City council members debated an item asking staff to amend city budgets to prohibit use of city funds for the United Corpus Christi Chamber of Commerce after council members Carolyn Vaughn, Eric Cantu and Kalyn Paxson raised concerns about chamber advocacy tactics and a campaign that targeted newly elected council members.

"The reason that I put this on the agenda is because I feel like we had 2 new council members bullied by the chamber," Councilwoman Carolyn Vaughn told the council when introducing the item. Vaughn and others criticized a recent chamber messaging campaign and singled out specific communications they said targeted individual council members. Chamber leadership acknowledged the public concern and offered an apology in council comments, with the chamber's administrator saying, "This has gotten very divisive, very political on all sides. ... For our part, we do apologize as well." Several council members urged the chamber to improve its outreach to small businesses and to avoid messaging that divides the community.

Council discussion ranged from calls for a formal reprimand or budget action to requests to use the episode as an opportunity to reset relations; after lengthy public comment and council debate the majority of council members indicated they would not proceed immediately to defund or withdraw city support. Multiple council members instead emphasized reconciliation and directed staff and chamber leadership to engage in additional outreach and clarify funding terms. Ending: No immediate ban or budget amendment to cut the chamber’s city funding was adopted at the meeting; councilmembers said they would pursue alternative remedies and constructive engagement.