Public absent from "Imagine Brownsville" meetings; official says group is an informal board
Elected and appointed officials of public entities have been meeting to prepare for the implementation of the city’s near $900,000 master plan called "Imagine Brownsville" — but most Brownsville residents have not been invited.
On Nov. 5, the "Comprehensive Planning Coordination Board (CPCB) Executive Committee" met to consider and take action on a United Brownsville Memorandum of Understanding, a proclamation, and a press conference, public records show and "Imagine Brownsville" former project spokesman Brian Godinez confirmed.
The public was not notified of the meeting.
Furthermore, participating entities have not yet all voted to establish a CPCB as the organizational entity responsible for coordinating the implementation of the city’s master plan.
City Attorney Mark Sossi’s position is that the committee is "informal" and is not subject to the Texas Open Meetings Act or to the Texas Public Information Act, which are state statutes aimed at providing transparency, accountability and safeguarding the public’s right to know.
"It is not a governing board. It has no governmental power," Sossi said Monday of the CPCB and its components, which also include a task force and a technical support group. The board’s leadership makes up the executive committee, public records further show.
The purpose of the executive committee is to provide final approval of the phasing, funding and implementation of all public projects and initiatives within the city that a task force recommends and to forward those recommendations to the corresponding public entities responsible for implementation, public records also reflect.
The participating public entities are the city, Greater Brownsville Incentives Corp. (GBIC), Brownsville Community Improvement Corp. (BCIC), Brownsville Public Utilities Board (BPUB), Brownsville Navigation District (BND), Brownsville Independent School District (BISD), and the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College (UTB-TSC).
Public entities are being presented with a Memorandum of Understanding in order to establish the CPCB, the MOU states. Entities also are being presented with proclamations where public entities join together to move the community forward.
According to the MOU, the executive director of each entity is on the executive committee and also an elected or nominated official of each entity — as nominated by their respective governing boards. The members of the executive committee would select a chairman and the chairman would then nominate one private sector representative for each entity, which the majority of the executive committee would approve.
The BCIC board on Nov. 9 approved the MOU, which also calls for an annual contribution from each entity of $25,000 toward CPCB’s operations.
The executive committee has developed a preliminary yearly budget of $381,000.
Of this amount, $206,000 would be provided by the entities in in-kind services and $175,000 would be provided by the entities in yearly commitments of $25,000, public records show.
The draft budget for the CPCB would be for administrative and technical support, public involvement, communications, office rent, publications and meeting logistics, according to public records.
The proposed budget includes the following positions and salaries: executive director, $85,000; facilitator, $42,000; grant coordinator, $76,000; legal services, $24,000; and administrative assistance, $24,000.
The draft budget also calls for an allocation of $60,000 for technical support, $20,000 for communications, $12,000 each for publications, travel, and office rent, $6,000 each for meeting logistics and office supplies and $2,000 for Web site support.
