By Juan Montoya
After former City Manager Charlie Cabler' sudden retirement last October, we thought that - like Nixon - we wouldn't have him to kick around anymore.
Based on a sweetheart contract, Cabler's golden parachute was a $335,000 "payout" that after deductions ended as a a 219,000 final check by the city when he resigned.The difference between $219,000 and the $335,000 transferred covered other costs including retirement, FICA, health insurance, etc.
Later we found out that aside from Cabler's authority to spend up to $35,000 at his discretion without going to the city commission for approval, he also had personal control of another fund, the so-called Benefit Youth Recreational Program funded through donations to his annual City Manager's Golf Classic.
People would often see Cabler eating breakfast at downtown restaurant or being wined at downtown drinking establishments surrounded by contractors who gladly picked up the tab for him and his municipal workers entourage.
We found out after making an information request, that the fundraiser fund total stands at $318,160 sitting there in Acct. # 01-9115848. The future of that sum, once Cabler was gone, is in limbo.
The list of contributors to that fund reads like a virtual list of vendors for the city. Whether Cabler solicited the money from the vendors or had someone in the city visit and strong-arm them to giving "voluntarily" is anyone's guess.
Brownsville's GMS Waste Disposal , which has handled the city's commercial and industrial waste work worth some $60 million over a five-year contract, was notable as one of the main contributors multiple times over the 2015-2017 period as were Spawglass Contractors, Estrada Hinojosa & Co., the city's financial consultants, Linebarger Goggan Blair & Simpson, the city's delinquent tax collectors, Terracon, Republic Services, the Public Utility Board, and SCS Engineers, the firm charged with keeping the city landfill in compliance with state regulatory agencies, EPA and others.
SCS, of Houston, since it was first hired by the city in 2011, has continued to do expensive engineering work (in the millions of $$$) to keep the city's landfill – a moneymaker for Brownsville – in compliance with the EPA and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Their latest work is addressing the use of resaca contaminated silt to be used as a cap daily on the city's landfill.
Cabler went to the well multiple times to GMS for contributions, each time at $750 a pop (23 times multiplied by $750= $17,250). The company has been trying to hold on to its $60 million contract over the objections of some city commissioners who have kept it operating on a month-to-month basis despite recommendations of Purchasing director Robert Luna who was often supported by Cabler.
Republic Services' contributions were of $10,000 each time (2) as were PUB's.
Firms like Denton Navarro Roccha Bernal Hyde & Zech, P.C., which handle labor mediation cases, the Consolidated Electrical District, Gulf Coast Waste Paper, AGH Engineering & Surveying, Inc. Charlie Clark Nissan, etc., were among the most prominent donors.
The recipients of Cabler's largess could be said to be charitable and noteworthy. Prominent among them were donations to individuals in sports like boxing, soccer, baseball and golf. But there were other more selective gifts such as those to the Guadalupe Regional Middle School ($5,000), Brownsville Police Dept. Christmas Party and the annual Toy Drive, city parks, Hooked for Life, Police Explorers, and some high schools and elementary campuses.
There were donations to the Rio Grande Valley Coaches to assist with their tournaments, East Brownsville Little Miss Kickball, Harlingen Bronco League, and even the Cameron County Bar Association. The Brownsville Historical Association was a recipient as was the Brownsville Falcon Team.
The Texas Exes got a good chunk of cash (thee donations of $5,000 in 2016 alone), and even the UTRGV for after-school programs.
Well, guess what? One of out seven readers tells us that Good Ol' Charlie has the blues just hanging out in his palatial estate (compliments of the City of Brownsville taxpayers) and is champing at the bit to get back into the gravy.
Yup. Apparently, like the proverbial mare, Charlie is hot to trot, this time as an elected official (mayor, perhaps?).
Since he departed on his golden parachute, the city (and the Cameron County D.A.'s Office) has been busy picking up the pieces of his administration.
No wonder Charlie - like the milk horse - is champing at the bit every time he hears the sound of that coin tinkling and the green bills being crinkled within earshot. But are the voters (and taxpayers) of Brownsville really ready for Good Time Charlie to make an encore performance?