CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Two incumbents lead the way returning to their seats on council and will be joined by a new face. Mike Pusley earned the most votes to return for a second term.
Michael Hunter was voted in for another term, garnering the second most votes.
Jim Klein is the newest member of city council, narrowly earning the third spot for an at-large council member.
In Pusley’s second term, he said the top priority is to continue to get street repairs done. It’s been the number one thing he’s heard from constituents.
He’d also like to raise homestead exemptions for the city to match the county. Pusley added for the city to grow, finishing the water desalination project will be key and he looks forward to pushing that along.
“Many cases we’re trying to turn around three decades of negligence on streets not being repaired," he said. "So, it’s going to take us a while to catch up. We’re very committed to it. This council is very committed to it.”
Hunter returns for his final term and wants to continue on his original promises of public safety, infrastructure — which includes streets, water and waste waster — and finishing the bridge was his last goal, but that’s been delayed.
Something new he’d like to pursue is attracting new tech businesses. To keep young people and attract them back to Corpus Christi. He wants to welcome in businesses like Tesla.
“I guess my new priorities would be diversifying our economy to bring jobs that maybe we haven’t had before that we can keep the youth here,” said Hunter.
Newcomer Jim Klein is bringing in different viewpoints to his fellow at-large council members. While streets are a priority, the work needs to be done more efficiently and will work for ways to do that.
Klein is against the current proposal for water desalination in the bay, but he is in favor of making it work if the excess brine is transported to the open water in the gulf. Other causes he believes in are taking a closer look at tax agreements with large corporations to make sure they’re being taxed their fair share.
“I’m very happy we’re repairing the streets, but these street repair contracts need to be rewritten," Klein said. "Four and a half years is way too long to be redoing Ayers or Staples Street now, as well or Kostoryz before that. Those contracts seem to me as if they’re written to help benefit the street contractor and not the general public.”
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