By RAY QUIROGA
publisher@sbnewspaper.com
San Benito Mayor Ricardo “Rick” Guerra shared some choice words this week regarding the second installment of an investigative video segment critical of the City and posted on various internet platforms.
Produced by Dolcefino Consulting, a Houston-based investigative firm led by broadcast reporter Wayne Dolcefino, this second installment entitled “Arrogant with Power’’ was uploaded to the internet last Friday and is a continuation of an initial segment posted a month ago dubbed “Drunk with Power,” which delved into the City and the San Benito Economic Development Corporation’s (SBEDC) handling of the Resaca Village development controversy with developer VARCO.
Both the City/EDC and the developer have filed lawsuits against each other, with VARCO claiming the City is reneging on a deal to allow the developer more time to complete the Resaca Village Commercial Development and the City claiming that the developer has violated the terms of its contract since the project, which was initiated in 2018, has yet to be completed.
VARCO officials contend that the delay stems from the COVID pandemic and that they had not only kept the EDC abreast of the situation but that the entity’s governing board legally signed off on an extension as recently as last spring.
That notion has been challenged by the current EDC board/leadership and the City, saying that the agreement was never ratified by the City Commission. VARCO then found itself in Justice of the Peace Chuy Garcia’s San Benito courtroom, defending itself from what amounted to an eviction from Resaca Village, with the Justice of the Peace siding in favor of VARCO. Judge Garcia told the NEWS that the EDC simply did not meet the burden of proof required to evict VARCO from the property.
A week after the posting of “Drunk with Power,” San Benito City Manager and San Benito Economic Development Corporation (EDC) Executive Director Fred Sandoval addressed several issues about the troubled Resaca Village Commercial Development.
“Drunk with Power,” meanwhile, has subsequently received thousands of views, shares and comments.
During his work, Dolcefino noted that his firm reached out to the San Benito Police Department (SBPD) when running background checks on EDC board members. Those checks revealed that a now-former board member, Juan Manuel “John” Flores, was listed as a registered “low-risk, first-time” sex offender in the State of Texas.
Flores, who was appointed to the EDC board in December 2023 by Guerra, was convicted in 2008 of having an inappropriate relationship with a 13-year-old female. Flores was sentenced to five years in prison. He has since been required to register as a sex offender but allegedly failed to do so when he relocated to San Benito. The 71-year-old businessman was arrested by SBPD on May 31 of this year and has since posted bail.
In another bombshell revelation, the most recent segment also noted that Flores referenced the Mayor as his cousin on the EDC board application, something that the Mayor vehemently denied on Wednesday, insisting they are not blood relatives, instead saying that the term “Primo” in Spanish is a term of endearment he tends to use and that Flores may have written it on the application in jest. He also said that neither he nor the commission review such applications, so the revelation that Flores cited the Mayor as kin on his application was as big a surprise to him as it was to many who have seen Dolcefino’s segment.
For background, before the 2023 San Benito City Commissioners’ election, Guerra and Commissioner Pedro “Pete” Galvan were on the short end of the commission’s political divide. The power flipped as a result of that election, with the addition of current commissioners Tom Goodman and Deborah Morales.
The new majority wasted little time making changes, buying out the remainder of embattled City Manager Manuel De La Rosa’s contract and ultimately replacing him with Sandoval, previously of the Pharr EDC. Then, in December 2023, San Benito EDC Executive Director Ramiro Aleman left his position with San Benito to take on a newly created role with the County.
Given Sandoval’s background with the Pharr EDC, the commission named the City Manager as the EDC Director, taking on both roles and hiking his compensation in the process. In the interim, the EDC board was also revamped with new members.
As noted, Dolcefino Consulting is an investigative firm for hire, although Wayne Dolcefino has gone on record to say that his firm was not hired by VARCO or its attorneys. Dolcefino also told the NEWS that he does not openly discuss client information and that while he may be a journalist-for-hire, his clients understand that his “editorial voice” is his own, insinuating that his investigative pieces are editorially unbiased.
Earlier, Sandoval told the NEWS that the City attorney subpoenaed Dolcefino Consulting for its business records, specifically documents that may show who contracted the firm to produce these pieces. Wayne Dolcefino confirmed that he has seen the subpoena but that neither he nor his firm have yet to be served. Sandoval has also told the media that he is considering suing the firm for what he called “harassment,” as a portion of the segment focused on Sandoval’s apparent reluctance to relocate to San Benito as required per the City Charter.
Earlier, Sandoval told the NEWS and key City officials that he has searched the City for a home suitable to his needs and liking but that the market is short of available homes locally. However, in the video segment, Sandoval is defiant, insisting that he will never move to San Benito and that neither the City nor the Commission can legally force him to relocate to Resaca City as per state law, which he recited to the interviewer in the segment and earlier to the NEWS. In a voiceover, however, Dolcefino notes that the same statute does not apply to someone in his position.
As portrayed in the investigative piece, by allowing Sandoval to seemingly skirt the City Charter and not relocate to San Benito from his home in the Upper Valley, the Commission risks coming off as hypocritical since the same issue was a big issue with former City Manager Manuel De La Rosa, who resided in San Benito only part-time, and former Commissioner Carol Sanchez, who was booted off the Commission for not residing within City Limits with merely weeks remaining in her tenure.
Guerra agreed with the sentiment but also acknowledged that he was at a loss as to what to do about the situation. “So what do I do? I can’t make him move here, but at the same time, he’s done so much (for the City) since he’s been here, much more than the other guy (city manager). So what do I do? Look at the streets. Before we could never get them done because we were moving too fast and didn’t have the money, they said.
Now everybody comes up to me and says, “Thank you for getting our streets done. It’s this guy. We bring it up, and he’s like, ‘Let’s go! Let’s move! Bring a new list of streets (that need to be repaired),’” said the Mayor.
And while Sandoval played off the publicity generated by the video uploads, the Mayor did say that he believes they’ve eroded confidence and integrity in the administration based on calls and conversations he’s had with citizens.
For his part, Dolcefino said that he’s working on yet another installment, possibly focusing on nepotism within San Benito’s governing entities. Dolcefino also described any potential litigation against him or his firm as a waste of taxpayer money. “The City of San Benito is spending tax money to sue us, all part of this bizarre campaign they have launched with taxpayer money to find out who funded our investigation rather than fixing the problems we have identified,” he stated in an email. “Our journalism records will never be released to them, and I have no involvement with the legal issues in their fight with VARCO; what a waste.”
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