PRESIDIO — Last Wednesday, around two dozen community members attended a meeting of the Presidio Municipal Development District, many armed with allegations against the board’s former executive director and president. Their complaints ran the gamut from financial misconduct to personal smears and threats.
It was the latest in a series of tense public meetings about the organization’s future — which have yielded an array of explosive allegations about misconduct within the City of Presidio.
PMDD was thrown into tumult two weeks ago when the board’s president, Terry Bishop, and executive director, Jeran Stephens, abruptly resigned with a searing joint statement alleging wide-ranging corruption at all levels of city government, painting a scathing portrait of the City of Presidio — including their own board — as “riddled with cronyism, nepotism [and] disregard for ethical behavior at all levels.”
In turn, PMDD members and local business owners alike brought their own accusations against the former leaders.
PMDD is an organization dedicated to economic development in Presidio. Formerly known as the Presidio Development Corporation, the board became PMDD in 2012 with the help of the state Legislature. The Legislature designated PMDD as a taxing entity that skims half of a percent in local sales tax “for the purpose of financing development projects beneficial to the district,” which are voted on by board members.
Both the organization’s bylaws and Texas law governing development districts are relatively vague on what their funding may be used for — though the board has generally focused their efforts on growing local business and improving quality of life for Presidians.
In their resignation letter, Bishop and Stephens alleged they had been thwarted by the city in their efforts to bring business and jobs to Presidio, as well as their personal investigation into local corruption. They felt they were personally hindered by their own board members and “continued interference by outside sources” — who they accused of “violating executive session confidentiality” and “colluding with the City Secretary” to interfere with their investigative efforts.
Last week’s PMDD meeting had originally been called so that a performance review of Stephens could take place in executive session, roughly a year and a half after she was hired to lead the economic development board. Neither Bishop nor Stephens attended Wednesday’s meeting, but board members and their neighbors still took the opportunity to respond to their resignation letter.
Questions arise over filling of vacancies
The drama began at a January 16 Presidio City Council meeting when the Bishop and Stephens, then still president and executive director, pleaded with Council to fill two positions so that they could have a quorum for important upcoming board business. Council ultimately tabled their request after a heated disagreement about how to properly appoint new PMDD members, during which questions arose regarding the truth of Bishop and Stephens’ claims around the request.
PMDD board members serve for two years, typically corresponding with the spring election cycle — but there are often vacancies that need to be filled and officially approved by City Council. Bishop’s term was set to expire in the spring, along with the term of Board Treasurer Nancy Arevalo.
Stephens had said the rush to turn over the board was to complete important PMDD business involving a company interested in setting up shop in Presidio. But when Councilmember and PMDD Treasurer Arevalo asked for more information about the company that was interested in Presidio, Stephens hesitated.
City Administrator Pablo Rodriguez told the Presidio International that he was not able to confirm the name of the company or even the type of business involved. “Nobody showed up at our doorstep [after her resignation],” he said.
Stephens and Bishop said there were three additional seats that would eventually need to be filled, claiming that Board Secretary Lizette Rohana had resigned in October, and members Christina Juarez and Patrick Manian resigned shortly after. As it turned out, neither Juarez nor Manian tendered their resignations with the city.
That Friday, Council called a special meeting to consider applications for the unfilled positions. Before open session — but while the city’s cameras were rolling — Bishop and Stephens resigned.
Their shocking resignation letter, it turned out, would open the floodgates for accusations regarding their leadership of PMDD.
Local business owners accuse former executive director of misconduct
Board Member Manian led Wednesday’s meeting and fielded concerns with the help of Secretary Rohana — reinstated by Presidio City Council just after Bishop and Stephens’ resignation — as well as Treasurer Arevalo and Board Member Juarez.
H. Cowan, the consultant who brought maquiladora Solitaire Homes to Presidio and Ojinaga, led with searing criticism of both Stephens and her board. He suggested that they had failed so miserably at fulfilling their charter that they ought to disband the organization. “You haven’t brought jobs here that I’ve seen — the slice of sales tax that you get should go back to the city,” he said.
