09/29/2026
On September 23, Mayor Paulette Guajardo stood before a room filled with business and community leaders to deliver the 2026 State of the City address. She talked about streets, public safety, infrastructure, economic development and the investments being made throughout Corpus Christi. A significant part of her message centered on the issue that continues to hang over this city: water.
Guajardo again made the case for the Inner Harbor desalination project, calling it “the most consequential step we can take to secure our long-term water supply.”
Three days earlier, the Mary Rhodes Pipeline had been taken offline after a leak was discovered roughly halfway along the 101-mile line carrying water from Lake Texana to the O.N. Stevens Water Treatment Plant. Corpus Christi Water increased production from the Nueces groundwater wells and releases from Wesley Seale Dam while crews worked to repair the damaged 64-inch pipeline.
Only weeks earlier, Guajardo had returned to office after serving a 30-day suspension following a months-long effort to remove her as mayor. Three weeks before State of the City, a divided council had again rejected the Inner Harbor desalination project.
Now Corpus Christi is heading toward a November election that will determine the mayor and every seat on the City Council.
It has been a long road getting here.
Much of the political turmoil that consumed City Hall began with the downtown Homewood Suites project and a $2 million Type B economic development incentive approved for Elevate QOF LLC. Questions were eventually raised about information presented in support of the incentive, including a FEMA flood-related image that had been altered.
Hotelier Ajit David, whose business interests competed with the proposed hotel, filed a lawsuit against the city in 2024 seeking to invalidate the incentive agreement. David alleged problems with the approval process and argued that city officials had been misled. The developers denied intentionally misleading anyone.
The controversy was investigated by the Corpus Christi Police Department, FBI and Texas Rangers. Those investigations ended without criminal charges.
The civil and political fight continued.
David’s lawsuit produced discovery, depositions and testimony involving some of the most recognizable people at City Hall. Guajardo was deposed. City Manager Peter Zanoni became part of the controversy. Former City Attorney Miles Risley was drawn into the proceedings. Attorney Doug Allison, who represented David in litigation connected to the hotel dispute, later represented the petitioners seeking Guajardo’s removal.
Rachel Caballero filed the removal petition in August 2025, accusing Guajardo of misconduct, malfeasance, incompetence and willful neglect. Guajardo denied the allegations and challenged portions of the process in court.
On March 24, 2026, the issue came before the Corpus Christi City Council.
Five members voted to move the removal process forward: Carolyn Vaughn, Eric Cantu, Sylvia Campos, Kaylynn Paxson and Gil Hernandez.
Roland Barrera, Mark Scott and Everett Roy voted against proceeding.
What followed was unlike anything Corpus Christi had seen at City Hall in recent memory. There were subpoenas, witness lists, depositions, motions, hearings and litigation moving through state and federal courts.
Guajardo sued the city and the five council members involved in the removal action, arguing that her due-process rights were at stake. Her attorneys also raised questions about council members potentially serving as witnesses in matters they would later be asked to judge.
Separate litigation stemming from the Homewood Suites dispute continued at the same time. On July 6, the Texas Supreme Court temporarily halted additional discovery while it considered a petition for mandamus.
Then came the removal hearing.
Over four days in July and August, council members heard testimony and evidence surrounding the allegations against Guajardo. She took the witness stand and was questioned for hours by Doug Allison about the Homewood Suites project, her previous deposition testimony and other events involving city government.
On August 7, the council made its decision.
Guajardo was not removed from office.
The council did find against her on three allegations involving the Homewood Suites controversy, her 2025 deposition testimony and confidentiality surrounding a Corpus Christi Regional Economic Development Corporation meeting. Guajardo disputed those findings.
Sylvia Campos and Gil Hernandez supported removing her from office. Carolyn Vaughn and Eric Cantu supported suspension rather than removal. Mark Scott opposed removing, suspending or reprimanding her.
The council ultimately reprimanded Guajardo and suspended her for 30 days. Kaylynn Paxson, serving as mayor pro tem, assumed the responsibilities of mayor during the suspension.
While Corpus Christi watched that fight unfold, another problem was becoming more serious.
The city needed water.
Corpus Christi has debated desalination and additional water supplies for years, but prolonged drought and falling reservoir levels changed the nature of the discussion. Water restrictions became part of everyday life. Groundwater projects were accelerated. Harbor Island and private water proposals entered the conversation. Decisions that once seemed years away suddenly carried immediate consequences.
At the center of the debate was the proposed Inner Harbor desalination facility.
The project is designed to produce approximately 30 million gallons of drinking water per day. Corpus Christi had already spent years securing major permits, completing studies and moving through design. A preliminary guaranteed maximum price presented by Corpus Christi Desalination Partners came in at approximately $978.8 million, substantially below an earlier estimate but still approaching $1 billion.
Opponents questioned whether ratepayers should carry that cost. They raised concerns about the Inner Harbor location and potential environmental effects of brine discharge into Corpus Christi Bay. Some argued that Corpus Christi should pursue desalination elsewhere rather than abandon desalination altogether.
