Sports complex, investigation on City agenda

A potential sports complex and the results of an Odessa Fire Rescue investigation will be discussed by the Odessa City Council Tuesday as will a potential contract with an energy services company that was caught up in an FBI investigation in 2021.

According to the agenda for Tuesday’s work session agenda, the city council is expected to get the results of a performance evaluation conducted on the city’s facilities and infrastructure. They will also hear from Chip Woods, Performance Services Inc. business development manager, and discuss giving Interim City Manager Agapito Bernal permission to sign a contract with Performance Services Inc.

Although Bernal, Interim City Manager Dan Jones and Mayor Javier Joven did not respond to emails asking if Performance Services Inc. is the same company caught up in the FBI investigation, calls to the company’s Texas office confirm Woods and Jim Adams, the general manager for Performance Services Inc. in Texas work in the same office.

According to articles in the Progress Times, a weekly newspaper in Mission, Texas, Performance Services Inc. was at the epicenter of an FBI investigation that revealed at least one subcontractor working for them bribed a member of the Mission school board $30,000 to support a energy savings performance contract with the company.

The subcontractor, Antonio Gonzalez III pleaded guilty to a corruption charge in U.S. District Court in April 2022.

Performance Services Inc. won a $500,000 judgment against the company owned by Gonzalez, but the cities of Roma and Mission cancelled their contracts, according to the Progress Times.

The Progress Times, quoting from court documents and U.S. District Court proceedings, also said that in another instance, Jeremy T. Lancon of Aqua-Metric pleaded guilty to federal money laundering charges in March 2022.

The newspaper reported Lancon was working at Aqua-Metric when the Agua Special Utility District in Hidalgo County signed a $11.6 million contract with Performance Services Inc.. Federal prosecutors said Lancon was told the company would contract with Aqua-Metric if Aqua-Metric hired certain people, including a “Person B” who served on the La Joya school board.

Because Performance Services Inc. had a contract with the La Joya Independent School District and couldn’t pay “Person B” directly, they agreed Lancon would pay “Person B” a “finder’s fee” of just over $15,000, federal prosecutors said.

The Agua SUD filed a lawsuit against Performance Services Inc. last year. According to the Progress Times, the district installed new water meters and replaced old light bulbs with LEDs after signing a $11.6 million contract. According to the lawsuit, Performance Services Inc. promised the contract would pay for itself in energy savings, but the district is now saddled with millions of dollars of debt.

The Progress Times has reported Jim Adams, the general manager for Performance Services Inc. in Texas, has denied the company did anything wrong.

The utility district, which had demanded more than $1 million in damages, has since agreed to go through arbitration with the company.

According to an article written by State Senator Juan Hinojosa that appeared in Texas Border Business last year, he was in favor of legislation to address the misuse of such contracts because there had been instances of local governments using ESPCs as a “back door for no-bid contracts to circumvent procurement statutes related to public works projects.”

In March 2022, the Progress Times reported the case against Lancon of Aqua-Metric was part of a federal investigation that revealed widespread corruption in western Hidalgo County.

Among those who pleaded guilty to such charges as bribery, bankruptcy fraud, conspiracy to defraud, extortion and money laundering were the former Peñitas city manager, a former La Joya school board trustee, a former Peñitas city council member, a Peñitas public works director, a La Joya ISD administrator and a former La Joya school board trustee.

Sports complex

The council will also hear from Synergy Global during its 3 p.m. work session meeting.

On Feb. 14, the Odessa City Council agreed to hire Synergy Global for $15,000 to conduct a sports complex feasibility study. Synergy met with citizens to get their input, but they also looked at demographics and socioeconomics, sports participation rates, competitors, the size and components of the city’s courts and fields and possible partnerships and construction costs. In addition, more than 3,100 participated in a 10-question online survey as to their sports complex desires.

According to materials already presented to the council, the company believes the Odessa region is a viable location for an indoor sports complex and complimentary field complex that could host tournaments and events for the region.

Most of those who participated in the online survey want the complex to be in District 2 or District 4 and most want indoor basketball and volleyball courts over other amenities. Outdoor multi-sports fields came in third in terms of priorities.

Synergy identified four potential sites for the complex: City-owned land near the Ector County jail, private land at I-20 and Loop 338, private land behind Home Depot known as the McKnight Family Ranch and private land at the end of Faudree Road known as the Parks-Bell Ranch.

The company has given the city a variety of options in terms of amenities ranging in price from $19.2 million up to $41.5 million. The prices vary upon the number of indoor courts, whether the city includes a 200-meter track and ice rinks, and whether the city includes outdoor fields.

OFR

During the council’s regular meeting at 6 p.m., Tommy Sheen of the Davidson Sheen law firm is scheduled to discuss what he found while re-investigating an incident in which several cadets received blisters during a training exercise.

Sheen was hired in January to investigate the August 2022 incident, but city documents indicate 21 people were already interviewed last summer by three now-retired OFR staff members: Assistants Chief Saul Ortega, Joey White and Rodd Huber.

A now-retired training chief was suspended for five days without pay and a training captain received a written reprimand.

The investigation revealed most of the cadets felt the training exercise was punishment meted out because they didn’t volunteer for extra duty when asked by the training captain, documents show. Most of them complained about the training captain’s management style and said they believed the Central B-Shift had unfairly decided they weren’t as hard-working or as good as previous candidates. Most of them also said they’d been hazed at times by a few personnel on that shift.

According to records obtained under the Texas Public Information Act, the law firm charges $195—$375 an hour. Up through Feb. 24, the firm had billed the city just under $39,000 for this second investigation. The Odessa American has since asked for updated bills, but that request is pending.

In other action, the council will discuss posting the city attorney’s job.

Dan Jones was named interim city attorney after the council voted 5-2 to fire City Attorney Natasha Brooks without explanation on Dec. 13.