BND board to take final action on settlement

By Emma Perez- Trevino
The Brownsville Herald

The Brownsville Navigation District board majority is poised to formalize a settlement agreement at today’s 5:30 p.m. meeting with the engineering firm that managed the failed international bridge project.

About $21.4 million of taxpayer money was spent on the project, with most going to the firm.
BND Commissioner Peter M. Zavaletta claims board Chairman Martin Arambula and other commissioners held secret sessions regarding the litigation with Dannenbaum Engineering Corp. of Houston and ultimately struck a deal. Arambula disputed Zavaletta’s assertion.

Arambula said his and Commissioner Carlos Masso’s trips to Houston were to attend mediation sessions as ordered by the state court in Harris County, where Dannenbaum sued BND claiming the district owed $822,365 to the company.

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