COMMISSION READY TO REMOVE NEECE FROM BCIC (!!) BOARD

 Special to El Rrun-Rrun

If our sources are correct – and we're pretty sure they are – the City of Brownsville commission will vote to buck former city commissioner Ben Neece from the board of directors of the Brownsville City Improvement Commission (BCIC) at their next meeting Tuesday.

They did not say who – if anyone – would be appointed for the two remaining months of his term.

According to the city's website, the removal was placed on the commission's agenda by City Manager Noel Bernal.

But city insiders are calling it "Jessica's Revenge," indicating that District 2 city commissioner Jessica Tetreau was the main mover behind the placement of the item on the city's agenda.

Tetreau has long blamed Neece for being the main supporter of the inclusion of term limits for city commissioners which prevented her from seeking a fourth term. Tetreau was elected by a write-in vote in 2011, reelected on 2015 and in 2019. Her term will expire on 2023. 

In contrast, city commissioner Rose Gowen voted with a majority to place a two-term limit on city commissioner and mayoral terms and has served three terms and won a fourth one on the May 1 election. 

Since the term-limit amendment was approved and effective May 1, Gowen was spared the term-limit restriction because the proposal will not apply retroactively. She won reelection to a fourth term May 1, 2021, when the item was approved by the voters.

The approval of the charter amendment prevents only Tetreau from running for a city commission seat, though she is still eligible to run for mayor.

Neeces' proposed removal Tuesday followed weeks of revelations on social media that BCIC chairman Michael Limas and his brother, local attorney Fabian Limas, and Brownsville Mayor Juan "Trey" Mendez have benefited from the free-money grants approved by the board under the BIG 2 Program.

The board members of the BCIC are Michael Limas, chairman, Traci Wickett, vice chair, Jill Dominguez, secretary, Zoraima Diaz, treasurer, Mark Horowitz, Aida Coronado Garcia, and 
Neece.

The Limas brothers were awarded $152,000 in three grants ($122,000 and two others for $15,000 apiece). One award was made to OZRTCH LLC August 26 for $122,000. Who was behind the OZRTCH LLC?

The other two grants of $15,000 each for downtown renovation were made at the request of former mayor Tony Martinez for improvement on his 1848 BBQ on Palm Boulevard, quite a stretch for being part of "downtown renovation." 

A newspaper article written last March indicates that the brothers have a "substantial" ownership stake and "exclusive control over remaking and managing it," along with a fourth associate. (See graphic at right)

On August 26,  the BCIC board voted to give $80,000 to Victura Properties LLC. The agenda did not state this, but Victura  LLC is listed under Mendez's name, as is the property to be improved at 1015 E. Washington St., coincidentally across Washington Street from the city's historic Coca Cola building. 

It should be noted that Mendez and the city commission appointed Limas to the BCIC where he is now chairman.

Then, during the September 30 GBIC meeting, Brownsville Mayor Juan "Trey" Mendez and former Community and Government Affairs director Ramiro Gonzalez had a grant application for $200,000 to renovate the historic Coca Cola plant which they had bought for $400,000 from an elderly woman named Carmen Peralta.

There was nothing on the application of the BCIC backup to the agenda that showed Urban 8 Properties LLC was owned by Mendez and that Gonzalez was a managing member. But when the revelations were made in social media, they pulled the application and Gonzalez resigned from his $82,900 city job. Mendez said the application for the $200,000 was made "prematurely."

He still claimed, however, that BCIC policy is specific in stating that city elected officials (like himself) and members of the BCIC board (like the Limas brothers) and other city employees (like Gonzalez) were eligible to apply for the BCIC BIG 2 grants despite the obvious conflict of interest.

Neece said he had walked out of the Sept 30 meeting when he found out the mayor and the Limas brothers were applicants to receive the free money. He also claimed that he had already drafted an amendment to the GBIC policies prohibiting the granting of renovation funds to city elected officials, BCIC members and city employees in the upcoming GBIC board October 28 meeting.

"I was going to try to get a policy change to prohibit board members, city employees and city officials from being able to tap into to those grants," Neece said. "I guess I won't be able to to at this point. I had already requested the agenda item but I'll be gone by then."

There was another item pulled from the GBIC September 30 meeting. It was a travel request from BCIC CEO Josh Mejia for a trip to Las Vegas, Nev. on December 5-7 and included Neece as Mejia's travel companion. The conference is hosted by the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), which focuses on the retail and real estate industry. RECon provides a global gathering of retail real estate individuals and businesses, including developers, owners, brokers and retailers.

With Neece's term ending less than a month after the conference, some city commissioners saw it as Neece's Last Tango in Las Vegas and the proposed trip may have tipped the balance on their projected negative vote on his continued membership on the BCIC board this Tuesday.

But Neece said he had already asked Mejia to pull the item before the meeting because it conflicted with plans he already had to go on a cruise trip with his son Joshua.

"So it was already removed as to me," he said. "I came in on a white horse to clean things up but I couldn't do it quick enough. You get rid of one pack of rats and another one moves right in."

"I feel pretty sure that she's (Tetreau) going to be trying to run for mayor (in 2023)," Neece said. "So Trey better watch his back because at the right moment she's going to strike."