By Juan Montoya
As the poet Robert Browning once wrote: "Less is more Lucrezia."
So, too, we shall try to paint a more prefect picture of the alleged illegal vote taken by Brownsville Mayor Tony Martinez that allowed him to sell himself a piece of tax-resale property adjacent to his law office at 1206 Van Buren.
That property's street address is 1242 E. Van Buren St. (rear).
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The first photo is of the minutes of the Nov. 3, 2015 regular meeting where a unanimous city commission – after emerging from executive session where John Guevara, representing Linbarger, Goggan Blair and Sampson LLD and city attorney Mark Sossi outlined the bids/offers for 16 property offered for sale for tax delinquency. Included among them was the one highlighted above (2015-071). The street address was 1226 E. Van Buren, next to the mayor's law office. Note that the minutes show that Martinez participated in the executive session discussion and later voted for the city to accept the bids for the 16 properties, including the one he had bid on.
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The second photo above shows the transfer of the property to Antonio Martinez with an address of 1206 Van Buren St., the mayor's law office. There is only on attorney named Tony Martinez there, and that's the mayor. So we have a situation where Martinez not only discussed the sale of the property in executive session, but also emerged from the session and voted (as is shown on the videotape of the meeting on the city's website) for the city to accept his bid. He then signed off on the sale to himself on behalf of the city.
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The photo above is a screen shot of the Nov. 3 meeting which shows Martinez presiding over the meeting at the time that the vote was taken (17 minutes, 17 seconds into the regular meeting) and the offers for the properties, including his, were approved "unanimously," as the minutes above show.
The Texas Local §§ 171.001-.010 states that: A public official who has such interest is required to file, before a vote or decision on any matter involving the business entity or real property, an affidavit with the city’s official record keeper, stating the nature and extent of the interest. Id. §171.004(b).
In addition, a public official is required to abstain from further participation in the matter. Id. However, a public official that is required to file an affidavit is not required to abstain from participating in the matter if a majority of the members of the governing body have a substantial interest and are required to file and do file affidavits of similar interests on the same official matter. Id. §171.004(c).
We looked high and low and could find no affidavit filed with the City Secretary and we filed an information request for any such affidavit if there was one filed with the city attorney. But even if there was, the code is specific that Martinez could not participate further in the matter, not even in the discussion on whether to accept the bids for the properties. The record shows he did and that he voted to permit himself to buy one of the tax resale properties which is now a parking lot for his law office. His bid was for $5,200 and the appraised value by the Cameron County Appraisal District was $13,500.
Now, aside from Martinez, Guevara with the delinquent-tax attorneys had to know the bidders and the amounts and the identity of the bidders to brief the city commissioners, the trustees of the Brownsville Independent School District and the Cameron County Commissioners Court who also signed off on the bids.
At least one city commissioner (Cesar de Leon) has told us that if he had known that Martinez was the bidder for one of the properties, he would not have allowed him to participate in the deliberations or voted to accept his bid. What about the others?
As the poet Robert Browning once wrote: "Less is more Lucrezia."
So, too, we shall try to paint a more prefect picture of the alleged illegal vote taken by Brownsville Mayor Tony Martinez that allowed him to sell himself a piece of tax-resale property adjacent to his law office at 1206 Van Buren.
That property's street address is 1242 E. Van Buren St. (rear).
The first photo is of the minutes of the Nov. 3, 2015 regular meeting where a unanimous city commission – after emerging from executive session where John Guevara, representing Linbarger, Goggan Blair and Sampson LLD and city attorney Mark Sossi outlined the bids/offers for 16 property offered for sale for tax delinquency. Included among them was the one highlighted above (2015-071). The street address was 1226 E. Van Buren, next to the mayor's law office. Note that the minutes show that Martinez participated in the executive session discussion and later voted for the city to accept the bids for the 16 properties, including the one he had bid on.
The second photo above shows the transfer of the property to Antonio Martinez with an address of 1206 Van Buren St., the mayor's law office. There is only on attorney named Tony Martinez there, and that's the mayor. So we have a situation where Martinez not only discussed the sale of the property in executive session, but also emerged from the session and voted (as is shown on the videotape of the meeting on the city's website) for the city to accept his bid. He then signed off on the sale to himself on behalf of the city.
The photo above is a screen shot of the Nov. 3 meeting which shows Martinez presiding over the meeting at the time that the vote was taken (17 minutes, 17 seconds into the regular meeting) and the offers for the properties, including his, were approved "unanimously," as the minutes above show.
The Texas Local §§ 171.001-.010 states that: A public official who has such interest is required to file, before a vote or decision on any matter involving the business entity or real property, an affidavit with the city’s official record keeper, stating the nature and extent of the interest. Id. §171.004(b).
In addition, a public official is required to abstain from further participation in the matter. Id. However, a public official that is required to file an affidavit is not required to abstain from participating in the matter if a majority of the members of the governing body have a substantial interest and are required to file and do file affidavits of similar interests on the same official matter. Id. §171.004(c).
We looked high and low and could find no affidavit filed with the City Secretary and we filed an information request for any such affidavit if there was one filed with the city attorney. But even if there was, the code is specific that Martinez could not participate further in the matter, not even in the discussion on whether to accept the bids for the properties. The record shows he did and that he voted to permit himself to buy one of the tax resale properties which is now a parking lot for his law office. His bid was for $5,200 and the appraised value by the Cameron County Appraisal District was $13,500.
Now, aside from Martinez, Guevara with the delinquent-tax attorneys had to know the bidders and the amounts and the identity of the bidders to brief the city commissioners, the trustees of the Brownsville Independent School District and the Cameron County Commissioners Court who also signed off on the bids.
At least one city commissioner (Cesar de Leon) has told us that if he had known that Martinez was the bidder for one of the properties, he would not have allowed him to participate in the deliberations or voted to accept his bid. What about the others?