CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Corpus Christi's Proposition A is gone, rejected by voters in November 7th's election, but it is not forgotten.
At Tuesday's Corpus Christi City Council meeting, City Manager Peter Zanoni gave the council a post-mortem on the failed proposition and what the next steps are.
Zanoni reminded council members that work on putting Proposition A together began 18 months ago.
If passed, it would have re-purposed two sales taxes to remodel and expand the American Bank Center and attract a hotel.
Prop A would also have provided funds for the seawall, parks, roads, and air service.
The city manager said everything the city did was for the betterment of the community and the process worked as it should have.
Zanoni said the city council did what they were supposed to do and voted to put Prop A on the ballot.
The city developed an educational program for the community so voters would better understand what the proposition was about.
But it was voted down and Zanoni said that was fine so it's time to move on for more business for the city.
Part of that business will happen on Friday, Nov. 17 when the city canvasses the votes to certify the results of the election.
The city will continue to talk with Proposition A's stakeholders including, the Buccaneer Commission, Visit Corpus Christi, the United Chambers of Commerce, developers and hoteliers.
The city manager also spoke about the two 1.8 cent sales taxes that would have been used to fund Proposition A's various projects.
Zanoni says the city is looking at elections to re-authorize the sales taxes.
The most likely date for that election would be general election day in November 2024.
The goal, Zanoni said, is at the minimum to improve the Convention Center.
The city manager said that would come forward with a lot of input from the community.
Zanoni said he felt he could speak for the entire council in saying they have had and will continue to have the community's best interest in their hearts and minds.
Several council members also spoke about the rejection of Proposition A by the voters and some had strong words about how the city handled the failed proposal.
At-large council member Mike Pusley reminded the city manager and the city council that he felt strongly the process should have been delayed.
He said some of the things that put the proposition in jeopardy was a failure to open a dialogue with the opposition.
Some of that opposition came from hoteliers and the Marina Advisory Board.
Pusley pointed out that even the Downtown Management District gave no backing to Proposition A.
He added that while there were several deficiencies, it all came back to what Pusley called extremely bad advice from Hunden Strategic Planners.
The city hired the Hunden group in June 2024 to help put together Proposition A.
The group had worked on similar projects across the state including convention centers in Abilene and Amarillo.
Pusley asked that the city dissolve its relationship with Hunden Strategic Planners and not spend another dime with them.
He called a report and analysis from the Hunden group 300 pages of fiction.
Mayor Paulette Guajardo also spoke out saying that at a later time council members will get their thoughts together.
Each council member will have time to make suggestions, recommendations, or ask questions.
The mayor added that the city was tired of misinformation.
She added the city council will put together a task force and stakeholder group to help the council pave the work forward.
Mayor Guajardo said that there is always room for improvement but added Proposition A was well intended.
She said the process worked, they heard the people's voices and the city will move forward in a positive manner, not in a negative.
District 5 council member Gil Hernandez said a workshop and committee may not be the best way to move forward.
He felt the biggest issue was ambiguities around the hotel, what actually was going to be done on the American Bank Center, and how much was going to be done to the seawall.
Hernandez added that the city needs to earn back the trust of constituents, stakeholders and the opposition.
He said he felt any tax support for a hotel would probably be non-existent.
District 2 council member Sylvia Campos said she felt it was easy to say what "coulda, shoulda, woulda been done" but she agreed with the city manager that the process worked.
She reminded her fellow council members that in the end, they had all voted to put Proposition A on the ballot.
Campos said they should have "embraced" any questions or issues they had about the proposal when they voted to put it on the ballot.
She called this a "live and learn" lesson for the city and she as well as the other council members heard from the public, that they wanted more input.
At-large council member Michael Hunter asked if there would be a vote by council members on how to move forward.
The mayor advised council members that they meet individually with city manager Peter Zanoni and have a dialogue with him on suggestions they have.
Council member Sylvia Campos said she would support a survey from the public.
Referring to the election, At-large council member Mike Pusley said, "I think we already had that survey."
