"Sometimes it's the the perception of a conflict of interest that matters more than whether there is an actual conflict or not..."former Cameron County Judge, Texas Secretary of State and U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Tony Garza
By Juan Montoya
We have come to a juncture in local government where city commissioners and even Mayor Trey Mendez have come out on social media as advocates of vendors doing business with the city.
Oh, people have gotten used to commissioners pushing for their pet projects and steering public money to support them. One of then biggest examples is the publicly-funded two-term long campaign by commissioner Rose Gowen to push cycling in the city. Toward that end, she has funneled millions to build hike and bike trails and designated one certain business as "bike-friendly" bending the rules and pushing subsidized advertising to help them along.
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So we shouldn't be too surprised to see the likes of District 2 commissioner Jessica Tetreau openly advocating the monopoly of COVID-testing toward one provider – in effect, granting a monopoly to Eder Hernandez and his Valley Med Urgent Care – to perform testing, at $150 a pop, over anyone else.
One of our readers asked whether the service had been let out for bids or whether Hernandez's relationship with Tetreau and Mendez had sealed the deal.
People living in social media glass houses often let out things that they shouldn't, and Hernandez portrays himself as a voluntary martyr to do the heavy lifting and test every possible Brownsville resident (for a slight fee, of course) as part of the city's response to the raging COVD-19 infection that has overwhelmed South Texas.
It has gotten to he point where he is threatening some residents desperately seeking COVID-19 testing with law enforcement if they persist in asking for a test in his McAllen office.
When a resident asked some pertinent questions about the monopoly he – not medical doctor, but a physician's assistant physician with a product
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to sell – had been given by the city, an indignant Tetreau and Hernandez cloaked themselves with the mantle of religion and called on the Almighty to smite his foes.
"How much is this Eder Hernandez making from the city?," asked one commenter. "He's not even a doctor (MD) but he calls himself a doctor. How did he get the contract? Was it put up for bids? How much is he getting paid? Who is monitoring who gets tested, how many times are people getting tested and how do you check to make sure that P.A. Eder is billing the city correctly?
"Somebody needs to audit the billing and check why there was no bids taken.The taxpayers should also be informed as to how much he is being paid and where the money is coming from." Concerned citizen.
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There is nothing wrong with a citizen holding his city and its elected officials accountable and asking for transparency on how it handles public funds. But the bombastic response by Hernandez and his supporters makes one wonder whether they know that selling a service to a public entity bring you under public scrutiny, as it should, and every citizen deserves answers to these questions. It is, after all, their money.
He seems to have gained the inside track with the mayor as well, when Mendez posted this at left.
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But despite Mendez's endorsement of Hernandez's city-granted testing monopoly, troubling questions still remain in the public on the quality and level of service being provided by personnel of this self-sacrificing company.
"I think more attention needs to be brought to how this is being handled. I have a family member who took the COVID-19 test and waited close to 2 weeks for the results. The test results are supposed to be available 36-72 hours after the test has been taken (to account for test analysis and calling/informing the patient).
"As the days went by I did a quick online search and found and called the Cameron County Health Dept. line, the Brownsville Dept. of Public Health line, and the Valley Med Urgent Care Line. The county health line said they only called a patient if they received a positive result from the city. The city line rang and I left several messages.
"The Valley Med line was either busy or would ring and had no voicemail set up to leave a message. Finally, said family member got thru to one of the numbers with the city and they were told to message Eder on Facebook. He replied on FB with the result. I know HIPAA is being lenient with their Protected Health."
Facebook? You've got to be kidding.
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And then there is District 1 commissioner Nurith Galonsky coming to the assistance of Republic Services, which holds a – you guessed it, monopoly, or should we say franchise – on the hauling of residential waste to the city landfill.
It seems that COVID-19 has also decimated its ranks and that it has delayed the picking up of trash in numerous Brownsville neighborhoods.
Residents have complained that the standing waste is attracting rodents and other animals who have spread the garbage all over the street and creating a nuisance and health hazard there.
Galonsky took to social media not to urge the company to hold up its end of the city monopoly it has been granted, but – blaming COVID-19 – to excuse Republic's failure to fulfill it's contractual obligations and urge residents to haul the waste to the landfill themselves and quit whining.
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She was immediately rebuked by Cameron County Pct. 2 Administrative Assistant Eliceo Davila who said that if Republic could not fulfill its contractual obligations with the city to haul residential waste, other companies would welcome the opportunity to service the company's monopoly.
"Why doesn't the company increase overtime for its workers so they can pick up the residential trash or hire temporary workers?," asked one commenters. "The city could also open the landfill on Sunday so they could haul if they are short on workers to give them more time to haul it off.
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" But to tell the residents to do the company's job for a service they already pay for is nonsensical. If they can't handle it, hire someone else."
Later, Galonski removed the post above left and said Republic was making arrangements to bring drivers from other cities to help out the local crews, but still blamed the manufacturer of trash bins for the delay in replacing worn bins here.
How have we come to this juncture where elected officials are openly advocating one vendor over another or openly defending non performing vendors and telling residents to do the job themselves?
