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MISSION, Texas - Mission Economic Development Corporation board member Noel Salinas says he was saddened to be removed from the organization.

This happened at this week\\u2019s Mission City Council meeting. Salinas served on the MEDC board at the pleasure of the council.

Salinas said he believes he was removed for speaking out about a certain city council action. Namely, failing to send the EDC its rightful share of sales tax revenues for many months.\\xa0

Salinas, the CEO of a healthcare company, said he believes the residents of Mission deserve to know where their tax dollars are being spent. He spoke out publicly when the Progress Times, which covers the western side of Hidalgo County, asked what he thought of the money not being transferred.

Salinas was then criticized by Mission Mayor Norie Gonzalez Garza for confirming to the newspaper that the City of Mission held back more than $3 million in sales tax revenues over seven months that should have gone to the EDC. Since the news broke, the City has started paying the EDC back.

Salinas spoke to the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service the day after he was removed from the EDC board.

\\u201cIt\\u2019s sad, but I guess we're will keep on getting involved as resident and citizen of Mission,\\u201d Salinas said, when asked about his removal from the EDC board. \\u201cI think I can still be involved without having to be on a committee.\\u201d

Asked if anyone either from the EDC or the city council had called you to explain why he was being removed, Salinas said: \\u201cNo, nobody. I haven't gotten a call from anybody since the day that I talked about the situation. I would have thought that they somebody would want to know or discuss or even explain something but nobody, nobody reached out.\\u201d

Asked why he thinks he lost his slot on the board, Salinas said: \\u201cI feel that it's because I talked about the situation of the EDC not getting the sales tax revenue. But, as the (Progress Times) article said, the mayor's claiming that she had already thought of replacing me. The thing that I don't understand, or I would like to ask is, there are five other members or six other members. Why me?\\u201d

Salinas said he has never had any disciplinary problems while serving on the EDC board. Asked if he was ever told he was not doing a good job, Salinas said: \\u201cNever. If they look at the voting record, I don't think I ever opposed any of the things that we voted on.\\u201d

In a previous interview with the Guardian, Salinas said he was looking forward to the next EDC board meeting, scheduled for later this month, so he could ask questions about the EDC funds not being transferred by the city administration.

\\u201cMy concern was that we had approved inaccurate documents and I guess that's not important. Because that would be one of the things that I would, if I were the other board members, I would be concerned with. We don't know when this started, but the monthly financials showed that we had cash on hand and according to staff, we didn't have that money, and we still approved those documents.\\u201d


Editor's Note: To read the full story go to the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service website.

To read the new stories and watch the news videos of the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service go to www.riograndeguardian.com.