DESPITE SALAZAR'S VEILED THREATS, RGCCISD FIRES HIM

"(Baltazar Salazar) 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."  When 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. Statements by former Rio Grande City Consolidated Independent School District board counsel upon his termination from his $216,000 gig Monday.

"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?

What a contrast between these two boards!At Rio Grande City the board members (small businessmen, farmers and housewives) sit on folding chairs and picnic tables, ignore the threats, and fire Salazar.

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