ROBERT LOPEZ: DON'T CRY FOR ME CAMERON COUNTY

By Juan Montoya
Remember back in August 2011 when Cameron County Human Resources Director Robert Lopez resigned unexpectedly after a controversy arose over the hiring (and then subsequent resignation of  Roberto Cadriel, a convicted felon on probation and brother-in-law of Cameron County Precinct 2 Commissioner Ernie L. Hernandez) following questions on the possible circumvention of the county's civil service process?
Lopez at the time said he was resigning for personal reason and said his his resignation was a coincidence, and not tied to questions regarding Cadriel’s employment.
Well, we all wondered how it was that Lopez would now make his living. Everyone knew that he had a hand in the City of Brownsville's HUD-funded weatherization program and could eke out a living from that.
Well, wouldn't you know it? That same August, a DBA (Doing Business As) certificate was issued by the Cameron County Clerk's Office listing Robert Lopez, 6593 Carolina Pine, to do business under the assumed name of Arbor Construction Company and Energy Management. The DBA was taken out by RL Construction Group, LLC.
Since then, the same company now lists its address (under the same owner) as 1121 Illinois Avenue.
But what has proven interesting is that Arbor Construction has been the recipient of numerous construction projects awarded under the professional services funds from a number of county funds, most notably Maintenance and Operations (Fund 100) headed by Director Marcelino Ibarra.
And we're not talking about nickle-and-dime jobs. How about more than $$91,000?
They started out as a trickle that December (Dec. 12 to be exact) and involved the laying of carpet for the 444th and 445th District Courts for $2,814 and $1,211 respectively and closed just one day later on December 13.
From there on, they literally took off. According to invoice records obtained by El Rrun-Rrun, they are as follows:

January 9, 2012: $5,876 for prepare the  surface and lay carpet for County-Court-at-Law No. 3
January 27: $7,791 for doing the same for the court of Judge Elia Cornejo-Lopez
July 3: $2,823, roof repairs to Boot Camp
July 13: $1,375
July 13: $1,000
July 16: $1,000
July 16: $1,999
(All the payments from July 13-16 on the above invoice dealt with work in the Harlingen Annex on Wilson Road)
July 16: $2,200 (AC duct in San Benito Annex)
July 18: $14,688
July 23: $2,200
(The aggregate of $17,538 deal with work done July 18-23 dealt with work done on roofing and replacing of some skylights and gutter work on judicial wing of the courthouse on Harrison St.)
The jobs piled up after that with checks issued for various jobs on these dates:
August 13: $7,823
August 13: $2,999
August 23: $3,876
In those few months after his depart6ure from the county, Lopez's Arbor Construction received some $91,405 in checks from the county for his work on maintenance overseen by Marcelino Ibarra and his direct supervisor Asst. County Administrator David Garcia.
It is interesting to remember that both Ibarra and Garcia date back to the Bad Old Days of the time when GilbertoHinojosa was the county judge.
It wasn't until someone noticed that the workers on the job after hours were the same county workers from the maintenance department who were moonlighting for Robert after their regular working hours.
Was this a payback for Lopez for his hasty resignation after the Cadriel matter? Or are we reading too much into this deal?
Apparently, the commissioners court also felt this doling out of county funds to one company without going out for bids was a bit much and about two months ago, removed the authority of Ibarra to hand out the jobs at his discretion. They opted instead, to give Garcia the authority, something he had had all along and was obviously aware that was happening.