CORPUS CHRISTI, TX — Corpus Christi City Council's emergency water meeting on Friday featured high tensions and debate over the city's desalination plans, with some council members questioning the necessity of the gathering.
The council is set to vote on the Inner Harbor desalination project on April 28, following another meeting scheduled for Tuesday, April 14.
Mayor Paulette Guajardo called for the April 9 emergency meeting last month, which was then rescheduled for April 10.
"Every day of delay increases uncertainty," Guajardo said.
The divide inside council chambers was evident early on.
City Councilmember Kaylynn Paxson says she is committed to securing water for the region but felt the meeting did not accomplish that goal.
"It could've taken place on the 14th so in that essence it's a duplicate of time. This is not an efficient use of our staff members time, our community members time," Paxson said.
Councilmember At-Large Carolyn Vaughn echoed those sentiments, saying the emergency meeting was a "kneejerk reaction" to Governor Abbott's comments about the city "squandering" state money.
"You can't panic and call an emergency meeting because an emergency is right now. And our emergency right now is to get water right now. Desal is three to four years away. So this was unnecessary we could've done the update on Tuesday," Vaughn said.
City Councilmember for District 5, Gil Hernandez, who has been on the council since 2019, expressed frustration with the city's focus on desalination. He said if the city had focused more on diversifying its water portfolio years ago, it would not be in this predicament.
"We went from the lowest cost water with surface water to the highest cost which is seawater desalination. We skipped everything in between. Groundwater, wastewater reuse, things that would be half the cost of what desal is," Hernandez said.
That frustration boiled over during Friday's meeting.
"The reason why we're facing curtailment why we're facing curtailment is our own damn fault. Our inaction for the last six years to do any of this work. Now it's desal is an emergency... and the water won't be delivered for three and a half years," Hernandez said during the meeting.
You can find the full reactions to the meeting from Guajardo, Paxson, Vaughn, and Hernandez here on our YouTube page.
After the meeting, outside City Hall, Councilmember Sylvia Campos rallied with protesters who packed the meeting.
"Making sure that whatever we do now isn't for us... Whatever we do now is for the future," Campos said.
Council will meet next on Tuesday, April 14th, where the petition to remove the Mayor is on the agenda.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