In their resignation letter, Bishop and Stephens claimed that “each new attempt to bring new jobs to town [had] been met with resistance and personal judgments about the type of business or type of work being created.”
Coach Robert Romero, Alex Jimenez and Omega Jimenez of Presidio Drag Racing attended the meeting to share their side of a conflict with Stephens ahead of the Fourth of July races.
Stephens had approached the organizers weeks before the races to request proof of general liability and race day insurance, safety regulations posted in English and Spanish, contracted security, and past-due payment on their lease. She said that the races would have to be canceled if the organizers couldn’t provide the necessary documentation — citing safety concerns that could leave her organization liable in the event of an accident.
Presidio Drag Racing ultimately met Stephens’ conditions, but not before an explosive conflict. Romero and the Jimenezes’ accusations against Stephens ranged from an abuse of power to name-calling: they alleged that Stephens had threatened to call the police on them and harassed them via text message.
Romero said that the drag races — which draw folks from Mexico and all over the Southwest and regularly sell hundreds of tickets — invest their earnings in track improvements and giving back to the community. Competitors pack local hotels and restaurants, and the group hosts fun events for the community — in the spring, they’ll be using the track to spotlight the high school’s Solar Car Challenge prototype.
For now, they’re not officially recognized by the state of Texas as a nonprofit organization, but they’re exploring their options as the races grow beyond informal contests between local friends. “I’m not a lawyer, but I know what’s right for the community,” said Romero. “I feel like [Stephens] was bullying me.”
Omega Jimenez didn’t hedge on her organization’s right to conduct business in the Industrial Park without interference. “This is our tax money,” she said. “I’ve lived [in Presidio] all my life. I’m going to die here. No outsider is going to come here and tell us how to spend our money.”
Accusations of financial misconduct
The Presidio International Drag Strip is located in the Presidio Industrial Park, which had been purchased by PMDD’s predecessor organization, the Presidio Development Corporation, in 1999 — the corporation no longer exists, but is still listed as the park’s landowner. The question of the land’s ownership had been the subject of a crusade waged by Bishop and Stephens, who believed ownership would revert to the state of Texas unless action was taken.
That crusade, and other causes taken up by the resigned PMDD leaders, are now tethered to claims that Bishop and Stephens racked up excessive legal fees, without board input, in pursuit of their causes.
In their resignation letter, Bishop and Stephens said they had been conducting an investigation to prove that Presidio Industrial Park truly belonged to PMDD before they attempted to lease more of it to prospective companies. They claimed ownership of the park was in danger of being reverted to the state of Texas due to “incorrect titles and deeds dating back to 2021.”
In the letter, Stephens and Bishop also alleged “potentially illegal real estate transactions” benefitting previous board members, in which “PMDD literally gave them land for free,” but did not specify which members. “Investigation of this matter must be completed,” their letter continues. “This is not a fast or inexpensive process which any professional or anyone with business experience would comprehend.”
At last Wednesday’s meeting, Treasurer Arevalo said that the board had originally budgeted $50,000 for legal consultation last year — but ended up more than doubling that number. “I questioned [Stephens] about that and got a lot of pushback,” she said.
Arevalo had not yet received invoices for January 2023.
Manian said that he and the rest of his board members never had contact with PMDD’s attorneys at Braumiller Law Group of Dallas before conflict among the board really ramped up. “We requested to speak with them and [Stephens] would find ways of pushing us off,” he said. “When we finally did get in touch with them, they were very willing to discuss things with us.”
Arevalo eventually started refusing to sign checks, which were signed by Bishop instead. The bylaws dictate that — though the treasurer is responsible for bookkeeping — PMDD checks may be written and cashed by any two board members.
Many of the itemized legal expenses went to fighting a proposed diesel transport operation opposed by many Presidio residents, including Stephens. “That was a very important issue and she stood up,” said Manian. “The extent of it, I didn’t realize until we saw the invoices. I didn’t know a number until I saw that $80,000 had been spent. No discussion was had at a board meeting about these expenditures.”
