City of Corpus Christi officials are moving forward with the next steps in a citizen-submitted petition to remove Mayor Paulette Guajardo.
In a split vote, the City Council — absent the mayor — voted to set an agenda item and date for preliminary and procedural matters for a removal hearing.
Voting in favor were City Council members Carolyn Vaughn, Eric Cantu, Gil Hernandez and Kaylynn Paxson. Voting in dissent were City Council members Everett Roy, Mark Scott and Roland Barrera.
The vote does not set the hearing date itself. That could be about two months out, according to staff’s timeline.
Mayor Paulette Guajardo listens to public comment during a Corpus Christi City Council meeting in this 2024 file photo.
The petition in question, filed in August, relates to a controversy over the award of $2 million in tax incentives for development of a downtown hotel in 2024.
The council’s decision followed more than an hour of discussion, with some of the supporters of pursuing action citing the City Charter and a need to listen to residents, and council members opposing the move criticizing what they described as inaccuracies in the petition and raising questions of politics.
There was also discussion on timing, as the city is currently amid a water crisis, and disagreement over whether that should be a consideration.
A hearing, according to a city memo, would “be conducted in a manner similar to a court trial.”
“The challenged member shall have the right to written articles of impeachment, an opportunity to be heard, to be represented by counsel, to summon witnesses who shall be required to give testimony, and to reasonable advance notice of the hearing,” the memo states. “The burden of proof shall be on those bringing the charges.”
More on hotel controversy: Here’s what led up to the now-closed Homewood Suites investigation
Setting an agenda item and date for preliminary and procedural matters for a removal hearing is one of several options that the council had considered.
Other options included referring the petition to the Ethics Commission, dismissing the complaint or taking no action at all.
The preliminary and procedural matters referenced include accepting the articles of impeachment, scheduling pretrial motions and identifying witnesses, Hernandez said.
A hearing “doesn’t automatically mean that the mayor or any accused council member is going to be removed,” he said.
“There’s a lot of options from that hearing, as well, including suspension or censuring the individual or nothing, depending on the results of the hearing,” Hernandez said.
Earlier investigations
The controversy over the tax incentives for a Homewood Suites hotel largely centers on a slide made as part of a PowerPoint presentation that had been used by company Elevate QOF to pitch the project, and the purpose for which the sales tax funding had been requested.
The slide showed a screenshot of the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency’s website, with an image of a news release announcing new flood maps.
The date the news release was posted, as shown on the FEMA website, did not appear on the slide.
There is disagreement over whether it had been intentionally misleading or whether it had been an inadvertent oversight.
That’s because the developers had cited unanticipated costs related to flood mitigation as part of the reason for requesting the sales tax funding.
The situation has been investigated by law enforcement — with the primary focus on one of the Homewood Suites developers — and did not lead to criminal charges.
Outside legal counsel, in an administrative investigation, did not find criminal wrongdoing.
Opponents to moving forward with the proceedings, speaking in public comment, cited the findings in the investigations as reasons not to move forward.
While a crime may not have been identified in those investigations, there remain ethical implications that must be determined, some council members said.
The petition
The petition, filed by resident and frequent council-attendant Rachel Caballero, accuses Guajardo of putting an item on the council’s agenda to approve the tax incentives after being made aware several times of allegations that the slide had been altered.
“This is ‘misconduct’ and ‘malfeasance’ on the part of Paulette Guajardo and grounds for removal,” the document states.
The allegations outlined in the document closely align with those made in a lawsuit against the city, filed by competing hotelier Ajit David, who was among those who spoke in public comment.
Guajardo could not immediately be reached for comment about the council’s decision after the vote.
In a March 19 statement to the Caller-Times, she wrote that she urged the City Council to dismiss the complaint, describing it as having “no legal or factual merit.”
“The matter has been examined and rejected by multiple law enforcement agencies, and it represents an irresponsible use of public funds,” Guajardo wrote.
Kirsten Crow covers city government and water news. Have a story idea? Contact her at kirsten.crow@caller.com.
Consider supporting local journalism with a subscription to the Caller-Times.
This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Petition to remove Corpus Christi mayor moves to next steps