AT THE PORT, A NEW DIRECTOR FROM BAD TO WORSE; ABOUT PAR WITH THE CITY NAMING COPS AND "INTERIMS" MANAGERS

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

They all denied it, but in the end the predictable happened.

The Brownsville Navigation District commissioners – halfway into what they say is a national search for a world-class port director have named the BND's police chief as the interim replacement for Eddie Campirano, whose last day is December 31. 

What does a cop know about international commerce or maritime economics? Probably nothing, but he does have a close relationship with members of the BND board. The old local dictum guides us here: No sabe nada pero ay que  buena gente es.

And although they say he will be only serving as an "interim" until their national search is done and they come up with competent, experienced port director candidates, it is a recurring instance of local entities naming someone as interim, going through the motions of the search, and then leaving their compadre in that position.

What happened in the case of  the City of Brownsville when Noel Bernal left and hapless Helen Ramirez was named interim city manager? The city went through the motions and then decided that Ramirez should stay, even though she left a trail of ineptness as "interim"  and the director of the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation and is responsible for the loss of more than $500,000 to a space-related company without any track record in that industry. 

She wanted "quick wins," she said, while trying to explain away the fact that she directed that the companies be contracted without requiring a background check, or to inquire into whether they were even registered to do business in the State of Texas. In comparison to former GBIC CEO Mario Losoya, who was director for Toyota's North American operations before our mediocrity- loving city commission yanked him with a sizeable buyout, Ramirez couldn't tie the laces of his shoes.

In her recent presentation of "quick wins" during Tuesday's commission meeting, she glossed over those failures and doled out slavish praise to her Capital Improvement Project's five-year plan which consists of imposing new fees on development, massive cost overruns of ongoing projects, her embracing of the hike-and-bike trails to pacify Rose Gowen, and bowing down to the requests of other commissioners for their pet projects. Just recently she was a very conspicuous figure on the opening of the West Trail, a project that was started before she even got to Brownsville. Oh, but hey, that's Rose's pet project. Let's ride with the commish!

 "Interim" became permanent and the ineptness and incompetence will be guaranteed to continue as long as she is there.

What is our fixation with thinking cops can become urban planners and municipal administrators of finance, infrastructure, development, international commerce, etc.? We had Andy Vega, Charlie Cabler, and –  without disparaging their service as law enforcement officers – the city showed little improvement after they collected their pensions and were put out to pasture.

Campirano, to his credit, was an assistant city manager with a planning background but without the four votes to become city manager, and the port hired him to run their show out there. Eddie was a quick learner, but that didn't mean that his gaps in maritime commerce didn't show. Oh, well, We get what we pay for, don't we?

El Rrun-Rrun's The Great Carnac has some predictions:

1. Dietrich, as "interim" will have to have a few months, if not longer, of On The Job Training (OJT), and will announce some "quick wins" to cement his relationship with the commissioners (or their relatives).

2. The port commissioners will go through the motions of the national search and – wonder of wonders – will reach the conclusion that there is absolutely no one out in the world's maritime business that can come close or equal Our Boy Willie.

3. And later, despite the loads of money already paid to their head hunters they will decide to keep Willie who they will hail as a crackerjack on maritime industry and a damn quick study.

4. Outside talent will find out that Brownsville is content to continue mediocre hires and the best of the best won't come here because the compadre or cuñado is first on the list. (What does PUB stand for? Primos, Uncles, and Brothers.) 

Yeah, that's the ticket!