Brownsville Public Utilities Board General Manager and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) John S. Bruciak, during the executive session of BPUB’s Jan. 4 special meeting, informed the board that he plans to retire.
BPUB Chairman Arthur “Art” Rendon conveyed Bruciak’s announcement publicly following executive session, adding that further information will be released at BPUB’s regular meeting on Jan. 9.
Bruciak been the subject of official scrutiny and a torrent of public criticism since the Oct. 5 release of a forensic audit report, commissioned by the city of Brownsville, looking into BPUB management’s handling of a failed power plant deal.
On Oct. 17 Bruciak was placed on 60 days of administrative leave after release of the report, which concluded that Bruciak and other members of the management team for years mischaracterized the feasibility of the Brownsville Tenaska Generation Station power plant project to the BPUB board and members of the Brownsville City Commission.
The board and the city approved a series of graduated rate hikes between 2013 and 2017 to pay for the doomed project.
Public speakers at BPUB meetings since the audit’s release have lined up during public comment periods to condemn Bruciak and call for his termination, though the Jan. 4 special meeting was different in that he had defenders — two BPUB employees as well as a local CPA, Billy Bradford Jr. — in addition to the regular critics.
Executive session agenda item No. 6 involved “deliberations regarding the appointment, employment, evaluation, reassignment, duties, discipline or dismissal of the CEO of (BPUB).”
Addressing the board before the start of executive session, Bradford described himself as a longtime friend of Bruciak, who he called a “tremendous man” with integrity, and a steady hand at the BPUB helm for nearly a quarter century.
“I wholeheartedly support John Bruciak,” Bradford said. “I had the pleasure 24 years ago of being on the board that hired him as the general manager of this system.”
Noting that Bruciak joined BPUB in 1979, he asked board members to consider his decades of leadership before taking action on agenda item No. 6.
Eddie Hernandez, one of the two BPUB employees to speak, said he was a 31-year veteran of the utility and likewise asked board members to consider Bruciak’s contributions over the years and allow him to continue leading the organization.
“John has led (BPUB) through hurricanes, freezes, economic downturns and the COVID-19 pandemic,” Hernandez said. “John has always had our customers’ and our employees’ best interests at heart.”
Board members took no action after executive session on item No. 6, which was rendered moot by Bruciak’s announcement.
The board did approve other agenda items, including one authorizing BPUB Interim General Manager and CEO Marilyn Gilbert to hire a consultant “to determine qualifications of electric utility consultant to assist with administrative and professional duties,” and another authorizing Estrada to initiate “recruitment and hiring of in-house counsel staff and determine qualifications and duties of potential staff.”
Two other agenda items passed involved reviewing criteria for a Requests for Qualifications/Proposals for a local board counsel and special utility counsel.
The board tabled agenda item No. 3, involving “consideration and possible action on BPUB acquisition of right-of-way and easements for the (Tenaska-related) Cross Valley Pipeline Project, including pending condemnation lawsuit.”
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to reflect that Marilyn Gilbert is serving as BPUB interim general manager and CEO.
