Brownsville City Commission votes out Neece from BCIC

The Brownsville City Commission voted last Tuesday to replace Ben Neece on the Brownsville Community Improvement Corp. board with Cesar Lopez.

The new board appointment was made a priority by District 2 City Commissioner Jessica Tetreau, who arrived at the meeting late and left early.

 Tetreau asked to go straight to board appointments after the proclamation period because she needed to get to a prior engagement. 

“It has been a long-standing understanding of the commission that when you are appointed to a board, that when we vacate our commission seat, we vacate our board appointment,” she said of Neece, who lost his reelection as District 4 City Commissioner to Pedro Cardenas in July and still serves on the board of the Brownsville Community Improvement Corp.

District 3 City Commissioner Roy De los Santos wanted to personally hear from Commissioner Cardenas on the matter. 

“Only because I feel that since that seat was given to Commissioner Neece, by being the District 4 commissioner, I believe the filling of that [seat] would belong to Commissioner Cardenas,” De los Santos said. “So, I would like to know his thoughts.”

In an interview with The Rider Thursday, Cardenas said, “Mr. Neece’s time was actually up when he stopped being our commissioner but he had not been removed because there was a lapse in communication between city management and the city commission.”

While the proposal to give Neece the boot had no objection from Cardenas, District 1 Commissioner Nurith Galonsky Pizana had opposing views, noting that the timing was off and that it seemed like a personal attack.

“I’m gonna vote ‘nay’ simply because to me it seems more ‘Why now? There’s only two months left,’” Galonsky Pizana said. “If it would have happened, it should have happened a lot earlier. And just based on information I’ve received otherwise, this is more of a personal vendetta, which I don’t want to be a part of. If it’s because someone is opposed to the way he has voiced his opinions, then I don’t believe in stifling speech. And, so, for that reason, I just don’t see the point.”

Commissioner At-Large “B” Rose Gowen countered Galonsky Pizana’s opinion by saying she established the rule after seeing what leaving an ex-commissioner on other boards had done to the community in the past.

“My vote ‘yes’ is not a personal vendetta,” Gowen said. “My vote is based on past and long experience on this commission and had I known that, I didn’t know that he was still on the board. I have seen that cause harm in the past many years ago and for that reason I will vote ‘yes,’ because I believe it should have happened when he lost the election. But it is in no way a personal vendetta on my part in any way, shape or form.”

All commissioners, except Galonsky Pizana and Cowen, voted to remove Neece from the board.

Although Lopez was not on the list of 14 candidates recommended during the meeting, Cardenas made the motion to appoint the former Brownsville Independent School District board member from 2012 to 2018, as the newest member of the Brownsville Community Improvement Corp. board.

De los Santos seconded the motion. 

In an interview with The Rider Thursday, Lopez said he served on the Cameron County Appraisal Board from 2016 to 2018 and is currently the director of marketing and public relations for an engineering consultant. 

“Pedro is somebody that my family and I supported when he ran,” he said. “After supporting him for his election, we became friends and after having discussions he considered me for this position.”

Cardenas said he believes Lopez will do a great job in the BCIC.