City Commissioner Accused of Abusing Time Sheets

Time sheets show Cisneros at work when he was on trips

BROWNSVILLE - A controversy centers on video and documents claiming a city commissioner lied about when he was working.

NEWSCHANNEL 5 received hundreds of pages of documents and a DVD concerning Carlos Cisneros. The Brownsville city commissioner works for Cameron County as an administrative assistant.

The documents and video were sent to us anonymously. We cannot vouch for the times and dates on the video. But the video claims to be taken on Friday, November 16, 2007 and Monday, November 19, 2007.

The video, reportedly taken on November 16, shows Cisneros leaving for work at 10:48 a.m. He is later shown chatting outside work with his boss at 11:20 a.m.

On the video allegedly recorded on November 19, Cisneros doesn't leave for work until 11:56 a.m. and returns home at 1:48 a.m. The rest of the video for that day shows Cisneros hauling trash, getting an oil change, shopping at Wal-Mart, and getting gasoline.

But signed time sheets from Cisneros' job with Cameron County indicate he worked both days from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. with an hour lunch break.

The person who took the video and gave it to NEWSCHANNEL 5 anonymously claims he followed the city commissioner for a month to prove he's almost never at work.

Cisneros says that's a lie.

"I work over 40 hours a week. I think that video is fabricated," he tells us.

Cisneros' boss is Cameron County Commissioner John Wood. Wood defends Cisneros.

Wood says, "The video did not take into consideration time he works weekends, after 5, before 8 a.m."

The time sheets don't show Cisneros working those hours either. Eighty-four time sheets, signed by Cisneros and his boss, show Cisneros worked 40 hours a week or less.

NEWSCHANNEL 5 learned Cisneros makes $50,000 a year in salary and benefits as an administrative assistant for the county.

His elected position as a Brownsville city commissioner is volunteer job which has some perks. These include free out-of-town trips at taxpayer expense.

NEWSCHANNEL 5 dug up Cisneros' travel records from 2003 to 2007. They show he racked up $13,373 in travel expenses.

There were trips to Corpus Christi, San Antonio, Austin, Houston, Dallas, Washington D.C., and Mexico City.

But on the same day as those trips, Cisneros' time sheets show he was working at his county job.

"I didn't fill out the timesheets," says Cisneros. "I used to fill some out. But I never actually filled them out myself."

Cisneros' boss tells us, "He's not required to work from 8 to 12 and 1 to 5."

NEWSCHANNEL 5 asked Wood why Cisneros had a time sheet that shows him working from 8 to 5.

"That was an error on my part," says Wood.

Cisneros' job with the county is classified as exempt. This means he's on salary and gets paid the same no matter how many hours he works. Cisneros doesn't have to fill out a time sheet.

NEWSCHANNEL 5 took our findings to Cameron County Judge Carlos Cascos.

"If someone's gonna take the time to fill out time sheets, they should fill out those time sheets accurately and those appear not to be accurate," he says.

"Well obviously they are falsified, because you can't be in two places at once."

The county judge tells us the allegations against Cisneros are serious and will be forwarded to the proper authorities.

He promised a full investigation after looking at the documents we uncovered.

NEWSCHANNEL 5 also took our findings to Brownsville Mayor Pat Ahumada.

"If it's true, he should be held accountable," he says.

The mayor adds, "I travel and we don't get paid for our travel."

Cisneros' boss says the trips are a benefit for the county.

Wood tells us, "Actually, when he travels for the city, he normally does some work for the county."

But the Brownsville mayor says, "He was not doing county business. He was doing city business."

Cisneros tells us, "The last time I checked the City of Brownsville is in Cameron County, so it's all together."

NEWSCHANNEL 5 asked Cisneros if he went to Dallas Cowboys game on November 26, 2007.

He tells us he went to the game with his sister and it wasn't a business trip. When we told him it was marked as a business trip and showed him the paper, Cisneros says, "I was in Dallas for a Texas Municipal League Conference."

The Brownsville city commissioner says he's being targeted.

"I'd say it's political. I never did anything wrong," he tells us.

Meanwhile, the Brownsville mayor says there was a cover-up. He's calling for an investigation.