IF BCIC GETS GREEN LIGHT, WILL CITY AND BOARD OFFICIALS AND RELATIVES, CITY EMPLOYEES BE ELIGIBLE FOR GRANTS?

11) Consideration and ACTION, if any, to approve Resolution Number(s) 2023-088 through
Resolution Number(s) 2023-106 (except 2023-095) to amend board and commission policies
and/or to appoint, reappoint, and/or remove member(s) from the following boards and commissions:
Audit & Oversight; Airport Advisory Board; Architectural Control Committee; Charter Review
Committee; Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation (GBIC); Historic Preservation
Commission; Planning & Zoning Commission; Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee;
Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation (BCIC); Capital Improvements Advisory
Committee (CIAC); Community Improvement Corporation; LGBTQ Task Force; Main Street
Advisory Board; Paseo de la Resaca Landscaping & Lighting; Public Library System Advisory
Board; Transit Advisory Committee; and La Posada Task Force. (Commissioner Bryan L. Martinez
and Commissioner Roy De los Santos)

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

At tonight's City of Brownsville Commission meeting, on the very last item on the long agenda, the city mayor and commissioners are being asked to approve a proposal to "amend board and commission policies" of the various boards and the city commission.

Of noteworthy importance is the inclusion of the Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation among the boards that can amend their policies.

Our minds go back to the attempt by the board of the BCIC to allow formerly ineligible applicants for the Business Improvement and Growth (BIG) 2.0 Grant Program such as elected officials, city employees, BCIC board members and staff, appointed board members of all the City of Brownsville boards and commissions, and their immediate family members. The agenda at that April 2023 BCIC meeting was:  

Discussion, Consideration, and Action to reopen the Business Improvement and Growth (BIG) 2.0 Grant Program with updated program guidelines.

Fortunately, the amendment was voted down with only board member Cesar Lopez and President and CEO Cori Peña, and BCIC Community Development Manager Miriam Suarez making a pitch to adopt the change.

But now that the innocuous agenda item is before the city commission and perhaps approved, will it give board members like Cesar Lopez (a commissioner Pedro Cardenas appointee to the BCIC board) a new impetus to make policy changes to allow previously ineligible applicants to qualify for the free money?

Cardenas has long complained that the ineligibility of board and commission relatives has kept his wife from applying for up to $200,000 BIG 2 grants. She is currently setting up shop in the old Coca Cola building now owned by former mayor Trey Mendez.

Likewise, it would also make city manager secretary Rachel Figeroa – who is also starting a business downtown – eligible to apply for the grants. 

City Hall watchers say that if the BCIC gets the go-ahead to change this policy, it will only be a matter of time before city employees and relatives of board members and city commissioners will line up at the BCIC ATM to cash in on the goodies. 

As far as board membership goes, at least two city commission members, Mayor John Cowen and District 2 commissioner Linda Macias promised during their campaign for office that no member of the city commission should seat on either the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation or the BCIC.

Yet, Cowen remained as CEO of the GBIC while he was still a commissioner and before the became mayor, and Macias is still on the board of the BCIC. Both of these entities get some $5 to $6 million annually as their share of a quarter-cent sales tax revenue that is split for economic development incentives (GBIC) and quality of life improvements (BCIC).

A recent audit of the GBIC showed that past administrators have been lax on doing their due diligence on applicants that has resulted in millions in grants paid to companies without an economic track record and the city has started legal proceedings to "claw back" the money.

Likewise, at the BCIC, corners have been cut, questionable grants have been made to political cronies and socioeconomic allies of some board members. Once this became public knowledge, at least one of the recipients returned the $125,000 of the $235,000 they were granted.

To allow the political incest to continue by giving these boards and commission a carte blanche to forge policies that will benefit a few without job creation or economic benefit to the city would be tantamount to letting a kid run rampant into a candy store.