War On Power
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The City of San Benito gets another loss in court as we wage this War On Power. This time a judge blasts the city for trying to block the completion of the multi-million-dollar Resaca Village shopping center. But we begin this report with a young family who lost their home to a fire made worse by the city’s neglect.
This is all that’s left of the Mata house on North Reagan Street in San Benito… the fire that destroyed this small wood-framed home broke out at four in the morning as a young family slept on Thanksgiving weekend.
Little did they know the fire hydrant around the corner from their home was broken… for who knows how long.
Firefighters did what they could… but the home was a total loss.
“I thought it was the city’s job to make sure everything was up to date and everything. It was just something I wasn’t expecting,” said house owner Julio Mata.
Why did the Fire Department omit the hydrant problem from official reporting… it’s likely why the local paper didn’t report it.
And city manager Fred Sandoval is ignoring our search for answers too.
Just one of several developments in our war on power in San Benito.
The smell of his burning house woke Julio Mata up from his sleep.
“And when I got up and I stepped out of our room, our kitchen was on fire like it was pretty bad,” Mata added.
“From my door, I had seen the kitchen door on fire. And I just went straight to my kids’ room and picked both of them up and ran with them outside the house,” explained Mistica Mata.
Wayne: “That must of scared you to death…”
Mistica: “Yes, it did.”
Mistica went back inside the burning house to get her car keys. Her hair caught on fire.
It used to be long… not anymore.
And Julio showed us the second-degree burn he has on his arm.
“We lost everything in there.”
And we learned the city of San Benito may be to blame for the house being totally destroyed.
Firefighters had tried to get water out of this fire hydrant around the corner from the Mata house.
But it was broken… no water pressure… the Fire Chief ignored our call for answers.
After we met the Matas… we asked San Benito under state law to give us records of fire hydrant inspections and repairs across town.
Maybe it’s just a coincidence but less than two hours after we notified the city of our fire hydrant investigation look what they did.
The city posted on Facebook bragging about the work city employees were doing to fix fire hydrants… which is actually their job.
“We’re proud of their dedication to keep our city safe and running smoothly,” reads the post.
Clip of Mayor Rick Guerra: “How much transparency do you want?”
It has been anything but smooth sailing for the embattled Mayor Rick Guerra and the city commission in 2024.
San Benito is now batting zero in the courts… 0 for 3.
A judge voided the city charter election after the commission got busted for trying to sneak controversial changes on the ballot in violation of state transparency laws.
“This being sneaky it’s ridiculous,” expressed resident Julian Rios.
The blame for that falls on this guy… city manager Fred Sandoval.
One of the charter changes was to let Sandoval off the hook… the city manager had promised to move to town as required but then declared he’d never move.
Fred Sandoval: “Never.”
In that election voters overwhelmingly declared: too bad.
“I think of myself as professional,” pleaded Sandoval.
Sandoval apologized in November for that embarrassing temper tantrum… but still seemed to whine about having to move to the town he’s paid to promote.
“It is still up to this board to force me to move here,” he said in that same meeting.
The city manager says he now lives in an RV here at 55 and older fun-and-sun RV Park.
But at least he’s got a pool…
Sandoval: “I love San Benito…”
Andrea Palacio: “What made you apologize? I’m curious.”
Sandoval: “Because I love San Benito.”
That illegal city vote to give Sandoval that get out of San Benito free card wasted $23,000 in tax money.
The appeal the city filed will waste more.
Money down the drain… not counting the legal bills for the city attorney… more than $6000 a month.
And a lawyer from the law firm of Denton Navarro… whose first bill for the charter fight hasn’t even come in yet.
Drinkard: “I don’t have any comment for you, Mr. Dolcefino.”
Wayne: “You heard the judge, why is the city…?”
Drinkard: “Mr. Dolcefino I just said I don’t have any comment for you on ongoing litigation, I’m sorry.”
We met up with Robert Drinkard at the Hidalgo County Courthouse after we watched the city’s latest defeat in court.
“You can’t say until you do what I want you to… you can’t work anymore,” declared Judge Arturo Nelson.
Judge Arturo Nelson scolded San Benito for trying to stop the completion of the Resaca Village shopping center.
