By Juan Montoya
Sources in the City of Brownsville have notified us that city manager Helen Ramirez has given notice that she will be leaving her position citing her need to attend to her husband's illness and convalescence.
We, of course, wish him well, and thank Helen for her, ahem, service. She was expected to make her announcement Tuesday and her last day will be December 19.
“My family needs me to be more present in their lives. And so that’s why I’ve taken this difficult decision, but it’s the right decision for me and my family,” Ramirez told
ValleyCentral. “I know that the city will continue to have the momentum that they have to continue to be successful in everything that we’ve accomplished.”
But we would be untruthful if we didn't say that she has long ago worn out her welcome here after former city manager Noel Bernal brought her in to become part of his managerial team.
Each of these assistant city managers pulled salaries exceeding $100,000, with Ramirez closing in on $300,000. The salary schedule below demonstrates how this gang of well-paid underachievers has been rewarded for their mediocrity. Missing in this list is Doroteo Garcia and Alan Gard, two other assistant managers commanding a $100,000 (plus) salary.
Just like her predecessor Noel Bernal had the "Total Alignment" buzzword, Ramirez came up with her "One City" slogan.
But if you scrutinize her "successes" and "achievements" you will see that she oversaw a series of boondoggles which costs the city taxpayers millions in cost overruns. Take for example, the process by which the Brownsville Market and Communications (the Ministry of Truth) facility near the old Casa del Nylon was built. There was only one bid considered, the same guy who got the E-Bridge gig. Normally, such a facility would cost between $20 to $30 per square foot. Ours cost was about $462 per square foot.
It has now become a de facto propaganda machine to boost the political images of Mayor John Cowen, La Chisquiada Rose Gowen (now overseeing the $5.5
million annual BCIC budget), and pet projects of other commissioners. How many Coffees With the Mayor can Cowen's kidneys endure? Another COB production brought to you by the House of Smoke and Mirrors.
The same goes for the Capital Improvement Projects spending from the 2017-2022 period with monies obtained through the issuance of bonds. Most of the projects were overspent and some of the monies earmarked for some projects were never started.
And shall we mention the Wellness Crowd's Cannery building to feed the famished silk-stocking cyclists along Linear Park? That project has had two general contractors, both of who failed miserably and the change orders have bloated the project's budget and have been routinely approved by an inept management and a docile city commission.
And what about Helen's reign at the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation where Cowen directed her to have some "quick successes" after he and Nurith Galonsky ran off and bought out former GBIC director Mario Losoya with a $700,000 golden parachute?
Remember these "successes?"
Under her, GBIC negotiated with companies (9Point8 Capital) which bilked the city and resulted in non-compliance with their contractual obligations. On September 29, 2021, 9Point8 Capital agreed with the city that for $1 million it would perform a number of tasks related to bringing space-related industries, including bringing in $10 million in taxable assets within the city limits of Brownsville.
On January 6, 2023, after the city attorney and the city auditor determined that the company was in non-compliance, they ordered that an audit be performed to discover what went wrong with the venture between it and the GBIC.
The audit was performed by City Auditor Keilah Folkerstma, Deputy City Auditor Jose Luis Silva, and Assistant City Auditor Daniela G. Gonzalez. The compliance audit was completed on May 19, 2023.
But by then, the company had been paid two payments of $250,000, one in October 5, 2021 and the other April 21, 2022.
The auditors reported that the agreement between 9Point8 Capital was signed by founder J. Brant Arseneau and then-GBIC Director and CEO Ramirez. In the agreement, the company claimed that 9Point8 Capital was a New York based corporation authorized to do business in the State of Texas. It turned out not to be true, but Helen didn't bother to check being too much in a hurry to have some "quick successes."
The $1 million was to be paid in 4 increments of $250,000 with the first payment within 5 days of the effective (signature) date then one at 6 months, one at 12 months, and the final at 18 months of a 3-year agreement.
In other words, the GBIC and Ramirez agreed that the company was going to get full payment of the $1 million halfway through the length of the contract.
Under that agreement, the auditors reported that 9Point8 Capital, an advisory company, was supposed to create local employment (20 full time equivalent jobs – 15 back office and 5 hatchery jobs), create a business “hatchery” to help startups find funding, fund space program scholarships at University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV), and bring capital investment for space startups within the city limits of Brownsville.
The original terms for payment were to be $1,000,000 in incentives, paid $250,000 every 6 months for two years per the original term sheet. The agreement with 9Point8 Capital was signed September 29, 2021, just two months after the proposal was sent to the City and 10 months after the City’s 380 agreement with Spaced Ventures, Inc. Per information given to the GBIC board, the entity was also supposed to bring in taxable business personal property valued at $10 million to within the city limits of Brownsville.
On January 6, 2023, the city auditor informed the city's Audit and Oversight Committee that the company failed to deliver the services it had promised and had been paid two payment of $250,000 each, and recommended that a compliance audit be performed on the agreement. The committee agreed.
Auditors found that the rapid pace at which the agreement was proposed and approved was breathtaking. The proposal was made to the city on July 23, 2021, the term sheet signed on August 6, 2021, and the final agreement signed September 29. The first $250,000 payment was made five days later on October 5, 2021 before any work had been performed for the city. Six months later, they got another quarter mill. Nothing ever materialized and good luck on getting the cash back.
After that glowing performance, she was rewarded by being named interim city manager and - after the spending of thousands of dollars for a perfunctory nationwide search to appease the peasants - she was named city manager when they had chosen her all along.
Quick and dirty. Yeah, that's the ticket. And after dishing out half a million for nothing, how many local jobs were created? O
And when the city commission appoints someone as "interim" (say Sauceda or Garcia, and Gard), will we see the same dog-and-pony show of a nationwide search for one of them to be appointed after spending all that money again? Remember that Gard came from Ana, Texas, a metropolis of 29,000 people. Garcia is a civil engineer.
(Last time we had cops as city managers - Andy Vega and Charlie Cabler - they turned out to be, ahem, urban planning "challenged," for lack of a more charitable term. Will lightning strike in the same place a third time?)
We could go on and on...Whenever there was a public event, it usually was the Helen and Minions show with elected officials taking a back seat to the little queen hogging the spotlight.
But that's water under the bridge, and with Ramirez leaving, hopefully all this will dissipate like a bad dream.
