By Juan Montoya
Ostensibly, the item on the agenda placed by Brownsville Independent School District board member Phil Cowen was to address a number of vexing issues facing the district.
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Under the board member request section, Cowen had submitted this:
2. Attorney Consultation regarding potential litigation regarding TENASKA/PUB; VALCO; Graphic Spot and Board Member intimidation and action to hire attorney to represent district and Board Member(s) interest. (Board Member Request - PC)
BISD is already under an active investigation by the federal government for the purchase of barbacoa from the now-bankrupt company Valco which sold Region One districts – including the BISD – meat that had been processed in Mexico. When a bad batch was discovered, it triggered an investigation by the federal government over the use of USDA funds to purchase meat processed in a foreign country that some said partly triggered the suicide of then-Food and Nutrition Service director Silverio Capistran.
The investigation of the FNS also opened up a probe into Grafik Spot, an ad and sign company which sold numerous goods to the FNS. That probe is not yet complete.
On the other hand, the potential litigation between Tenaska/PUB and the BISD has been discussed because the district – the PUB's largest customer shelling out about $8 million in utilities annually – has been trying to implement energy-saving measures. However, the 40 percent hike in electric rates since 2012 has wracked havoc on those efforts. The plant was supposed to have been completed in Summer 2017, but the glut of electricity on the grid have scuttled that plan and it has been delayed indefinitely.
Now there is a general consensus in the BISD that only a lawsuit against the city and PUB will get the district any relief.
![Image result for carlos elizondo, brownsville]()
It is the part of Cowen's agenda item that states the case that the board needs an attorney to counter "Board Member intimidation and action to hire attorney to represent district and Board Member(s) interest."
This has been understood as a veiled reference to the legal travails facing fellow board member Carlos Elizondo who was demoted as Brownsville Fire Chief and later suspended without pay after he was indicted on a charge for theft by a public official and violation of his fiduciary duties as a treasurer of the firefighters' union.
Elizondo is also named in a city commission audit and oversight committee report which charged that he had personally ordered dispatchers to steer lucrative ambulance patient transfers to a private company which cost the city at least $62,000.
He is due to be arraigned on the theft charges Wednesday at the 107th District Court.
Board members Cesar Lopez, Minerva Peña, Laura Perez-Reyes and Dr. Sylvia Atkinson apparently did not agree with Elizondo, Joe Rodriguez and Cowen that the district would benefit in any way by providing legal assistance to the former fire chief and viewed it as a purely personal problem.
Sources say the three members in the minority were angered that their fellows emerged from executive session and voted to take no action on the matter, as Cowen, Rodriguez and Elizondo had urged.
Ostensibly, the item on the agenda placed by Brownsville Independent School District board member Phil Cowen was to address a number of vexing issues facing the district.
Under the board member request section, Cowen had submitted this:
2. Attorney Consultation regarding potential litigation regarding TENASKA/PUB; VALCO; Graphic Spot and Board Member intimidation and action to hire attorney to represent district and Board Member(s) interest. (Board Member Request - PC)
BISD is already under an active investigation by the federal government for the purchase of barbacoa from the now-bankrupt company Valco which sold Region One districts – including the BISD – meat that had been processed in Mexico. When a bad batch was discovered, it triggered an investigation by the federal government over the use of USDA funds to purchase meat processed in a foreign country that some said partly triggered the suicide of then-Food and Nutrition Service director Silverio Capistran.
The investigation of the FNS also opened up a probe into Grafik Spot, an ad and sign company which sold numerous goods to the FNS. That probe is not yet complete.
On the other hand, the potential litigation between Tenaska/PUB and the BISD has been discussed because the district – the PUB's largest customer shelling out about $8 million in utilities annually – has been trying to implement energy-saving measures. However, the 40 percent hike in electric rates since 2012 has wracked havoc on those efforts. The plant was supposed to have been completed in Summer 2017, but the glut of electricity on the grid have scuttled that plan and it has been delayed indefinitely.
Now there is a general consensus in the BISD that only a lawsuit against the city and PUB will get the district any relief.
It is the part of Cowen's agenda item that states the case that the board needs an attorney to counter "Board Member intimidation and action to hire attorney to represent district and Board Member(s) interest."This has been understood as a veiled reference to the legal travails facing fellow board member Carlos Elizondo who was demoted as Brownsville Fire Chief and later suspended without pay after he was indicted on a charge for theft by a public official and violation of his fiduciary duties as a treasurer of the firefighters' union.
Elizondo is also named in a city commission audit and oversight committee report which charged that he had personally ordered dispatchers to steer lucrative ambulance patient transfers to a private company which cost the city at least $62,000.
He is due to be arraigned on the theft charges Wednesday at the 107th District Court.
Board members Cesar Lopez, Minerva Peña, Laura Perez-Reyes and Dr. Sylvia Atkinson apparently did not agree with Elizondo, Joe Rodriguez and Cowen that the district would benefit in any way by providing legal assistance to the former fire chief and viewed it as a purely personal problem.
Sources say the three members in the minority were angered that their fellows emerged from executive session and voted to take no action on the matter, as Cowen, Rodriguez and Elizondo had urged.