By Juan Montoya
Despite its bid having been four places above the lowest bid, a majority of the board of the Brownsville Independent School District led by Cesar Lopez voted Tuesday to authorize superintendent Esperanza Zendejas to negotiate with Brownsville-based Ziwa Corporation to award a $4,045,000 contract to build the Porter Early College High School Band/Choir Building.
The item – which was voted on despite the fact that Zendejas had recommended be pulled from the agenda after some trustees objected to the district bypassing the other four vendors with lower bids – drew a threat from trustee Phil Cowen. Cowen said he had "grave doubts" about the procurement process followed in the bid and said he would call a press conference on Wednesday, the day after the meeting, to denounce the award.
The board had discussed Ziwa's bid during executive session although it was not listed among the items listed on the closed session agenda.
Earlier, the full board – minus Carlos Elizondo, who was absent – had approved another $429,845 as a partial payment to Ziwa for construction services work completed on the Pace ECHS Fine Arts Building.
Cowen did not make good on his threat, but it was obvious that he was troubled by the awarding of the contract to someone whose bid came in four places on top of the lowest bid. The board first opened discussion in open meeting, but voted to take the item into executive session when Cowen and Dr. Sylvia Atkinson had questions.
Kenneth Lieck, Facilities administrator, took umbrage at Cowen when the trustee told him in so many words, that he suspected someone had done something illegal to rig the bids and recommended Ziwa despite them not being close to the lowest. Cowen is said to have threatened to go to law enforcement on the issue.
After the board emerged from executive session, Lopez instructed board secretary Pat Perez to go back to the item. At the time, Perez noted for the record that trustee Atkinson had left the meeting. When the item first came up before the board went into executive session, trustee Joe Rodriguez had made the motion to approve and Cowen seconded it. As Lopez tried to rush the item, Cowen said he was recalling his second.
At that time, Lopez said he would second Rodriguez's motion to award the contract to Ziwa. At that time, Cowen asked Zendejas what her recommendation was.
"I made my recommendation in executive session," Zendejas responded. When Cowen pressed her to say what that recommendation was, Zendejas replied that she was recommending it get pulled from the agenda and considered at a later meeting.
"I made my recommendation to pull it so we can bring additional information to the board," she asserted.
Trustee Minerva Peña said she would vote against awarding the contract based on the recommendation of administration. Nonetheless, Lopez disregarded the objectors and said he was satisfied that Ziwa was a "fine company" and that they had done good work for the BISD in the past, a sentiment echoed by Rodriguez.
Rodriguez also said that despite Zendejas' recommendation to pull it, he was sure that it had not been her original recommendation and voted to award it.
At that point – as the vote was about to be taken over the objections of Cowen and Peña – Cowen stood and stormed out of the building and did not vote. The vote was three for and one against to award the contract to Ziwa with Laura Perez-Reyes joining Lopez and Rodriguez against Peña's lone "no" vote.
After the meeting, Atkinson was said to have told friends she had left the meeting because she was under the impression that the board would follow Zendejas' recommendation to pull the item. She later was reported to have told them the board had agreed to go along with Zendejas and pull the item in the open meeting, as the superintendent asserted after executive session.
"She though they weren't going to vote on it until Dr. Zendejas came back with more information at a later meeting," a source who is close to her said.