Corpus Christi Mayor Paulette Guajardo will be reprimanded and under suspension from office, following a hearing that concluded Friday.
A City Council tribunal found her guilty on all three charges levied against her.
She will be under a 30-day suspension from office upon findings by the council that she committed "misconduct, malfeasance, incompetence, or inability or willful neglect of performance" related to a tax incentive agreement for development of a downtown hotel project.
She was formally reprimanded for perjury during a deposition related to a lawsuit against the city over the agreement.
She was also found guilty of breaking confidentiality of a Corpus Christi Regional Economic Development Corporation meeting.
Votes to remove her from office for the charges did not pass.
The verdict follows four days of removal proceedings over the past two weeks.
"Ask yourself," attorney John Flood, representing Guajardo, said during closing statements Friday. "'How much evidence is it going to take for a handful of elected officials to remove another elected official from office?' Because whatever rule you create this evening does not belong only to Paulette Guajardo. It belongs to the next mayor and the mayor after that, and it belongs to every person who ever accepts the responsibility of public office in this city ever."
The executive session lasted for around two-and-a-half hours before council members read the charges and cast their votes.
"Respectfully follow the evidence," said attorney Doug Allison, representing the petitioners, during closing statements. "Make the hard findings, and she should be removed … what we tolerate, we become."
The trial was related to a petition, signed by six registered voters, over alleged misconduct by Guajardo in 2024, when developers for a hotel project were awarded a $2 million dollar tax incentive.
The petition alleged that Guajardo was aware of an altered slide that the developers used in a presentation to request the funding.
Local, state and federal investigations found no legal wrongdoing, but that is not needed in the City Charter to have the mayor removed from office.
Guajardo becomes the first Mayor in Corpus Christi history to be suspended. It is not yet known when the suspension will begin.
City Councilwoman and Mayor Pro Tem Kaylynn Paxson will assume responsibilities of the mayor during the suspension.
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