GALONSKY STILL HURTING FROM GBIC OUSTER, CEO CHOICE

 By Juan Montoya

You didn't need to be a Zoltar to see what was coming from City of Brownsville District 1 Commissioner Nurith Galonsky during last Tuesday's meeting.

As the commissioners wrestled with the request from the Brownsville Independent School District for a "partnership" to fund additional purchasing of equipment for "distance learning" to address the COVID-19 crisis, suggestions came forward on how to share a portion of the $10 million share of CARES funds with the district. 

There was only one hitch, however. Of the $10.2 million in CARES funding it had received from then federal government, there is only $2 million left and its projected uses were for Fire Department hazard pay, civil service, and the retrofitting of city facilities to address the virus crisis.

Calling her brainstorm a "bold suggestion," Galonsky said that perhaps the city could use some of the $800,000 recovered from canceled contracts with non-complying manufacturers who had not lived up to the agreements to create good-paying jobs and canceling Memoranda Of Understanding on some projects.

"There is an economic development entity that has recovered about $800,000," Galonsky said. "It would be an investment in human capital...(if we could find a way) to spend that money."

Galonsky's "bold suggestion" was ignored by the rest of the commission and they moved on to consider Finance Director Lupe Granado and City Manager Noel Bernal's suggestion of possible CARES funds that could be used to "partner" with the BISD to acquire more devices and hotspots to connect all the students to distance learning. 

(After hearing the funds request from the BISD, some pointed out that the BISD could have paid for connectivity instead of for the $1.4 million scoreboard at Sams Stadium rammed through the BISD's budget  by then-trustee Jue Rodriguez and the board majority)

In the end, the BISD request was tabled until the city's next meeting October 6. But Galonsky's suggestion gave the participants a hint a what was coming when the commission was to consider approving the FY 2021 budge of the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation which had been tabled in the Sept. 15 meeting.

Galonsky should have known better. As a former member of the GBIC, she knew that the state formed the Type A Economic Development Corporations  primarily intended for manufacturing and industrial development. EDCs may use Type A revenue to fund land, buildings, equipment, facilities expenditures, targeted infrastructure and improvements for projects including: 

*manufacturing and industrial facilities, recycling facilities, distribution centers, and small warehouse facilities;

*research and development facilities, regional or national corporate headquarters facilities, primary job training facilities operated by higher education institutions, job training classes, telephone call centers and career centers not located within a junior college taxing district;

Obviously, it's a long stretch to use these funds to buy Ipads and "hotspots" for elementary and middle schools with Type A monies garnered from sales taxes revenues as outlined by the state. And besides, the BISD spokespersons – Superintendent Dr. Rene Gutierres and Dr. Nellie Cantu – clearly stated that the funds the Texas Education Agency's partnership were to be specifically from the $10.2 million CARES funds received by the city and county.

The county is the "poor cousin" in this equation since it only received some $1 million compared to the city's $10.2. Nothing doing from there, they were told. 

But it wasn't until the GBIC item came before the commission that Galonsky's ire toward the GBIC and its CEO Mario Lozoya surged to the surface in full bloom.

 She questioned whether GBIC was adding personnel despite the COVID-19 crisis, whether Lozoya's  contractual salary bonus was included in the requested budget (it wasn't ), and whether the GBIC employees were receiving a 3 percent increase for retirement was an "additional perk"only they were receiving.

Finally, GBIC board chairman Dennis Sanchez had had enough and he addressed Galonsky's pointed questions saying that the 3 percent for staff retirement kept GIBC on the same level as employees with the rest of the city, and that any expenditure outside the budget would have to be brought before the city commission.

"Everything is brought to you, and the finance department approves its paychecks," Sanchez said. "There is nothing to be hidden from the city of Brownsville. Everything is the same as before. There is no change."

When she pressed on Lozoya's contract, it took City Attorney Rene De Coss' intervention to point out that the issue was not before the commission.  She even questioned a letter from a lawyer who wrote the city and GBIC board that Lozoya was considering employing his services to protect himself from potentially illegal employment practices against him by the city and its elected officials.

What fuels Galonsky's ire toward GBIC and Lozoya, its CEO?

Seething below the surface is the fact that Galonsky was once a GBIC member and that when Lozoya was hired in 2018, she didn't agree and sued him and the board to nullify his contract. The majority of the GBIC board prevailed and Galonsky's lawsuit failed. A city ordinance later limited individuals' appointment to city boards and Galonsky was removed from the board of the GBIC.

Since then, nothing that the GBIC or its CEO does can mollify Galonsky, the spurned damsel. Like her DOA suggestion that the $800,000 Lozoya recovered from three companies because they did not expand as they planned and the incentives were never disbursed should be used toward helping the BISDbuy internet devices, it never seems to stop.

In the end, Galonsky's motion to table the GBIC budget died for lack of a second. The motion to approve the GBIC budget passed with only one member (guess who?) voting against it.   

It's been two years. Will Nurith ever let it go?