Things are getting curiouser and curiouser...
By Juan Montoya
We have come to a juncture in local government where city commissioners and even Mayor Trey Mendez have come out on social media as advocates of vendors doing business with the city.
Oh, people have gotten used to commissioners pushing for their pet projects and steering public money to support them. One of then biggest examples is the publicly-funded two-term long campaign by commissioner Rose Gowen to push cycling in the city. Toward that end, she has funneled millions to build hike and bike trails and designated one certain business as "bike-friendly" bending the rules and pushing subsidized advertising to help them along.
So we shouldn't be too surprised to see the likes of District 2 commissioner Jessica Tetreau openly advocating the monopoly of COVID-testing toward one provider – in effect, granting a monopoly to Eder Hernandez and his Valley Med Urgent Care – to perform testing, at $150 a pop, over anyone else.
One of our readers asked whether the service had been let out for bids or whether Hernandez's relationship with Tetreau and Mendez had sealed the deal.
People living in social media glass houses often let out things that they shouldn't, and Hernandez portrays himself as a voluntary martyr to do the heavy lifting and test every possible Brownsville resident (for a slight fee, of course) as part of the city's response to the raging COVD-19 infection that has overwhelmed South Texas.
It has gotten to he point where he is threatening some residents desperately seeking COVID-19 testing with law enforcement if they persist in asking for a test in his McAllen office.
When a resident asked some pertinent questions about the monopoly he – not medical doctor, but a physician's assistant physician with a product
to sell – had been given by the city, an indignant Tetreau and Hernandez cloaked themselves with the mantle of religion and called on the Almighty to smite his foes.
"How much is this Eder Hernandez making from the city?," asked one commenter. "He's not even a doctor (MD) but he calls himself a doctor. How did he get the contract? Was it put up for bids? How much is he getting paid? Who is monitoring who gets tested, how many times are people getting tested and how do you check to make sure that P.A. Eder is billing the city correctly?
"Somebody needs to audit the billing and check why there was no bids taken.The taxpayers should also be informed as to how much he is being paid and where the money is coming from." Concerned citizen.
There is nothing wrong with a citizen holding his city and its elected officials accountable and asking for transparency on how it handles public funds. But the bombastic response by Hernandez and his supporters makes one wonder whether they know that selling a service to a public entity bring you under public scrutiny, as it should, and every citizen deserves answers to these questions. It is, after all, their money.
He seems to have gained the inside track with the mayor as well, when Mendez posted this at left.
But despite Mendez's endorsement of Hernandez's city-granted testing monopoly, troubling questions still remain in the public on the quality and level of service being provided by personnel of this self-sacrificing company.
"I think more attention needs to be brought to how this is being handled. I have a family member who took the COVID-19 test and waited close to 2 weeks for the results. The test results are supposed to be available 36-72 hours after the test has been taken (to account for test analysis and calling/informing the patient).
"As the days went by I did a quick online search and found and called the Cameron County Health Dept. line, the Brownsville Dept. of Public Health line, and the Valley Med Urgent Care Line. The county health line said they only called a patient if they received a positive result from the city. The city line rang and I left several messages.
"The Valley Med line was either busy or would ring and had no voicemail set up to leave a message. Finally, said family member got thru to one of the numbers with the city and they were told to message Eder on Facebook. He replied on FB with the result. I know HIPAA is being lenient with their Protected Health."
Facebook? You've got to be kidding.
And then there is District 1 commissioner Nurith Galonsky coming to the assistance of Republic Services, which holds a – you guessed it, monopoly, or should we say franchise – on the hauling of residential waste to the city landfill.
It seems that COVID-19 has also decimated its ranks and that it has delayed the picking up of trash in numerous Brownsville neighborhoods.
Residents have complained that the standing waste is attracting rodents and other animals who have spread the garbage all over the street and creating a nuisance and health hazard there.
Galonsky took to social media not to urge the company to hold up its end of the city monopoly it has been granted, but – blaming COVID-19 – to excuse Republic's failure to fulfill it's contractual obligations and urge residents to haul the waste to the landfill themselves and quit whining.
She was immediately rebuked by Cameron County Pct. 2 Administrative Assistant Eliceo Davila who said that if Republic could not fulfill its contractual obligations with the city to haul residential waste, other companies would welcome the opportunity to service the company's monopoly.
"Why doesn't the company increase overtime for its workers so they can pick up the residential trash or hire temporary workers?," asked one commenters. "The city could also open the landfill on Sunday so they could haul if they are short on workers to give them more time to haul it off.
" But to tell the residents to do the company's job for a service they already pay for is nonsensical. If they can't handle it, hire someone else."
Later, Galonski removed the post above left and said Republic was making arrangements to bring drivers from other cities to help out the local crews, but still blamed the manufacturer of trash bins for the delay in replacing worn bins here.
How have we come to this juncture where elected officials are openly advocating one vendor over another or openly defending non performing vendors and telling residents to do the job themselves?
Things are getting curiouser and curiouser...