Stephens’ resignation was another source of bookkeeping headaches. In January, PMDD executive payroll ran in two pay periods from January 1 to 15 and 16 to 31. Stephens was supposed to cash her check for the second half of January on the 31st, but cashed it on the 19th — the day she resigned.
Arevalo said that there was another check written for Stephens’ salary, intended to cover payroll from February 1 to 15. That check was missing. “I’m not saying it was signed, but it was missing,” Arevalo said. “That’s totally unethical.”
The legal expenditures were not the only financial issue brought up by the board members. A smaller-scale discrepancy: at their January and February 2022 meetings, Stephens repeatedly brought up the need for a more professional website for PMDD, featuring photos of the region and information about local businesses. “It’ll make a huge impact,” she said at the board’s meeting on February 9, 2022.
At the same meeting, Stephens said that she had sought out bids across the region. She had also asked for a quote from a company in Nacogdoches she had previously done business with — in the interest of transparency, she told the board of their “long-standing relationship.”
Because of that relationship, the company — N Data Systems — offered a deal on their services. The board opted to contract with them, and a check for $6,000 was cashed on March 22, 2022. But at the time of Stephens’ resignation in January 2023, the website she had pushed for was still not finished.
Board members say open communication was forbidden
Cowan put the blame on the remaining PMDD members for allowing Bishop and Stephens’ alleged behavior to go unchecked. “If you knew and didn’t stop her, you share some of the blame,” he said.
The board members defended themselves, saying that they were prevented from communicating with each other to cross-reference their concerns, which Stephens said violated the Open Meetings Act.
Texas dictates that meetings of governmental bodies must be open to the public, except for “authorized executive sessions,” which are not open to the public. Valid reasons for enacting an executive session include discussing pending litigation with attorneys, certain types of real estate transactions, deliberating on hiring or firing employees and evaluating allegations against individual government officials.
Members of organizations subject to the Open Meetings Act are required to attend an hour-long online training. In their resignation letter, Stephens and Bishop said that only two of their board members had completed the training, but did not specify which ones.
The law requires a court order to access official recordings of closed session discussion, but does not prevent closed session attendees from making public statements about those discussions — or seeing each other socially, so long as they don’t discuss official agenda items ahead of meetings in an attempt to influence each others’ votes.
Wiggle room in the Open Meetings Act doesn’t mean that there won’t be consequences for airing board business. “The fact that a person may legally discuss what occurred in a closed meeting does not mean that it is advisable to do so,” Zindia Thomas of the Texas Municipal League wrote in a guide to the law for elected officials.
According to Board Member Juarez, Stephens insisted that any communication about board business between members had to be channeled through her. “She went even so far as to say we couldn’t even talk to each other,” she said. “She would say, ‘If you have anything to say, you can say it to me, and I will disperse it to everyone else.’ It was really intense.”
Whether in open or closed session, PMDD bylaws dictate that anyone on the board can add agenda items if submitted to board leadership more than five days in advance of the meeting. “[Stephens] was directing all communications through herself,” explained Manian. “She said that the board president [Terry Bishop] had to call meetings and that all agenda items had to be approved through him.”
In their resignation letter, Bishop and Stephens said that they felt many of the agenda items requested by their board members were trivial and contrary to the board’s purpose. “This community needs to create real jobs and income opportunities before things like skate parks, gardens, river parks on private land, or expensive downtown offices.”
Stephens told Marfa Public Radio that she hadn’t insisted that all communication go through her — simply that she had advised private discussion among members regarding PMDD business was against the law. Furthermore, she denied having removed submitted agenda items and approving expenditures that were not submitted by the board.
Bishop and Stephens did not return multiple requests for comment from The Presidio International.
Despite the many negative allegations made by board members, they also credited their former executive leadership with a series of accomplishments: a shade structure for the city’s biggest playground, murals and new equipment at Daly Park and the Presidio Recycling Center, funding for local first responders and the staff at the day care center and the opening of a watermelon farm providing seasonal opportunities for agricultural workers.
Treasurer Rohana offered a personal apology to everyone gathered at the meeting. “I’m sorry to everyone who is upset about this,” she said. “We want to move forward. We want to make this right.”
