RAMIRO-TREY'S $200K: THINGS DIDN'T GO BETTER WITH COKE

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

Up to September 30, the plan was working well.

Using a Limited Liability Corporation named Victura Properties, City of Brownsville Mayor Juan "Trey" Mendez had submitted a request for a $80,000 grant for consideration by the Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation (BCIC) on August 26 meeting.

Nowhere in the agenda item or the backup did it indicate that Mendez – a city elected official – was the applicant.

The BCIC board, under the chairmanship of Michael Limas and composed of Michael Limas, United Way CEO Traci Wickett, Vice Chair, Jill Dominguez, Secretary, Zoraima Diaz, Treasurer, Mark Horowitz, and Aida Coronado Garcia, dutifully approved it.

Only BCIC board member and former city commissioner Ben Neece did not vote, but rather walked out of the meeting when he saw them.

On that same meeting the other BCIC members approved another award granted to OZRTCH LLC for  $122,000. Who was behind the OZRTCH LLC? 

There was nothing on the application of the BCIC backup to the agenda that showed that listed as its owners in a corporate search were none other than BCIC chairman Michael Limas and his brother Fabian.

Now, when the vote was taken on this application, did Michael Limas abstain from the vote? 

But more directly, can the chairman of a city-appointed board that dispenses sales tax-generated funds apply for its funds? It should be noted that BCIC chairman Michael Limas was appointed by Mayor Mendez and the city commission. 

In that same meeting, there were two applications under the name of former Mayor Tony Martinez for $15,000 each for exterior and interior repairs for the 1848 Restaurant on Palm Boulevard, a far stretch from the downtown area. A newspaper article written then indicates that the brothers have a "substantial" ownership stake and "exclusive control over remaking and managing it."

What few people remember is that Martinez is only part owner of 1848 BBQ. The other part owners are the Limas brothers and another associate. The board, in effect,  granted its chairman another $30,000 to improve his business.

The board dutifully approved it, no questions asked.

Then, on the same meeting of August 26, Dennis and and Michelle Sanchez under the LLC Las Ruinas II came before the board for $32,500 to remodel a property located at  1144 E. Madison. 

It also should be noted that Dennis Sanchez was appointed by Mendez and the city commission to another sales-tax funded entity – the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation (BCIC) – as a board member until it was disbanded and the city commission appointed themselves as board members.

A corporate search of the Las Ruinas II LLC reveals that Mendez was listed as the contact person for the LLC. 

Mendez is still listed as the Las Ruinas Properties II LLC contact person in the corporate listing. Texas Secretary of State records show Mendez relinquished his place as managing member and Dennis Sanchez replaced him this past March.

Did Mendez merely loan the Sanchezes the LLC so they could go to the BCIC well and never told the board that he formed the LLC before he passed it on for them to use for their application?

Mendez's behind-the-scenes maneuvering came to light after social media exposed it before the BCIC's September 30 meeting. The agenda before the meeting listed an application from Urban 8 Properties LLC which had applied for $200,000 to renovate the historical Coca Cola Plant building downtown. 

When it was revealed on social media that he and former Government and Community Affairs Director Ramiro Gonzalez were the principals  of the Urban 8 Properties LLC they withdrew the request, and Gonzalez resigned from his $82,900 city position.

 Mendez lists its mailing address at 647 St. Charles and the registered office address at 611 W. Levee.

The presence of Cameron County District Attorney Luis V. Saenz and his cadre at the September 30 meeting where the $200,000 grant application from Mendez was to be considered apparently loosened the tongue of the BCIC board members, one of which – Michael Limas – said he would abstain from another application for $160,000 to improvement to a historical building next to his business, Las Ramblas, because he had planned to rent it from her after the improvements were made.

And just recently – during a meeting they solicited with local blogger Jim Barton – BCIC CEO Josh Mejia and board member Neece, the subject of Mendez and Gonzalez's $200,000 request to the BCIC was discussed.

Barton reports that at some point  Neece made a reference to GBIC and the Coca Cola Building.

"I'm not sure Ben said "if" or "when," but the word "rent" was used in conjunction with the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation and the Coca Cola Building.

"Oh, is GBIC going to rent the Coca Cola Building?" I asked Ben directly.

"Well, it's one of the properties I think they're looking at," Ben responded quickly."

So, if no one had known that it was Mendez and Gonzalez behind the $200,000 grant application, would they have withdrawn the request? Probably not. As it is, the family of the woman from whom the duo bought the property for $382,000 plus a $12,000 tax lien are angry over the manner which they acquired it.

"Carmen Peralta does not know how to speak or read English," said a family member. "Was a certified translator hired to explain things to her, or is it true that she had been talking to 'a lawyer' (Mendez?) who explained it all to her." 

Mendez has said lamely said that the $200,000 grant application was filed "prematurely" and that money disbursed by BCIC was part of a $2 million donation for downtown renovation by the Musk Foundation, and that in giving it to the city – in contrast with approved city policy and its conflict of interest section of the city ethics code – specifically said that the funds were available to city elected officials and city employees. 

Or did the mayor, who has appointed himself and Gonzalez to be the contact persons with Elon Musk and the Musk Foundation, make sure to include the caveat so that he and Limas and other city and board officials could dip into the cookie jar?

None of his assertions pass the smell test and leave the public with the impression that he and Gonzalez might have included that clause against city policy to feather their own nests and those of the Limas brothers. Get it, they thought, while the getting is good.

Do we really need a rewriting of the city ethics code for the mayor and the BCIC board to know that this is morally and ethically wrong?

In the case of the $200,000 grant application things didn't go better with Coke, did they?