07 Oct Mayor vs. EDC Board: San Benito Feud Escalates

Tensions between San Benito Mayor Pete Galvan and the city’s Economic Development Corporation (EDC) board reached a boiling point following a five-hour closed-session meeting Monday, where board members ultimately held off on considering a proposal to amend bylaws to eliminate the ex-officio, non-voting seat designated for a city official: a position Galvan has held since taking office. The standoff exposes a widening power struggle over agency oversight and transparency.

The fallout stems from the May election, in which Galvan won in a landslide against former Mayor Rick Guerra after running a bitter campaign that directly targeted both Guerra and the EDC’s spending under former Executive Director Fred Sandoval. Sandoval, who resigned in June while drawing combined salaries of $225,000 as both city manager and EDC director, oversaw significant financial strains during his tenure. EDC records showed an $858,139 deficit on a $900,000-budgeted fairgrounds project that swelled to $1.75 million, alongside a drop in the agency’s fund balance from $6.45 million to $5.08 million.

Following Sandoval’s departure, a selection committee including EDC Vice President Steve Rodriguez, Secretary Erica Guerra, and board member Rick Guerra launched a statewide search that drew roughly 18 applicants. When Galvan requested the list of candidates, EDC attorney Michael Pruneda petitioned the Texas Attorney General for an opinion on whether the agency could legally withhold the records under state privacy exemptions. Pruneda argued that releasing the names from personnel files would represent “a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy” for records that “are not of a legitimate public interest.”

Galvan strongly criticized the legal challenge, stating, “A simple request turned into something bigger than it needed to be. If we truly want to work together, this is not the way to do it.”

At the same time, the EDC board voted to replace the city’s finance department with an outside accounting firm, Carr, Riggs & Ingram, to manage its books. Because the EDC has been funded by a voter-approved half-cent city sales tax since 1995, Galvan pushed back against losing direct oversight. “The city should have some oversight responsibility,” Galvan said. “There is a fiduciary responsibility of the city.”

In response to the financial shift, Galvan indicated he would “look into options” regarding the city withholding sales tax and use tax proceeds from the EDC. His statements triggered immediate blowback. City commissioners scheduled a vote on a resolution to officially censure the mayor, while Commissioner Victor Manuel Gonzalez took to social media, calling on Galvan to “stop micromanaging.”