Commission approves final committee appointment

OKs first reading on district redrawing

During Tuesday’s Brownsville City Commission meeting, commissioners approved the appointment of Tomas Tijerina, a local attorney, to the Charter Review Committee, a motion made by District 3 Commissioner Roy De los Santos.

The city charter currently allows the Brownsville Public Utilities Board to act as its own entity with full authority over the utilities systems. 

The appointment of a review committee and plans to amend the charter come in light of the Carr, Riggs & Ingram LLC Forensic Examination report, which investigated BPUB’s activities leading up to and after an agreement with Tenaska Inc. to build a local natural gas-fired generating station, which never came to fruition despite rate increases to fund the project.

Amendments cannot be made until May 2023 because charter elections are limited to once every two years, according to City Attorney Victor Flores. However, the commission has the option of holding a special election if the proposed revisions are not ready by May, Flores said during an Oct. 18 meeting.

The committee, which will propose amendments to the charter, also includes Carlos Cascos, appointed by Mayor Trey Mendez; Gerardo Martinez, appointed by City Commissioner At-Large “A” John Cowen Jr.; Daisy Zamora, appointed by City Commissioner At-Large “B” Rose Gowen; Michael Gonzalez, appointed by District 1 City Commissioner Nurith Galonsky Pizaña; Evaristo Cardenas, appointed by District 2 City Commissioner Jessica Tetreau, and David Merrill, appointed by District 4 City Commissioner Pedro Cardenas.

In an interview with The Rider, De los Santos said in his search for an appointee, he looked for people with “a decent understanding of what the charter is.”

“While I know the Tenaska and PUB audit has been what’s driving the push for a charter review, the charter is so much more comprehensive than just PUB,” he said. “I don’t want someone who’s just going to be focused on that.”

De los Santos said he wanted someone who was going to “think outside the box.” His decision process consisted of hearing recommendations, including some from residents, reviewing resumes and interviewing potential appointees.

“I just had a really strong sense for how [Tijerina] would serve on this committee,” De los Santos said. “He wasn’t someone who was seeking it out. He was someone that was recommended. He doesn’t have a history of serving on a lot of city boards that I’ve seen and, in talking to him about PUB, he was talking about things that I wouldn’t normally consider, and I sort of like that. I don’t want someone that’s just going to be a carbon copy of what I would do in that position.”

During the meeting, Flores clarified that because the commission is creating the committee, it can allow committee sessions to take place remotely if it chooses.

“Given the nature of the work that we’re talking about, and I don’t want to see the work rushed, but by the same token, we would like to try and make the May elections of next year,” De los Santos said during the meeting. “That being the case, I want to make sure we’re not absolutely required to [have] the quorum present in person, are we? … I think I would like to see that exception so that these committee members can meet remotely as much as possible with, of course, the stream being open to the public for transparency.”

Mendez agreed, and the commission unanimously approved both the appointment and the proposed exceptions.

A Charter Review Committee meeting was scheduled for 5 p.m. Wednesday.

Commissioners also listened to and approved a presentation by Rolando Rios, Brownsville’s redistricting consultant, on the adoption of the 2022 City Commission Single Member District Boundaries.

“As you know, after the census, everyone has to redraw their election districts,” Rios said. “I have to compliment the elected officials here, because redistricting can be a very contentious process. However, in this case, we went through a give-and-take process. Everybody had an input and came to an agreement.” 

He said that after applying the 2020 census data to existing districts, there was a deviation of over 60%, which means there was “a lot of growth” in Districts 3 and 4. Deviations exceeding even 10% require redistricting, according to the presentation. 

“The 60% deviation was clearly unconstitutional, and clearly you had to redistrict,” Rios said.

He said he drew a new district plan using input from the elected officials that has only a 5% deviation, which is “clearly constitutional.” The new drawing leaves room for growth in each district and equalizes the population in all of them.

Galonsky Pizaña asked if the proposed boundary lines can be used to “more equitably distribute resources across the city.”

De los Santos said the distribution of resources should be about “where the greatest needs are for the citizens of Brownsville.”

The commission unanimously approved the district drawings on first reading.