A.D. Ibarra
-Maverick County

    The internal conflict between the Court of commissioners and county auditor Maverick, Fidencio Ortiz, comes to an end today when district judges, The Honorable Cynthia Muñiz and The Honorable Amado Abascal meet with visiting judge The Honorable Camile Dubose of Uvalde, who was assigned by the office of the Governor of Texas.
    The meeting is to be held this morning at 9:00 AM, in the Maverick County Courthouse, where they will determine if in fact Maverick County will renew the contract with Maverick County Auditor Fidencio Ortiz.
    Ortiz was appointed as auditor on September 24, 2012 by judges Muñiz and Abascal for a term of two years, after the post was left vacant.
    Lately the county has attempted to highlight a series of irregularities in the county's accounts, dating back more than 10 years, which has impeded the submittal and/or delay of both the 2012 and 2013 audits.
    The county has sought the services of several outside auditing, accounting firms and legal counsels while dealing with this issue, spending thousands of dollars to review the statements of the county which have caused 17 people to be indicted and convicted of bribery and kickbacks since as early as 2009.
    One of the defendants, a former employee of the Maverick County Auditor's Office, told The Honorable Alia Moses, US District Judge that she had told her boss (not specifying whether she was referring to the Maverick County Auditor at the time or the then Maverick County judge) something was not right, but was ignored and that she had not approved the contracts which had led to her indictment and subsequent arrest before being told that this was a sentencing and not the trial.
    When trustees and bond holders of the Maverick County Detention Center recently chose to suddenly cease negotiations with former financial advisors Southwestern Capital Markets, communication closed completely and Commissioner's Court ended their relationship with the firm and hired another, First Southwest Capital, in a meeting held January 29th.  It is not clear as to who has been dealing with the financial affairs of the Public Facilities Corporation with the trustee between January 29th and the 5th of March, the final day of services as financial advisor for Maverick County for SCM.
    In an attempt to provide a solution to the request of county authorities, the district judges will break the deadlock in the case of restoring or ending Maverick County's relationship with Ortiz this morning.