BISD Board - November 20, 2007

BISD Board of Trustees Meeting - November 20, 2007
Agenda.

Cameron County - November 13, 2007

Cameron County Commissioners' Court - November 13, 2007
Agenda.

Brownsville PUB - November 14, 2007

Brownsville PUB Board Meeting - November 14, 2007
Agenda.

Conflicted? Hellz Yeah!

Brownsville Navigation District Commissioner Peter M. Zavaletta said that his vote to further negotiations with Bay Bridge Texas — whose employee joined him in his lawsuit against Dannenbaum Engineering Corp. — does not pose a conflict of interest.

No, the article in the Herald wasn't surprising in the least. And, in a way, serves as an intriguing segue from the point brought up elsewhere of judging politicians by how they treat folks in normal life.

Namely, judging politicians by how they act in PUBLIC life.

Answers.com defines "conflict of interest" simply:

A conflict between a person's private interests and public obligations.

And now, more from the article:

Chambers said Thursday that after Aug. 29 and before Bay Bridge hired him, Zavaletta asked him if he was interested in joining his lawsuit. “I reacted and said ‘sure’. I never signed anything. Being interested doesn’t mean I signed on,” Chambers said, adding –that he will remove his name from the lawsuit.

How can this NOT pose as a conflict? How else should Chambers have replied? In typical quid pro quo fashion, Peter Zavaletta asked Mr. Chambers for a private quid, Chamber's name on a lawsuit, only after Zavaletta performed a public quo on August 29th, voting to start negotiations with Bay Bridge.

This clearly creates an appearance of impropriety, folks. And ironically, it's precisely what Zavaletta has championed against, via BND ethics code implementation, in the past.

IMHO, a tiger doesn't change its stripes.

BND - November 14, 2007

Brownsville Navigation District Board Meeting - November 14, 2007
Agenda.

City Commission - November 13, 2007

City Commission Meeting - November 13, 2007
Agenda.
Audio begins @ 0:03:11, after Executive Session.

BISD Board - November 6, 2007

BISD Board of Trustees Meeting - November 6, 2007
Agenda.

Cameron County - November 6, 2007

Cameron County Commissioners' Court - November 6, 2007
Agenda.

Zavaletta/Valadez OUT, Vasquez/Farias IN

As detailed in the Herald earlier, the Temporary Injunction on behalf of Emmanuel Vasquez against PUB Commissioner Sanchez, Mayor Ahumada & then-Commissioner Zavaletta was heard today in the 103rd District Court.

Be sure to check Emma Perez-Trevino's update, but in a nutshell, here's what happened:

• 103rd District Court Judge Janet Leal validated the current PUB Board composition as follows: Chairman Sanchez, Mayor Ahumada, Robert Guerra, Al Villarreal, Emmanuel Vasquez, and newly-appointed Arturo Farias.


• Dr. Joe Zavaletta, upon advice of his attorney, agreed to RELINQUISH claim to any extension of PUB board service in return for the mutually-agreed-upon stipulations that he be "non-suited with prejudice", and that he acted in good faith on advice of PUB "legal counsel", particularly in the illegal meeting of October 18, 2007.


• Valadez essentially terminated his representation by his original attorney and requested that he be included in representation "on an emergency basis only" by the attorney representing Chairman Sanchez and Mayor Ahumada.


• The Temporary Restraining Order on execution of any documents or contracts authorized, discussed, or voted on during the 10/18/07 meeting was EXTENDED FOR TWO WEEKS. A hearing for declaratory judgment was re-set and scheduled for 9:00AM Wednesday, November 21, 2007 (the day before Thanksgiving).

This writer sees it as a victory for the rule of LAW, the citizens of Brownsville and the ratepayers of PUB, albeit it a costly one for all the above parties.

BISD BOC - November 1, 2007

BISD Bond Oversight Committee Meeting - November 1, 2007

UTB-TSC - October 25, 2007

UTB-TSC Board of Trustees Meeting - October 25, 2007
Agenda.

Rolando Olvera445th District Court Announcement

Alleged Video of Atkinson's Field Sobriety Test

As per the Herald, a DPS trooper's barrage of field sobriety tests, like the intricacies of public meeting decorum & behavior, stumped our Commissioner Atkinson.

Here's an anonymously sent video, purported to actually detail the above incident:


Who knew he possessed such graceful footwork?

Cameron County - October 30, 2007

Cameron County Commissioners' Court - October 30, 2007
Agenda.