By ALBERT VILLEGAS
Special to the NEWS
At Tuesday night’s San Benito City Commissioners’ meeting, city leaders voted 4-1 to table an agenda item calling for the censure of Mayor Pedro “Pete” Galvan. Galvan cast the sole “nay” vote to table the item.
The San Benito Commissioners chose to revisit the resolution later, allowing them time to gather and review evidence, including audio, video, text messages, and other digital correspondence between the mayor and San Benito Economic Development Corporation (EDC) officials.
His detractors on the commission claim this evidence may show the mayor overstepping his authority and “threatening” the EDC by withholding city tax dollars unless the entity releases applications for its open director position, among other matters.
Galvan cast the lone “no” vote after Place 2 Commissioner Daniel Cortez, Sr., who had placed the item on the agenda with Commissioner Rick Perez, moved it forward.
Mayor Pro Tem Jose E. Navarro presided over the item at counsel’s behest.
Navarro initially moved to table the item to allow attorneys from the EDC (Michael Pruneda) and the City of San Benito to meet with the mayor and EDC Assistant Executive Director Mario Palomo to discuss a plan moving forward.
Galvan was allowed to vote and seconded the motion, but the motion died.
The item was revisited at the end of the meeting and ultimately tabled.
During the initial discussion, Cortez explained, “This information was relayed to us about an issue with the EDC, and it came during a phone call in which the mayor was speaking to Palomo and Pruneda. According to the letters we received, he threatened to take their sales tax money away. The mayor does not have the authority to unilaterally make those decisions.”
Later in the meeting, Cortez said the censure is not intended to prevent the mayor from speaking to the EDC in his ex officio capacity.
“But we are advising him that there is a procedure for doing things. (The mayor) cannot threaten to withhold funding; he does not have that authority. We, as a commission, can have that authority, but even then, those funds are governed by state law. They’re allowed for the EDC, so for him to go and just tell them he’s going to withhold their funding is improper. This is just a resolution that documents the incident that occurred, and hopefully it will remind him not to do it again,” Cortez said.
Galvan asked about the letters sent to the two commissioners because he didn’t receive any documents.
Cortez said the city’s attorney, Eric Flores, did receive it. When Galvan asked, City Secretary Ruth McGinnis said she hadn’t received any letters.
Attorney Andie Vela, sitting in for Eric Flores, told Navarro that she and Flores had reviewed the letter and prepared the resolution as a result. She later told Cortez she didn’t have copies of the letters with her at the meeting.
Navarro asked if Flores had a recommendation.
“Our office doesn’t have a recommendation on the merits of the resolution itself,” Vela said. “Our only recommendation concerns whether a censure is legal and whether it’s an avenue available to the governing body. Our opinion is that it is, and we drafted the resolution to reflect what is legally required.”
When Navarro asked Commissioner Rick Perez to elaborate on his concerns, Perez deferred to Cortez.
“The mayor is going over there and asking for things like that. We, as a commission, granted the EDC financial independence and such. Basically, that’s what we want them to do, to take care of their own situation,” Perez said. “Yes, I understand that the mayor sits as an ex officio, but that’s basically it. An ex officio has no voting voice. Calling and demanding things, threatening people, is not the right way to do business in San Benito. There are other ways to do these things, and as a commission, we would like to censure the mayor on those grounds.”
Vela told Navarro that the mayor would still be able to speak with any EDC member and offer an opinion, but any request would need to follow procedure, per the proposed resolution.
The original meeting packet posted online did not include the resolution. Galvan said he received the resolution shortly before the meeting, implying he did not have ample time to review it.
“Because it wasn’t in the electronic packet. I just got this an hour before the meeting, so I’ve asked the staff to make sure all the information in the packet is presented before we reach this point for the commissioners,” Galvan said, holding up a piece of paper and asking whether he was holding the actual resolution.
The NEWS filed a Texas Open Records request on Wednesday for a copy of the resolution.
Galvan said that when the EDC leadership, including its attorney Pruneda, fails to respond to his emails, he has no choice but to visit the EDC offices to ask questions.
“There’s mention of threats here. Those are strong words,” Galvan said. “We all have oversight and a fiduciary responsibility to ensure those sales tax dollars are spent properly.”
He reminded those in the chamber that a fourth of the tax dollars goes to the EDC.
“There was never a phone call. I walked into the EDC office. Mr. Palomo and an assistant were there, and I was invited to the back office to speak with him,” the mayor said.
Galvan asked whether the EDC is indeed going to move forward with a new CPA firm and do away with using the city’s finance department for all its financial matters; he reminded Palomo that the city’s bylaws require the Commission to grant final approval.
Galvan asked Palomo to call Pruneda to confirm the bylaws.
“Mr. Pruneda was interpreting the bylaws differently. I told him that you wrote the bylaws and should be able to interpret them. You wouldn’t need an Attorney General’s position because you wrote them,” Galvan said.
Galvan also noted that the night before the EDC meeting, someone tried to remove the line that read, “All contracts come to San Benito Commission for final approval.” “Why would you remove that line item if it wasn’t necessary?” Galvan asked.
At the end of the call, Galvan told them the EDC needs to be more transparent about how it uses tax dollars, or he’ll recommend that the commission remove sales tax appropriations for the EDC.
“The reason I asked this is that I came across many receipts, and the credit card statements did not align with our policies,” Galvan said.
Galvan has requested there be a credit card policy, which he is working closely with City Manager Carlos Yerena on, “so we can better control and be better stewards of the tax dollars.”
He said the EDC allows a member to have a credit card. He said elected leaders on the commission aren’t allowed to have one, and neither should an EDC member.
“There were no threats, just accountability,” Galvan said.
Galvan also responded to a Facebook post by Place 3 Commissioner Victor M. Gonzalez, who said the “mayor is playing the victim.”
“The citizens are the victims because these are their dollars,” Galvan said to Gonzalez.
Gonzalez requested that, if the EDC has cameras, the footage of the interaction between the EDC leadership and Galvan be shown.
Meanwhile, earlier in the week, the EDC executive board tabled a motion to remove the mayor as an ex officio member.