San Patricio County wants 2 more seats on port board

Two local legislators are drafting a bill that will add two new members to the Port of Corpus Christi board of commissioners to represent San Patricio County. State Sen. Judith Zaffarini (D-Laredo) and State Rep. J.M. Lozano (R-Kingsville) plan to file the bill in the next legislative session, which begins in January 2019. The Port of Corpus Christi, through its delegation of state-elected officials in Nueces County, plans to fight the move.
“This is premature,” said Charles Zahn, chairman of the Port of Corpus Christi. “Maybe sometime in the future, as industry continues to grow in San Patricio County, their numbers will justify an additional commissioner, but today, they do not.”
The effort is being organized by the San Patricio Coalition on Port Governance, a new group formed for that purpose. The coalition includes representatives from Aransas Pass, Gregory, Ingleside, Ingleside on the Bay, and Portland.
The newly formed coalition wants to expand the port’s board from seven members to nine. The two additional seats would be reserved for San Patricio County residents, who would join the one representative from the county already on the board. Currently, three members are appointed by Nueces County commissioners and three by the city of Corpus Christi. The seventh is appointed by San Patricio County commissioners.
The expansion would allow for more proportional representation, said Foster Edwards, CEO of the San Patricio Economic Development Corp. and one of nine people who presented the idea to the commissioner in August. The group spoke before the board during the public comment section at a special meeting. They were not on the agenda, and commissioners are not allowed to address non-agenda issues brought up in public comment.
The coalition told commissioners that San Patricio County deserved more representation on the board because the port has more land in San Patricio County as well as more industry. According to coalition talking points, the port owns 4,500 acres in San Patricio County versus 2,463 acres in Nueces County. The talking points further state that 64.62 percent of the port’s land is in San Patricio County. Also, significant new industrial developments are coming to the county because that is where the port has room to expand.
“The facts they are putting out are not valid,” Zahn told Corpus Christi Business News. “They say we have more land in San Patricio County. They forget the 28,000 acres that we have that is submerged land that is an important part of what we own. What’s in San Patricio is not five percent of what we own.”
As for revenue generation, Zahn said each commissioner on the board represents 14.7 percent of revenue generated by the port. San Patricio County only generates 12.5 percent of the port’s entire revenue.
“Probably, when I’m not on the commission anymore, the time might be right for additional people,” Zahn continued.

LEGISLATION NEEDED

The only way to add two additional seats is by passing a bill through the legislature that must then be approved by the governor. While a bill will be presented when the legislature convenes in January 2019, Zahn said it has little chance of passing without the support of the Nueces County delegation.
“I don’t believe they can get that local support from the legislative delegation that we’ve got,” said Zahn, adding that the coalition was injecting politics into an apolitical board.
“I’ve been on the commission for six and a half years, and politics has never been a part of what we do,” he said. “This has brought politics into our business, and, frankly, we are too busy doing good things to have politics brought in.”
Both Zahn and Port Commissioner Richard Bowers, who wrote an op-ed piece for the Corpus Christi Caller Times that was published Tuesday, Sept. 18, voiced concern that this group of San Patricio leaders believe San Patricio is not fairly represented on the port commission.
“No commissioner should think he or she represents one part of us versus the whole lot of us,” Bowers said in the op-ed. “I have served as a port commissioner appointed by the city, and I currently serve as a Nueces County appointee. I don’t like the idea that anyone would think my actions are directed by the county judge and county commissioners. They are not.”
Zahn reiterated the point.
“We represent San Patricio County well,” he said. “We’ve worked with them on problems, support their communities, especially after Hurricane Harvey. It doesn’t make a difference that they were not in Nueces County. They were part of the Port of Corpus Christi. They don’t need additional representation.”

THE OTHER SIDE

Numbers or no numbers, the San Patricio Coalition on Port Governance wants more say in port decisions. One plus of two new members would be the ability to put items on the agenda. Currently, it takes two commissioners to get an item on the agenda for discussion by the whole commission.
“It gives us two more voices, two more level-headed opinions on decisions that affect us,” said Ronnie Parker, mayor of Ingleside and a member of the coalition. “There’s a lot of industry coming to San Patricio, and we feel like we need a voice in that.”
He also said the port has not always kept San Patricio officials up to speed on port developments.
“The port bought three thousand acres, part of which was in Ingleside city limits,” he said. “We were not contacted about that. We learned about it in the news.”
The idea for additional representation was sparked by growing industry in the area.
“We don’t want control,” Parker said. “We could never get control. San Patricio will work with Corpus Christi hand in hand. We are a big county. It’s hard for one commissioner to do it all.”

ONE LAST THING

A final bone of contention between the two sides involves a boundary dispute over which the entity can tax certain companies. Some are paying taxes to both taxing authorities because they don’t know which side will ultimately prevail. One side or the other will most likely have to make reimbursements at some point.
The 35-year-old dispute has been postponed yet again until July 2019, according to Parker, who added that it should have nothing to do with the coalition’s drive for more representation on the board. The lawsuit is currently before the Texas Supreme Court.
Zahn and Bowers both disagree with that position.
“San Patricio and Nueces counties have been in litigation for thirty-five years,” Zahn said. “They will not get a favorable resolution out of Nueces County (on adding two members) until that is settled. Both counties have spent millions and millions of dollars on this. It has negatively affected multiple school districts and businesses.”
Without the Nueces County support, the bill will never pass, he continued.
“The commission is an outstanding group of people who work well together,” he said. “No one even talks about who they represent, whether it’s the county or the city. “We represent the Port of Corpus Christi.”
The Port of Corpus Christi was created by legislation as a navigation district in 1926. It became a port authority with a five-member board of commissioners in 1973. State legislators voted in 1983 to add two additional members, bringing today’s total to seven.