By DAVID A. DÍAZ
McAllen Mayor Jim Darling says the UT System has done a disservice to deep South Texas by forcing communities, including the City of McAllen, to compete against each other to land the planned administrative headquarters for the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley.
McAllen is one of 14 applicants, including Brownsville, Edinburg, Harlingen, Mercedes, San Benito, and Weslaco, along with MVP Partnership, L.T.D., of McAllen, which met a May 15 deadline by the UT System to submit proposals. The bids feature the donation of real estate to serve as the site for the UT-RGV administrative headquarters.
“We have been criticized in the Valley for never being able to agree – “Friday Night Football” mentality. Then look what the state does,” Darling said on Tuesday May 27, 2014 following a regular scheduled meeting of the McAllen City Commission. “They make us put out bids and compete against each other. Those are public competitions, and only one is going to win. Then you have to go back and explain (to constituents) why you didn’t put a proposal that was satisfactory to (UT System).”
The winning bid will bring prestige and economic development, along with an estimated 100 high-paying jobs and new construction, which will have a dramatic impact on improving the value of adjoining properties.
“That is just not a great process to do to our region because it does exactly what they are critical of us, pits us against each other,” the McAllen mayor said of requiring the bidding process. “There are bad feelings after it happens, that is natural.”
Darling said he has spoken with newly appointed UT-RGV President Guy Bailey about the roles McAllen can play in helping the university expand and prosper.
“He is enthusiastic and believes there is going to be enough for everyone,” the mayor reported. “This (UT-RGV and its medical school) is a game-changer for everyone. We should not be fighting because there will be something for everyone. I just hate to see us starting off with this competitive situation in which we have been placed.”
The UT System has assigned Kirk S. Tames, Ad Interim Executive Director of Real Estate, to review the bids and evaluate the proposed sites by July 15, and then enter into negotiations leading to a contract proposal by August 31, 2014. If all goes well, the site would be made official by December 15, 2014.
• MVP Partnership L.T.D. donation involves Edinburg site
The proposal by MVP Partnership, L.T.D., developed by prominent attorney José E. García, involves the donation of up to five acres of prime real estate, valued at more than $2 million, in Edinburg.
The site being offered by MVP Partnership, L.T.D. is located by the intersection of Trenton Road and McColl Road in Edinburg, immediately north of the campuses of Doctors Hospital at Renaissance and adjoining medical offices and businesses.
“The cities of Edinburg and McAllen have each submitted their own plans, and our proposal gives the UT System leadership another outstanding reason to build the UT-RGV administrative headquarters in our region,” said García, an alumnus of UT-Austin. “The offer by MVP Partnership, L.T.D. is our way of supporting Edinburg, McAllen, Pharr, Mission and other Hidalgo County communities, and the UT System, who have given so much to us.”
The proposals by the City of Edinburg and the City of McAllen have not yet been made public by those two entities.
Darling said UT System leaders do not want McAllen to release information about the bid by his city.
“They asked us not to, and we are going to agree with that, if UT wants to keep those proposals from being disclosed,” the McAllen mayor explained. “We are not ashamed of our offer, but we think since they have made the request, and they are not going to release them, we will go ahead and do as they asked.”
According to the Request for Proposals by the UT System, “all information, documentation, and other materials submitted in response to this solicitation are subject to public disclosure under the Texas Public Information Act (Texas Government Code, Chapter 552.001, et seq.). The Board strictly complies with all statutes, court decisions, and opinions of the Texas Attorney General with respect to disclosure of RFP information.”
But that standard disclaimer also allows the UT System to claim that the bids involve economic development projects and real estate transactions, which, under state law, could keep those bids from being released to the public.
Darling: “It just makes sense to have it in Hidalgo County.”
Despite his difference of opinion with UT System leaders, Darling remains convinced that Hidalgo County is the best choice for the UT-RGV administrative headquarters.
“Hidalgo County is where two-thirds of the Valley’s population lives,” he noted. “The largest component of the university is here. It just makes sense to have it in Hidalgo County from the standpoint of number of students.”
UT-RGV, which is a new institution being formed from the merger of UT-Pan American and UT-Brownsville, also will feature a full-fledged UT medical school under its governance.
The first two years of the UT-RGV medical school will take place in Edinburg, where the first academic building, a $54 million facility, is now under construction. That facility is being built on the northwest corner of UT-Pan American.
The third and fourth year of medical education will take place at the existing UT-Regional Academic Health Center Medical Education Division in Harlingen.
Medical residency programs, which involve medical school graduates focusing on their respective specialties, will be taking place at hospitals throughout the Valley.
• Valley cities have proven ability to unite
Darling says McAllen and other local governments in Hidalgo County rallied behind locating the first two years of the UT-RGV medical school in Edinburg.
“We supported the medical school in Edinburg, we think that is the appropriate place, that is where all the infrastructure is, and we are very happy, and we will continue to do that,” he said. “We believe there is a role for us in the university, not just for the administrative office.”
He pointed out that McAllen serves as home to UT-Pan American’s McAllen Teaching Site, located at 1800 S. Main Street, which provides postgraduate education.
“We would like to expand those Masters and Ph.D. programs in McAllen,” Darling said. “With the manufacturing center down in south McAllen, we already have an agreement with UT-Pan American and South Texas College, and we would like to see that grow.”
• UT System vision for UT-Rio Grande Valley
In its bid for the site donations, the UT System provided the following summary of the history of, and its vision for, UT-RGV and its medical school:
The 83rd Texas Legislature approved the creation of the new The University of Texas in South Texas, now officially named The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, to provide an outstanding education to the students of South Texas, the United States and the world.
This education will be of the highest quality; it will be affordable, accessible and innovative. The new university will transform Texas and the nation by becoming a leader in student success, teaching, research, and health care.
The University of Texas System leadership is moving forward with a bold, transformational plan to create the new university. The plan will result in a single institution that spans the entire Rio Grande Valley, which will include significant campuses in each of the major metropolitan areas of Brownsville, Edinburg/McAllen and Harlingen, as well as be a presence through the entire region.
The Fall 2013 approximate full-time equivalent student enrollment at the major academic campuses being combined is 16,000 at The University of Texas-Pan-American in Edinburg and 6,000 at The University of Texas at Brownsville. The Regional Academic Health Centers (“RAHC”) in Harlingen and Edinburg will be merged into the new university’s school of medicine.
As one of the initial steps in the creation of UTRGV, The University of Texas System (“UT”) leadership will proceed with a separate and parallel master planning process for the entire UT-RGV.
The university’s design will be a bold departure from the traditional, as UT seeks to establish a vision for campuses designed to promote and accommodate a new model of university excellence, one that is fully engaged and integrated with the community and uniquely planned to increase student success, improve health and wellness, stimulate research and economic development, and solve other critical regional, state, and global problems.
A successful design will exploit the efficiencies and advantages of innovative applications of present and emerging technology and provide an environment conducive to experimentation and quick adaptation of new methods and media for pedagogy, research, and community andglobal outreach.
The new university will benefit from teaching, research, and public service collaborations between faculty and students at the two principal campuses, the RAHC sites and the medical school; will capture programmatic and operational synergies between each of these assets; and will build upon partnerships with local government, civic organizations, as well as with business and industry at the regional, state, national, and global level.
