Mayor Paulette Guajardo was questioned for over 3 hours Wednesday as the first witness called in the ongoing hearing to remove her from the Corpus Christi mayor's office.
Attorney Doug Allison, who represents the petitioners seeking Guajardo's removal, led the questioning. He walked through the timeline of the Homewood Suites Hotel project — from its early proposal involving developer Philip Ramirez, through its approval by local government, and ultimately to an altered FEMA document at the center of the case. Petitioners are pushing for Guajardo's removal on grounds of incompetence and malfeasance.
A point of contention came when Allison cited testimonies from City Manager Peter Zanoni and former Assistant City Manager Heather Hulbert.
Guajardo said she agreed with the Corpus Christi Police Department's investigation finding that the document was tampered with, but said she did not believe Zanoni or Hulbert were qualified to make the same judgement.
When Allison asked whether Guajardo agreed with Zanoni's assessment that the document was tampered with, she pushed back.
"No, I think that was his opinion," Guajardo said.
Guajardo's attorney, John Flood, objected to that line of questioning, arguing that the mayor's opinion of other witnesses' testimonies was not relevant to the hearing.
"Objection. It's just not relevant if this witness [Guajardo] agrees with another person's testimony from 2025," Flood said.
Allison was asked to defend his questioning, arguing the testimonies were directly tied to the core allegations.
"Which have to do with her malfeasance, with her incompetence quite frankly," Allison said.
City Council ruled in favor of Allison, allowing the questioning to continue.
The hearing is set to resume at Corpus Christi City Hall on August 6, when Flood will begin questioning witnesses for Guajardo's defense.
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