A stop work order was imposed last August… four months long.
Developers say the delay has caused deterioration of the final uncompleted building.
The city halted the project after a subcontractor tapped into a city water line to make some mortar.
Developers paid the small citation… but a city lawyer told Judge Nelson San Benito has now opened a criminal investigation into theft… even though they haven’t said how much water they think was stolen.
“You’re using it as a hammer to stop any further work,” added Judge Nelson.
We’ve been warning San Benito residents that the fight with Varco is a waste of money…. Sends the wrong message to other developers who might want to invest in the city… but certainly won’t now.
Varco complained to us the city has been trying to take over the multimillion shopping center after they refused what they called a shakedown by the husband of commissioner Deborah Morales.
Varco sued the city after the EDC broke its word to let developers finish the much-delayed project in exchange for paying daily damages for further delays.
Since then, the city has refused to even cash the payments… even for rent… more than $70,000.
The legal bills are mounting in a fight that could end up costing taxpayers a lot of money… the Pruneda Law firm has billed the city nearly $100,000 in the Varco case ($98,000) to represent the city EDC.
That’s not counting this guy’s bills for this month’s court hearing.
Money that could go to things like inspecting and repairing fire hydrants… so young families don’t get killed.
“Pretty messed up. Because what if someone has a fire and what if they’re stuck in there?” warned Julio Mata.
A petition drive to recall the entire city council received hundreds of signatures… but not enough to force resignations.
Organizers blame the city secretary… claiming she wrongly forced voters to have to sign five separate petitions…
Instead of two for the candidates who ran in those elections.
Many citizens say they were afraid to sign for fear of retaliation from relatives working for the School District.
But organizers say they may try again after the first of the year.
In part, because nothing has really changed… the city of San Benito wants to move forward without the necessary ethics changes.
The San Benito EDC should be independent of the city commission… it’s an alter ego of the city commission… three of its members are city commissioners or the mayor.
Guerra… Goodman… and Morales are illegally withholding detailed spending records of the EDC.
Fred Sandoval is too as executive director of the EDC and also city manager.
Don’t force us to run up your legal fees… release them immediately.
We drive down the dirt road leading to the San Benito fairgrounds… trying to miss the cavernous potholes.
Forget what it looks like now… next spring… San Benito is betting this will place become a music mecca… drawing tens of thousands of people.
A UT RGV study by a valley university says it could work…
And San Benito does have a musical connection…
It’s the home of Freddy Fender… his name is emblazoned on the town water tower.
Country music singer Charley Crockett says he will play the first show… but a city-run concert venue is clear.
A high-stakes money gamble… San Benito plans to spend $1.6 million in the first year… including $650,000 for a stage and $500,000 for the production of 20 events. They expect $1.8 million in revenue in just one year.
They’ve hired a special events coordinator but who else will benefit from this? We’ve been trying to find out.
History isn’t helpful… the city’s last hog waddle festival lost money.
“I see where spending $300,000 on events we haven’t seen profitable as of yet,” reminded Commissioner Deborah Morales in a September meeting.
Sure the mayor’s family hasn’t assaulted me in recent weeks…
But the San Benito housing authority still refuses to let you see what happened to that investigation of the mayor’s brother… accused of sexual misconduct while he worked there.
A former San Benito police detective came forward she was told to shelve the investigation… Guerra was accused of retaliating against officials who investigated his brother.
One of Johnny Guerra’s purported victims went public… it may have happened years ago… but it still clearly haunts her.
Wayne: “You believe that the mayor’s power helped protect him?”
Mayra Latigo: “Yes, definitionally.”
Wayne: “No doubt in your mind?”
Mayra: “Yes, no doubt in my mind.”
Mayra Latigo had filed police complaints back when it happened…
But we helped convince her to trust the police again.
She asked me to come with her and be an eyewitness to her hour-long emotional meeting with a detective.
“It’s not easy, Wayne. He knows what he did. That’s all I want for him to say the truth,” added Mayra.
The San Benito Police Chief had promised an investigation… he has since ignored Mayra’s emails… mine too… a broken promise for a possible victim of crime.
She is just one of the reasons we continue to wage this war on power.
