Maverick County Public Facility Corporation Board of Directors Elect Officers
The Maverick County Public Facility Corporation Board of Directors held a Board meeting on Monday, April 7, 2014, at the County Commissioners Courtroom in the Maverick County Courthouse, electing new Board of Directors’ Officers and retaining legal counsel to represent the entity which operates the Maverick County Detention Center.
This was the first Board of Directors meeting of the Maverick County Public Facility Corporation in over six or seven years since it was founded in 2007 to build the Maverick County Detention Center. Certified Public Accountant Milo Martinez of Martinez, Rosario & Company, LLP highlighted the Maverick County Public Facility Corporation’s non-compliance with State of Texas corporation requirements during his 2012 Audit of Maverick County. The Maverick County Public Facility Corporation was founded during former Maverick County Judge Jose A. Aranda, Jr. and former Maverick County Sheriff Tom S. Herrera administration.
The Maverick County Public Facility Corporation Board of Directors appointed by the Maverick County Commissioners Court include Maverick County Judge David R. Saucedo, County Commissioners Jerry Morales, Asalia Casares, Jose Luis Rosales, and Roberto Ruiz, and Maverick County Sheriff Tom Schmerber, and Maverick County Human Resources Director Jesus (Chuy) Sanchez.
The purpose of the Board meeting was to ratify the actions of the Maverick County Commissioners Court to appoint the new Board of Directors for the Maverick County Public Facility Corporation and the election of new officers including President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer.
The first order of business was for the Board of Directors to ratify the appointments of the new Board of Directors by the Maverick County Commissioners Court, which was approved unanimously by the Board.
The second agenda item called for the election of officers to the Maverick County Public Facility Corporation Board. County Commissioner Asalia Casares nominated Commissioner Roberto Ruiz as President of the Maverick County Public Facility Corporation Board of Directors. Ruiz accepted the nomination. There were no other nominations. The Board unanimously elected Commissioner Roberto Ruiz as President of the Maverick County Public Facility Corporation Board of Directors.
Maverick County Sheriff Tom Schmerber then nominated Maverick County Judge David R. Saucedo for Vice President, but Judge Saucedo respectfully declined the nomination.
Sheriff Schmerber then nominated Maverick County Human Resources Director Jesus “Chuy” Sanchez as Vice President, which Sanchez accepted the nomination. There were no other nominations for Vice-President. The Board of Directors unanimously elected Jesus Sanchez as Vice-President of the Board.
County Commissioner Gerardo “Jerry” Morales nominated Commissioner Asalia Casares as Secretary of the Board. Commissioner Asalia Casares accepted the nomination. There were no other nominations. The Board unanimously elected Commissioner Asalia Casares as Secretary of the Board of Directors.
County Commissioner and Board President Roberto Ruiz then nominated Commissioner Jerry Morales for Treasurer of the Board but Morales declined the nomination because he was recently named to the Maverick County International Airport Advisory Board.
Sheriff Tom Schmerber nominated County Commissioner Jose Luis Rosales for Treasurer of the Board of Directors. There were no other nominations. The Board unanimously elected Commissioner Jose Luis Rosales as Treasurer of the Board of Directors. Absent at the first meeting of the Maverick County Public Facility Corporation Board of Directors was Commissioner Jose Luis Rosales due to a prior commitment.
Another important Agenda item discussed and approved was the retention of professional services to represent the Maverick County Public Facility Corporation’s interests and execute appropriate agreements and/or engagement letters for general counsel and financial advisor.
During discussion, Maverick County General Counsel Poncho Nevarez stated that this was work that had already been done by him and Southwestern Capital Markets, Inc. for the Maverick County Public Facility Corporation and the County as well. Nevarez further stated that Maverick County Commissioners Court had previously authorized his law firm, Nevarez Law Group. PC, and Roberto Rodriguez of Southwestern Capital Markets, Inc. as general counsel and financial advisor, respectively, during the situation created by The Geo Group, Inc.’s sudden departure from managing the 625 bed prison facility in November 2013. The Maverick County Public Facility Corporation did not request proposals for legal services nor financial advisor as required by state law of governmental entities. After discussion, the Board of Directors unanimously approved to retain Maverick County General Counsel Poncho Nevarez and his law firm, Nevarez Law Group, PC, as general counsel and Maverick County Financial Advisor Roberto Rodriguez and Southwestern Capital Markets, Inc. as financial advisor of the Maverick County Public Facility Corporation.
Agenda item No. 5 called for the authorization of general counsel to review and address any administrative issues of the Maverick County Public Facility Corporation with the State of Texas. General counsel Poncho Nevarez addressed the Board of Directors stating they needed to address certain issues of importance with the state. “Number one, we must file a report regarding the new makeup of the Public Facility Corporation and that we are up to date in terms of the memberships and to resolving the issue with the franchise tax,” said Nevarez.
A vote was then called to authorize general counsel Nevarez to address and review administrative issues for the Maverick County Public Facility Corporation with the State. The Board unanimously approved to authorize general counsel Nevarez to address all administrative and legal issues pending with the State of Texas regarding the corporation.
Another item discussed was the authorization of general counsel to work with the financial advisor on official correspondence from the Maverick County Public Facility Corporation to bondholders and/or trustees pertaining to pending bond payments owed by the Maverick County Public Facility Corporation to the $42 Million Bondholders.
General Counsel Poncho Nevarez told the Board of Directors that “The purpose of the item is to touch basis on an agreement between the Public Facility Corporation Board of Directors and the bond holders of the Public Facility Corporation, in regards to the terms of payments for the PFC bond payments. There is already an agreement in principal regarding the forbearance of these bond payments and hopefully we are able to reduce that agreement based on the joint correspondence sent to the trustees for the bondholders regarding this forbearance and the issue of how much is going to be paid between now and six months.”
Nevarez further stated that there was going to be an issue on the time of the forbearance, what the forbearance is going to be, and what the forbearance is going to look like after.
“Hopefully within our correspondence we will cover all those things to the satisfaction of the Public Facility Corporation and ultimately the County,” said general counsel Nevarez.
The Board of Directors unanimously approved the authorization of general counsel and the financial advisor to write correspondence to the Bondholders and Trustees of the bondholders regarding an amicable resolution of the pending Bond payments owed by the Maverick County Public Facility Corporation to them.
