BCIC GRANTS (ST. JOE ALUMNI'S ATM) NEXT TO BE AUDITED

 

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

Citing mounting public concern over the haphazard process by which grant funds from the Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation (BCIC) have been awarded – including to board members and their relatives – the Audit and Oversight Committee has given City Auditor Keilah Folkertsma and her staff the green light to conduct a compliance audit.

 Folkertsma and her staff that includes Deputy City Auditor Jose Luis Silva and Assistant Daniela G. Gonzalez Gonzalez conducted a similar audit of the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation (GBIC) which revealed grave shortcomings of the process by which then-GBIC CEO and Executive Director (and now city manager ) Helen Ramirez doled out $100,000s to companies which were allowed to self-report their bona fides.

That resulted in grants to at least three companies which never complied with their promises to bring jobs and attract space-related industries to Brownsville after they had received grants from the 4A corporation. The BCIC – a 4B corporation – also gives out grants meant to enhance the city's quality of life. However, board members since 2018 have awarded grants funded from an annual budget of some $5 million garnered by one-quarter of the city's sales tax receipts in a seemingly capricious and self-serving way that has resulted in monies ending up in the pockets of board members and their families and businesses.

In fact, earlier this year the board was considering a proposal to change the rules for applicants and allow "immediate family members" of elected officials, City of Brownsville employees, BCIC board members and staff and member of all City of Brownsville immediate family members, but 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. 

Item #7 item on that agenda read: 

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

But this proposal shriveled under the glare of public scrutiny and was shelved by the board. However, the horse was already out of the barn way before that. Board members and their families who received monies administered by the BCIC included its chairman, his brother, and even member Arturo Treviño and his fellow St. Joe Academy alumni Pedro Cardenas before he became a city commissioner. The justification for these self-awards was that it was part of the $2 million given by the Musk Foundation and the prohibitions against such actions didn't apply, a dubious claim at best for a member of a public board.

The awarding of grants to family members was the modus operandi at the BCIC with then-chairman Michael Limas 's brother Fabian, who co-owns Las Ramblas with his brother, getting in on the action the next month on June 27, 2019. This despite the BCIC's own express prohibition against the practice in its policy manual. 

On July 30, 2020, BCIC board member Arturo "Turi" Treviño's brother Alejandro got $10,000 for  his Los Trevis business as did Pedro Cardenas for his Mi Pueblito Restaurant, before he was elected as a city commissioner. Then-Chairman Limas also cashed in on the action, as did his brother Fabian who double dipped for his law firm and Las Ramblas.

After that, board member Felicia Fruia-Edge also cashed in on $75,000 of BCIC-administered money which she and her husband allegedly plowed into a building supposedly located at 409 E. Levee Street, an address that doesn't exist. Today, only one wall remains of the hulk of the building which is propped by wooden beams and has no roof. 

The Fruias also received another $125,000 and an additional $32,500 for the Curio 49 building on 409 13th Sreet. After public concerns arose over the awards, the Fruias withdrew their application for the $125,000 grant. 

Other questionable grants made to former public officials included one of $85,000 to former mayor Trey Mendez made just a month after he left office, seemingly a violation of the five-year prohibition to make grants to public officials after they leave. 

 This followed an attempt by Mendez and former city employee Ramiro Gonzalez to get $200,000 from the BCIC to refurbish the old Coca Cola Building downtown and then, after it became public knowledge, that request was also withdrawn. 

Sources say that the BCIC audit will be a broad and deep probe into what processes were in place – if any – on the distribution of the BCIC pie. Like the city's audit of the GBIC, it is expected that new rules and requirements will be recommended by Folkertsma and her staff. What other revelations will emerge is yet to be seen. Hold on to your hats!