DONNA — Officials here met for several hours behind closed doors on Thursday to discuss ongoing plans to expand the Donna-Rio Bravo International Bridge to accommodate commercial truck traffic.
However, recently ousted officials are raising questions regarding the bridge’s expansion — questions over what they say is a lack of financial transparency, opaque communications, and a seeming willingness by the city to silence any dissent on the multimillion-dollar project.
The joint meeting between the Donna City Council and the city’s two economic development corporations was primarily meant to discuss an economic development project for the “bridge area,” according to the meeting agendas.
“I really can’t talk too much about it because it’s executive session material, but I can tell you that the city continues to move forward on the project,” Donna City Manager Carlos Yerena said after the combined boards emerged from a two-hour, closed-door discussion at the Donna Rec Center.
Numerous people joined the discussion, including a representative from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, as well as Mike Rhodes, vice president of the McAllen-based Rhodes Enterprises and chair of the Donna Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone board.
Donna has already constructed two southbound lanes for so-called “empties” — trucks that have already delivered their cargo to the U.S. and are heading back into Mexico.
That phase of the project broke ground in the fall of 2019 and was paid for, in part, by $25 million in state and federal grants.
COMMERCIAL EXPANSION
Now, the city has turned its eyes onto the next phase — financing the construction of two northbound commercial lanes, which is slated to cost between $60 and $77 million financed entirely via revenue bonds.
During TIRZ meetings held earlier this summer, officials said they expected to begin selling the bonds sometime this month. But as September’s calendar pages continue to dwindle, it remains unclear if that timeline will be met.
“They have not gone out to market. We discussed this in executive session, but we do continue to move forward with the project,” Yerena said Thursday.
BOARD SHAKEUPS
However, a few familiar faces were missing at Thursday’s joint meeting.
That’s because about a week ago, the council restructured the majority of the 4B board.
The council removed three 4B board directors for asking too many questions, according to Norman Cordova Sr., who also served on the 4B board until his resignation last week.
Joe Garcia, a certified public accountant who served as the 4B board chair, as well as former Border Patrol agent David Guerra and businessman Tomas Marroquin were all removed and replaced.
Cordova resigned in protest of his colleagues’ removal, as did his son, Norman Cordova Jr., who served on the Donna International Bridge Corporation board.
In a Sept. 14 letter, the father and son duo lambasted the mayor and council for contemplating the $77 million bond, calling it a “financial sinkhole” while the city continues to pay down millions in debt leftover from the bridge’s original construction more than a decade ago.
“Board members who question your financial irresponsibility are promptly removed. We cannot be a part of a majority that is leading the citizens on a path of financial disaster,” the two Cordovas said in the letter.
FINANCE QUESTIONS
During an Aug. 11 EDC budget workshop — the only one that’s been held ahead of a Sept. 29 statutory budget deadline — Cordova Sr. and the three ousted EDC members asked a flurry of questions of Donna Finance Director David Vasquez and then-interim City Manager Frank Perez.
There they learned the city expected the 4A and 4B EDCs to shoulder some of the debt from the bridge bond issuance.
“They were asking the 4A and 4B to each contribute $10 million on each bond, okay, which we can’t really do because then we won’t be servicing anybody else,” Cordova Sr. said. “We don’t have that kind of money.”
The 4B and 4A EDCs have a budget of just $1.6 million and about $1.75 million, respectively, according to figures from the city.
“We’re still paying on some old bonds. The 4B is still participating on the debt — the old debt — regarding the bridge,” Garcia, the former board chair, said.
“So, the question becomes, is the bridge able to sustain itself today? If not, how is it that we’re able to take on new debt? And furthermore, the other question is, at what point were we supposed to break even on that first debt and have we reached that point?” he said.
According to Donna’s own finance department, the answer to the latter question is no.
Just before the COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020, the bridge had come within about $300,000 of breaking even, according to comments Vasquez made during that sole budget workshop in August.
LEADER IN THE DARK
But the now-former EDC members haven’t been the only ones asking questions. Even as he led the August workshop, Frank Perez had questions of his own.
The city council named Perez interim city manager in March after pressuring Yerena to step down.
But in the few months he served as Donna’s top official, Perez said there were things even he was kept in the dark on, including a document key to justifying such a large infrastructure project like the bridge expansion.
“I know there’s a feasibility study in place, but I was never provided a copy. You know, I kept asking for one and even as city manager, I was never provided one,” Perez said.
Neither were the EDC board members, Cordova Sr. said.
The council terminated Perez and reinstated Yerena as city manager late last month.
Perez has since filed a grievance against the city. He and his attorney, John Shergold, are slated to meet with city leaders on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Perez, Cordova Sr. and the other former EDC members fear the city is moving too fast, too soon, with too little accountability.
“They’re hurrying it. They don’t want the public to have any input on it,” Perez said.
“We’ve gotten to a point now, ma’am, that we need to be transparent because there are a lot of questions out there already from the community,” he said.
“I don’t trust those people with what they’re doing. … They’ve never been exposed before.” Cordova Sr. said.
