From City Engineer, Mr. Carlos Lastros

Commissioner Cisneros/Mr. Raines,

Good morning. Thanks for your concerns and questions regarding Pablo Kisel Blvd. Since I have only been with the city a little over 5 years, I really don’t first hand experience as to what happened with the construction of this road. I will try to answer your questions as best as I can. From what I have gathered, apparently project engineer, for the developer recommended a new stabilizing agent for the sub-base of the street. As we can now see this did not work as planned.

• When was it accepted by the city? Who signed off on the documentation that the road was complete and acceptable?

This road was accepted by the city sometime in 1999. The city engineer at that time was Mr. Vernon Hodge.

• What construction company (or companies) performed the actual work?

Pederson Construction was the contractor on this project.

• Who was the developer on the deal?

The developer was Manuel Perelman who was working on behalf of the Kisel Family.

Again, this all happened before my time, so the answers to these questions are based on me asking different people. I do not have any documentation to back up this information. For example the contractor and project engineer that worked on this project has done other projects for the city and the work has turned out to be fine.

The following question will have to be answered by our Public Works Department

• How many repair orders have been issued on Pablo Kissel?
• How much has been spent on those repair orders to date?

The second set of questions has to do with the city’s standards and how they’re applied:

• Are there published standards for street construction?

The city typically follows Texas Department Of Transportation (TxDOT) standards for road construction.

• Are there different standards for roads built for different use expectations? (I.e., are there separate standards for streets built primarily for residential use as opposed to commercial use?)

Yes, attached is a chart showing different sections for different type of roads.

• Is there an inspection process for determining that those standards are met?

Since I have been here, we have a very strict inspection process where our inspectors make sure that all contractors comply with street construction standards. Also the project engineers we hire help reinforce this.

• Is there documentation that those processes are being followed?

Yes, we hire certified testing labs to ensure that the quality of the material and the workmanship are in compliance with our standards.

I can assure you that since I have been here all of our projects follow very strict standards which are enforced by our inspectors. We do not allow any contractors to cut corners or short change us in any way.

Please let me know if I can be of any assistance.

Thank you,

Carlos Lastra

My response to Mr. Lastra:

Dear Mr. Lasra:

Thank you for your quick response. I appreciate your efforts. However you mention a chart attached, but there is none. Am I to understand that there is no documentation on the original project? We have no way of knowing who the project engineer was or what the stabilizing agent he/she recommended was? I’m not intending to be a pest here, it just seems that that particular street is requiring an inordinate amount of attention, and an understanding of its history should be helpful. I will contact the public works department concerning the remaining questions.

Sincerely,
Stan Raines

His response:

Mr. Raines,

I re-sent the e-mail with the attachment. I apologize if you did not receive it. I am sending it again. The project engineer for this road was Ariel Chavez. The stabilizing agent that was used is called “EN 1 Road Stabilizer”. This stabilizer has been shown to work better in old streets that are being reconstructed when the existing asphalt and base is recycled. In this particular case of Pablo Kisel Blvd. there was no existing street it was a new street built on old farm lands and apparently this stabilizing agent was used on plain soil. We are aware of some of the history of this road and I feel we have taken appropriate measures to ensure that this does not happen again. Again, I am not trying to make any excuses, but this happened 9 years ago which was way before my time and unfortunately the record keeping was not as good as it should have been.

Thanks,

Carlos

My response:

Mr. Lastra,

Thank you for your attention. I did receive the second email with the attachment, less than a minute after I sent my reply. My apologies for not giving notice after I’d mentioned it.

Frankly, I think accepting this road as it was was an error. the first time my wife and I biked up it, we noticed a strong odor of sewerage in the vicinity of the street drains on the east side of the street near the electrical sub-station. This could not be right as the waste sewers are separate from the drainage sewers.

I’m reading behind the defensiveness of some of your remarks that you may think the street should not have been accepted, as well. I don’t think you need to be defensive. It would not be a mark on you or your current staff, I wouldn’t think. If it’s on anyone, it would be Mr. Chavez and Mr. Hodge. I’m not an engineer, but I do know that in most professions one does not make new applications of a technique or material without thorough testing. I would think this would be especially true in civil engineering. And especially true in supervision/inspection of engineered projects.

My hope is that the city’s operations will become more and more professional as time goes on and that your work is an improvement over that of Mr. Hodge. I do have one suggestion: post your credentials on the city’s web site. I looked at the the engineering staff page and the links for individual members for the department and there is really no information posted on anyone. Brownsville is large enough a city, I think, that we ought to have well-qualified professionals in all positions and those credentials ought to be available. This is generally true with a good many city web sites. I’m not doubting your qualifications, but pointing out that they are not available. I hope you do not take this personally. It is not intended in a personal way.

Sincerely,
Stan Raines

His response:

Mr. Raines,

Thanks for you comments and suggestions regarding our web page. I will get with our IT Dept to see if we can make improvements. I am not taking any of you comments personally, on the contrary I sincerely appreciate all you have to say. I am always open to new suggestions and ideas that will help improve our city.

Thanks,

Carlos