CONFRONT CITY, PUB ON TENASKA, HIGH RATES TUESDAY

Pursuant to Chapter 551, Title 5, Section 551.041, of the Texas Government Code, the Texas Open Meetings Act, notice is hereby given that the City Commission and the Brownsville Public Utilities Board of the City of Brownsville will conduct a Special Joint Meeting on Tuesday, August 11, 2020, at 5:00 P.M. via Zoom (Click on graphics to enlarge.)






Special to El Rrun-Rrun

Now's our chance.


Wanna ask the members of the Brownsville Public Utility Board and honchos what happened to the $500 million Tenaska gas-fired, electric plant?

You know, the one that was supposed to be funded by the $325 million raised by an increase in utility rates starting in 2013 and ending at the end of 2016 to pass bonds for its construction.

Tenaska was going to raise the other $175 million and divvy up the 800 MWs in electricity with 200 MWs to the city and then other 600 MWs for the company to sell on the open market. That's right. PUB ratepayers would pay 65 percent of the cost and get 25 percent of the electricity.

This is what Bruciak told the city commission on December 2012 when he was pushing for yet another disastrous public-private "partnership."

"The multi-year rate plan will support growth (and)...the bond issue will take care of our future needs (for the next five years out into October 2016)....The rate increases will take care of our future needs and provide low-energy costs to the residents of Brownsville."Brownsville Public Utility Board CEO John Bruciak at a joint meeting of the commission on and PUB board Dec. 11, 2012.

Based on the advice of this sage utility guru, the city commission then adopted upwards rate hikes that saw city residents pay a 36 percent increase in electric rates over the next four years, a 20 percent increase in water rates over the same period, and a 6 percent hike in waste water costs over two years.

It was all there, they tell us, in the Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) drafted by then-PUB legal counsel Eddie Treviño, formerly mayor of Brownsville and now Cameron County Judge, and signed by then-Mayor Tony Martinez and the PUB board. (In fact, PUB kept paying Treviño for months after he left his position as PUB counsel.)

You know which MOU that is. It's the MOU that Tanaska has fought to have keep under wraps claiming its competitors would be privy to "proprietary" information. What else is in it? And why wasn't it made public? And if its "proprietary" we're talking about, who owns PUB if not the rate payers? Shouldn't we know what they are doing with our money?

Supposedly, that agreement is no longer binding after PUB went through all the hoops and jumped through the hurdles to get out of it. There's talk of a  $9.5 million "write-of" associated with the reported $100 million in extra cash from the higher rates. Now we hear the number $29 million thrown about. PUB is reportedly trying to spend the last of the loot on an LED lighting program that the city was going to do until Bruciak and the gang stepped in and derailed it.

What happened to the rest?

And why was PUB trying to keep all these sordid details around the spending of the $100 million out of the public eye by asking the city to place the item in executive session but unable to cite any  exceptions to justify it? We are promised to get an accounting of the money raised from off the backs of the ratepayers to the municipal utility in the poorest city in the nation.

And if the plant wasn't built and the MOU is no longer binding, why have the rates remained artificially high and the money not been returned to the rate payers?

And those of you who complain about the exorbitant fuel surcharge on you bill, do you know that Bruciak and the boys spent about $50 million raised through unjustifiable high surcharge without telling the board, the city manager, or the city commission?

You will be able to tune in and, hopefully, get to ask the overpaid PUB honchos like GM-CEO and General Manager John Bruciak, GM-COO Fernando Saenz, and CFO Leonardo Garcia what the hell happened to their mistaken forecasts of a shortage in electricity and their astronomical pay increases doled out once the higher rates kicked in.


 Bruciak, who lives in South Padre Island, has gone from $184,059.20 in 2013 to to $303,576 now, an increase of $119,517, or 39.37 percent.
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Asst. GM and COO Fernando Saenz, who commutes from Austin weekly, went from $160,014.40 to $273,603.20, an increase of $113,598, or 41.5 percent.

And CFO Leonardo Garcia has gone from $160,014 to $263,286, an increase of $103,271, or 39.2 percent.

Those would be some enlightening topics to ask these fellas. And while we're at it, maybe they could tell us how a CFO, CCO, and CEO who between them pocket almost a $1 million in annual salary and benefits failed miserably to put basic safeguards in place so that it couldn't happen?

To watch the performance, click on the link below.

Teleconference Meeting by logging on at: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86541616621?pwd=R0RSYThjYk9ZYU5mVmR2QitwQTBPUT09

To try to get in a  question or two form these gents, use the numbers below.

Or iPhone one­ tap : US: +13462487799, 86541616621# or +16699006833, 86541616621#

Or Telephone: Dial(for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location):
US: +1 346 248 7799 or +1 669 900 6833 or +1 253 215 8782 or +1 929 205 6099 or +1 301 715 8592 or +1 312 626 6799

Webinar ID: 865 4161 6621

International numbers available: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kce24o3rHb