CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Corpus Christi City Council held a pre-trial hearing Tuesday morning as part of the ongoing effort to remove Mayor Paulette Guajardo from office.
Public comments from residents with differing opinions kicked off the hearing.
"This is bigger than just one little thing this is a nonpartisan issue," Alejandro Benavides, a Corpus Christi resident, said.
"Many residents are looking whether this effort is truly about serving the public or whether it has been driven by political pressure," Sandy Fernandez, a Corpus Christi resident, said.
Another resident was more pointed in her criticism of the process.
"It is a circus. Everybody in town believes this is a circus... It's time that you wake up, do the right thing, and stop acting as judge and jury and witnesses in this case," Susie Saldana, a Corpus Christi resident, said.
The mayor's attorney argued that moving forward would violate Texas law, while the attorney representing one of the petitioners said the process follows the city's charter and should continue to a full trial so the evidence can be heard.
Councilman-at-Large Roland Barrera, who recused himself from the proceedings, said he believed participating would have compromised the fairness of the process.
"Basically any individual that is deemed a witness cannot serve as a juror or part of the judicial process, and I think it taints the process and it shows obvious bias on the part of anyone that does want to participate," Barrera said.
Councilwoman Sylvia Campos said the hearing is about accountability and allowing the city's process to work as intended.
"I think it's important that we hold ourselves accountable and that's all we're doing is we're just following the process. There is a process for people that feel that we're not doing our jobs or that we have violated some kind of charter and we're here to hear those facts," Campos said.
Councilman Eric Cantu echoed that sentiment, saying the hearing is not a vote to remove the mayor but rather a step required under the city charter.
"Look, all we're doing is upholding the charter. We took an oath when we got sworn in and we're just upholding the charter," Cantu said.
Council Member Mark Scott said he was concerned by some of the changes made during the hearing, including a motion stating that Texas rules preventing a presiding judge from testifying as a witness would not apply in this case.
"The witness juror issue is yet unresolved, and I think that's gonna lead to additional legal proceedings, which is gonna lead to additional expenses for our taxpayers. so that, that is, that's a concern to me," Scott said.
Councilwoman and Mayor Pro Tem Carolyn Vaughn said the council has no choice but to move forward.
"The charter says we shall hear the petition that was around 2300 people that put the petition in. Do we like it? Am I happy with it having to do it? No, but we're following the charter," Vaughn said.
The council voted to move forward with the process.
The trial for the removal of the mayor is set for July 22 and 23. Before then, two more pre-trial hearings will be expected to be held June 8 and 9, both starting at 9 a.m.
Mayor Guajardo said she is disappointed the council is moving forward.
"It's unfortunate that we continue to spend time, resources, taxpayer dollars to fund all of this because it's unnecessary," Guajardo said.
