By David Taylor
Managing Editor
Oscar Mireles admits he’s not perfect and has had a rough start in life, but he also says he’s grown up now, accepted responsibility for his past and is ready to lead his home city.
Mireles tossed his hat in the ring for the top spot in Galena Park administration after what he said was an inability to get information on what’s going on with city tax dollars.
Mireles was born in Houston but returned to Mexico and lived there until he was 12.
“I came back with my family, and we settled here in the mid-80s,” he said. “I would visit here on the weekends and holidays until I moved in with my grandparents in the 90s.”
He attended Galena Park High School for a couple of years but got mixed up in the wrong crowd and dropped out of school.
When he returned, he moved to Katy to get out of the hood, but still felt empty after having been married and divorced.
He moved back to Galena Park to be close to his family five years ago and started a business. As a master electrician, he now has grown to several employees and trucks that go out to do work.
Since moving back to Galena Park, as a businessman, he has noticed issues in the town.
“Now that I’ve seen better places, I know this city definitely has potential,” he said.
In the last election, he said he witnessed things he wanted to change.
“I felt like it would take someone with the resources, energy, and didn’t care that the politics were going to get personal,” he said.
In February, he filed and had heard the rumors, the stories that everyone had told him, and he began to focus on getting answers.
One of those, he discovered, panned out to be true. In a lawsuit filed against the city by Wayne Dolcefino, he found that the city was not turning over information that should be public.
Dolcefino said that lawsuit was taken to District Attorney Kim Ogg who never prosecuted. Ogg was defeated in this year’s Democratic Primary in March.
“A lot of people have lost their jobs, we’ve been through numerous police chiefs, and city employees are fearful for their jobs,” he alleges. “That’s not typical.”
Now he feels like he’s being harassed, he believes by Moya and her so-called “goon-squad” that has doxxed him and put out false information about him being incarcerated in prison.
A quick public records search showed three offenses: a driving while intoxicated charge on September 26, 2015, and two charges on November 26, 2016—one for driving with an invalid driver’s license and no motor vehicle liability insurance; the second was another driving while intoxicated. All have been disposed of, and Mireles says he is on the road to recovery.
Moya has had her own issues, including accusations of taking a joy ride in a marked police car with her husband driving, closing city hall for more than 18 months during the pandemic, refusal to release public documents including information related to federal grants for Galena Park for natural disasters since 2017.
At one point, Moya hired and fired six police chiefs in 5 years.
Despite the serious charges of alleged fraud, abuse of power, and a lack of transparency with city funds, she continues to be re-elected at the polls. Mireles hopes to change that.
“I may or may not win, but the support I’m beginning to receive has been important to me,” he said.
Mireles said win or lose, he would not stop until Moya answered the citizens of the city on what is going on with money.
Also on the ballot with Mireles and Moya is Commissioner, Position No. 1 Water and Sewer Rei “Maui” Medrano and Luis Pere; Commissioner, Position No. 2 Police and Fire Jorge Rodriguez and Juan Flores; Commissioner No. 3 Parks and Recreation Jahaira Lopez and Martha Cantu Perez; and Commissioner No. 4 Streets and Bridge Hilda Barrientos and Jean G. Vega.
Election Day polls for mayor and all four commissioners is May 4 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Precincts 208, 857, and 860 vote at 2000 Clinton Drive and Precincts 81 vote at 1302 Keene Street. All early voting occurs at 2000 Clinton Drive on April 22-26 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and April 29-30 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Jacinto City Municipal Elections
In Jacinto City, there are three seats up for grabs.
Position 1, Liaison to Parks & Recreation pits incumbent Jimmy “JJ” Rivas against Rebecca Duran Mier. Rivas, 55, has lived in Jacinto City 33 years and works as a damage prevention specialist. Mier, 48, has lived in Jacinto City for eight years and is a homemaker.
Position 2 councilman acts as liaison to Finance and City Hall. Gregg Robinson, incumbent, has lived in Jacinto City for 70 years and works as a facility director. He has no challenger in this election.
Position 3 serves as liaison to the Police and Fire departments. Incumbent Allen Lee is a pastor and has lived in Texas for 28 years, all of them in Jacinto City. His challenger, Bradford D. Atchison, Jr., has lived in Texas for 44 years, and 14 in Jacinto City. He works as a valve technician.
Election Day polls for both Precinct 163 and 229 will be in Jacinto City Town Center, 1025 Oates Road between the hours of 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Early voting begins at city hall, 1301 Mercury Drive from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., April 22 through April 26 and April 29. On April 30, 2024, the times are from 7 a.m. through 7 p.m.