Officer of the court? Well Balty what ever you say you have is not open to negotiation and certainly not with District, if that is who is compromised by it. The law requires you to go straight to the DA. Do your duty, if you have one.
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