MENDEZ TO BE MIA FOR TUESDAY'S CITY TRANSFER OF POWER

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

Everything was set for the Tuesday, May 16 transfer of power from outgoing City of Brownsville Mayor Juan "Trey" Mendez to May 6 election winner and former At-Large-A commissioner John Cowen, the latest generation of one of the city's pioneer families. 

The other two winners of the commission election – Linda Macias and Bryan Martinez – also take their oaths at the same time. The swearing in of the At-Large-A commissioners, will wait until the outcome of the runoff election between Tino VIllarreal and Susan Ruvalcaba,  

The last ballots from overseas and the military received six days after the May 6 elections, that is May 12, on Friday, officially closes the voting period. The city commission at their next regular meeting next Tuesday (May 16) would accept the results and the new mayor and commissioners are administered their oaths of office by a jurist of their choice.

But there was a hitch. Mendez had scheduled a trip out of the city on Tuesday and had proposed that a ceremonial transfer of power between him and Cowen be held during a special meeting to be held this Friday, that is, tomorrow.  

The two new commissioners –Macias and Martinez – would not take part in the ceremonial transfer of power and would have to wait until Tuesday to be sworn in. The special meeting agenda had been posted and only Cowen's refusal to take part in a meaningless ceremony prevented it from happening.

"John would have none of it," said one of his supporters. "Why start his term dividing the commission by holding a meaningless ceremony while the other two new commissioners had to wait until Tuesday just to please Mendez? He refused and the city secretary took down the special meeting notice."

We checked the city secretary's site (when it works) and confirmed that it had been cancelled and that the new mayor and commissioners will be administered the oath of office Tuesday as had been planned all along before Mendez tried to move the mayoral transfer of power to Friday. In his case, with Mendez missing in action, the mayoral gavel will be handed to Cowen by Mayor Pro-Tem Roy De los Santos.

City sources say that a separate ceremony and reception is planned to thank Mendez and outgoing District 1 and District 2 commissioners, Nurith Galonsky and Jessica Tetreau, respectively, at a later date.

"Whether you liked them or not, they gave of their time and effort to serve the city," De los Santos said. "It's only right." 

The move by Mendez to hold a special meeting so it would not inconvenience his travel plans are a far cry from his campaign promises under the heading of  "Internal Diplomacy" where he states that "team building and team work are needed for any city to be successful. I bring people together and get things done....It's not about me or anyone else, it's about what's best for Brownsville."

Obviously, holding a special meeting for his personal convenience doesn't ring true to this "internal diplomacy" plank of his campaign platform. How things and people change and yet remain disappointingly the same. 

We hear that Martinez will ask 484th District Court Judge Adela Kowalski-Garza to administer his oath of office and have advanced queries to the others and are awaiting their replies which will be posted when received.