Supporters argued that Corpus Christi needs a drought-resistant water source and had already spent years and significant resources developing Inner Harbor.
Guajardo continued to support the project.
The council remained divided.
That division became clear again on September 1 when the Inner Harbor project returned to council.
It failed 5-3.
Carolyn Vaughn, Eric Cantu, Sylvia Campos, Kaylynn Paxson and Gil Hernandez voted against moving forward.
Roland Barrera, Mark Scott and Everett Roy voted in favor.
They were the same five council members who had voted in March to move Guajardo’s removal proceeding forward and the same three who had opposed doing so.
There is no evidence that the two votes were connected, and each council member has given reasons for his or her position on desalination. The votes do show how consistently divided this council had become on two major issues.
September 1 also brought another development. The city agreed to pay $450,000 in connection with settling Ajit David’s lawsuit over the Homewood Suites incentive.
The lawsuit that helped set much of this in motion was coming to an end.
The water problem was not.
Other possibilities remain. The Nueces River Authority is developing a proposed Harbor Island seawater desalination facility, and Corpus Christi has paid $2.7 million to reserve approximately 50 million gallons per day from that proposed project. A private desalination facility has been proposed at the Barney Davis site. Groundwater, including the Western Well Field, is another part of the city’s developing water strategy.
Every option comes with questions about cost, permitting, construction, reliability and timing.
Corpus Christi also has to deal with financial commitments already made to Inner Harbor. The city drew approximately $235 million through a larger Texas Water Development Board financing package associated with the project. Some of that money has already been spent, and abandoning the project raises questions about the cost of unwinding those obligations.
The city’s water situation has also begun showing up in its finances. S&P Global Ratings lowered the utility system’s credit rating from AA- to A, and Fitch Ratings lowered its rating from AA- to A-. Fitch cited acute water-supply constraints, pressure on the utility system’s financial profile and uncertainty surrounding future water supplies and capital projects.
Guajardo returned to office in September after completing her suspension and resumed pushing for progress on a long-term water supply.
Then the Mary Rhodes Pipeline went down.
On September 20, a leak was detected near Highways 77 and 239. The line was taken out of service while crews worked on repairs. Corpus Christi increased groundwater production and releases from Wesley Seale Dam to continue supplying the treatment plant.
Three days later, Guajardo walked onto the stage for State of the City.
After the lawsuit, depositions, court battles, removal proceeding, hours of testimony, a 30-day suspension, another failed Inner Harbor vote and now a major pipeline failure, she was standing before the community talking about where Corpus Christi goes next.
She went back to water.
During the address, Guajardo asked those in the room who supported the Inner Harbor desalination project to stand.
Some stood. Others remained seated.
It was a simple moment that captured much of where Corpus Christi finds itself today. Most people agree the city needs another dependable water source. There is far less agreement about what that source should be, where it should be built, how much it should cost and how quickly it can be delivered.
Those questions are now following many of the people involved in these decisions to the ballot box.
On November 3, voters will elect the mayor and all eight members of the City Council.
Guajardo is seeking another term. Current council members Kaylynn Paxson and Gil Hernandez are also running for mayor, along with David Ainsworth Sr., Chelise Hyatt, John Calkusic and Dave Heasley. Carolyn Vaughn is seeking an at-large council seat, while Eric Cantu is seeking reelection in District 3.
The records of everyone involved are now there for voters to examine.
Guajardo’s includes the Homewood Suites controversy, the removal proceeding and the three findings sustained by the council. It also includes her continued support for Inner Harbor and her return to office after serving the suspension imposed by the council.
The council members who challenged her have records of their own, including their votes on the removal proceeding and their decisions on Inner Harbor.
November will determine who returns to the council table and who does not.
The people elected will inherit more than the political disagreements of the past two years. They will inherit a water crisis, the financial commitments surrounding Inner Harbor, alternative water projects that still require time and money, aging infrastructure, relationships with industry and the Port, and a utility system that has already experienced credit-rating downgrades.
They will also inherit a city that has watched its elected leaders spend much of the past year divided.
There are legitimate disagreements over desalination. There are legitimate questions about cost, environmental impact, financing and alternatives. There are also legitimate questions about transparency, accountability and the events that led to the removal proceeding.
Those disagreements are not going to disappear on Election Day.
What can change is what happens after it.
The next mayor and council do not have to agree on everything. They do have to govern together.
Water still has to come from somewhere. Infrastructure still has to be built and maintained. Businesses still need enough certainty to invest. Residents still expect the basic services they pay for. Decisions still have to be made.
For Guajardo, State of the City was a return to a familiar message after one of the most turbulent periods of her time in office: Corpus Christi has to keep moving.
Her critics will make their case for a different direction.
On November 3, that decision belongs to the voters.
The following morning, whoever wins will inherit the same city, the same council table and many of the same problems.
The lawsuits and removal proceedings will eventually become part of Corpus Christi’s political history.
The need for water will not.
We know how we got here.
What happens next is up to Corpus Christi.
