City Council finds mayor engaged in misconduct on one charge, suspends her 30 days

The City Council voted on a set of disciplinary questions about Mayor Paulette Guajardo and imposed a 30-day suspension after finding one charge sustained. The clerk read Question 1 asking whether Guajardo engaged in misconduct related to alleged misrepresentations about FEMA flood maps; the council recorded a 5–1 vote in favor of the predicate question and later voted 5–1 to suspend the mayor for 30 days.

The council considered two other predicate questions: whether the mayor perjured herself on Aug. 6, 2025, while testifying in her official capacity, and whether she failed to keep information from CCREDC activities confidential. The clerk recorded a 5–1 result on the perjury question and a 4–2 result on the confidentiality question. When the body moved to penalties, motions to remove the mayor failed to reach the five-vote threshold required under the city charter; a reprimand related to the perjury question passed 5–1 while penalty options tied to the confidentiality question failed to carry.

“We will be basically defaulting back to the measures in the city charter,” the chair said when the council confirmed it would follow charter thresholds rather than the printed charge language. The city attorney explained that removal carries a two-year ineligibility to run or be appointed: “a member who is removed from office … shall not be eligible to be appointed to or run as a candidate for city office for 2 years.”

The council proceeded through each charge sequentially: first voting on whether each alleged misconduct or breach occurred, then separately voting on removal, suspension (motions typically set at 30 days), or reprimand for any charge that prevailed. Several members questioned whether a reprimand could include ineligibility to run; the city attorney said ineligibility is tied to removal, not to a reprimand.

The meeting concluded after the council completed the sequence of predicate and penalty votes and the chair adjourned the session. No removal of the mayor occurred; the only formal penalty recorded in the proceedings was a 30-day suspension on the charge addressing the FEMA-related allegation.