By ALBERT VILLEGAS
Special to the NEWS
At a regular October 20 San Benito Commission meeting, the Commission passed a resolution censuring Mayor Pedro “Pete” Galvan for a statement he made to various Economic Development Corporation (EDC) officials, including the EDC’s legal counsel.
The censure also includes Galvan’s comments to the EDC about withholding sales and use tax proceeds. The item was tabled at a meeting earlier this month, providing Galvan time to review the resolution and the commission time to gather further evidence.
When Mayor Pro Tem Jose E. Navarro asked for a summary and clarification of the action at this week’s meeting, City Attorney Eric Flores explained that the censure essentially records the commission’s approval or disapproval of specific behavior in the city minutes.
“This does not have any legal mechanism to ban or silence anyone,” Attorney Flores said. “It essentially documents in the city minutes that certain acts were taken by the city commission as a whole, expressing its opinion or disapproval of those acts.”
The mayor’s political rivals on the commission, which include Daniel Cortez, Rick Perez, and Victor Manuel Gonzalez, voted in favor of the censure.
Flores said the resolution was still in draft form this time for “editing and reactionary” reasons.
“At first, I want to apologize to the community for having to witness these actions. Censureship can be a powerful tool. We rarely see it happen,” Mayor Galvan said. “I don’t think this needs to happen. If the commissioners have a concern, you can talk to me; everybody has my number and email. I think it’s unnecessary.”
This is the second time this month that the resolution was presented at a regular commission meeting. The city staff also failed to include item attachments (proposed resolution or EDC letters) in a commissioners’ packet that could be publicly viewed in advance of the meeting.
On October 7, the NEWS filed an Open Records Request with the city, as instructed by city staff, to obtain a copy of the resolution. The request remained unanswered as of the newspaper’s Thursday deadline. Texas law gives public bodies 10 business days to respond to Open Records Requests.
Flores said one reason the item was tabled two weeks ago was that Mayor Galvan had not received any letters from EDC attorney Michael Pruneda.
Galvan said he received one letter from Pruneda over the weekend, ahead of Tuesday’s meeting.
Mayor Pro Tem Navarro allowed a citizen to speak during the discussion of the item.
“It’s obvious (attorney Pruneda) has a negative judgment of this mayor; he wrote in a letter that the commission is taking it at face value,” said Ricardo Madrigal, an attorney. “How does (legal counsel) normally establish whether a fact is true or not, unless you question Mr. Pruneda, who is not here to make an allegation that is just on a document, which is hearsay, and the attorney can tell you that?”
He was asked to stop, but not before receiving applause from a packed chamber.
Commissioner Cortez, whose name, along with Commissioner Perez’s, was listed on the agenda requesting consideration of the resolution to censure the Mayor, indicated that Pruneda’s initial packet detailing the Mayor’s alleged encounter with the EDC staff and himself was ample evidence.
RESCIND AND RECONSIDER ‘NOT GOOD’
Later in the meeting, the commission was asked to consider rescinding and reconsidering a motion made in December 2025.
At the time, Rick Guerra was mayor, Galvan was a commissioner, and three of the current commissioners were not seated.
The motion concerned site selection for the reconstruction of city building annex number 3 by Ameritek Building Services, LLC.
The 2024 budget was attached, and a decision was needed by December.
Alternative city-owned sites, such as the police station, were under discussion despite a commission deciding last year that the site would be the fairgrounds.
“When we spin our wheels, this happens,” Galvan said, referring to the lack of action by city staff that gets handed down to elected leaders to act again.
“My thing with this is that we rescind and reconsider, so I have a question for legal (counsel): what is our limitation on going back to rescind and reconsider?” Galvan asked. “Can I rescind and reconsider something from a year ago?”
Attorney Flores said he could do so.
“So if I wanted to rescind and reconsider the censure at the next meeting, could I do that?” Galvan asked again.
Flores said he would welcome it.
“So let’s do that for the next meeting and keep it going. If I behave, they can rescind it. It’s just a laughing matter.”
He finally said that rescinding and reconsidering don’t help a government move forward.