Don’t vote for

Michael Miller

Corpus Christi City Council · At Large · Election Day: November 3, 2026

Wrong direction for Corpus Christi's water future.

Michael Miller has said directly, in his own words, that he does not believe the city should own and operate the Inner Harbor desalination plant, the region’s most advanced, funded, and fully permitted path to water security. Instead, he wants to reopen the whole question with a new request for proposals covering every potential site, including a separate, stalled project that isn’t fully permitted and isn’t currently funded, and let a private company build and own whichever one wins. Corpus Christi voters disagree with the ownership piece of that by a wide margin: a June 2026 survey found 60% believe the water supply should always be publicly owned, versus 24% open to any private ownership, and 76% named water the single most important problem facing the city, more than twice the share who named the next issue. After years of delay on the region’s most important infrastructure project, the last thing this city needs is a councilmember who wants to start the process over and hand the outcome to a private bidder.

The choice is clear: vote against Michael Miller on November 3.

Opposes

Office

Corpus Christi City Council

District

AT LARGE

Wrong on every issue that matters.

Corpus Christi Voters Want Public Ownership, By a Wide Margin

A June 2026 survey of the Corpus Christi electorate found 60% believe the water supply should always be owned by the public through government agencies, compared with just 24% open to any private ownership. The same survey found water is, by far, the single most important problem facing the city, named by 76% of voters, more than double the next closest issue. Michael Miller's own preference, a privately built and owned plant chosen through a new bidding process rather than the region's current, publicly owned Inner Harbor project, puts him on the wrong side of that consensus. (Survey of the projected 2026 general election electorate in the City of Corpus Christi, fielded June 18 to 20, 2026, N=860, margin of sampling error +/-3.34%)

The Candidates With the Strongest Water Records Disagree With Him

Mark Scott, a sitting At-Large councilmember, has said plainly: "I believe the public should own the water infrastructure... I think it is a bad financial decision to have any 'Take or Pay' contracts with a privately owned facility." Scott Corliss, also running At-Large, has called for the city to move forward with Inner Harbor as a city-owned supply "immediately." Miller doesn't just disagree with them on ownership, he wants to put the project itself back up for grabs, a sharp break from the candidates with the clearest, most consistent record of getting it right. (Mark Scott and Scott Corliss, signed candidate questionnaires submitted to the Coastal Bend Coalition, August 2026)

A New Name Isn't the Same as a New Direction

Corpus Christi voters are fed up with the status quo. The same June 2026 survey found just 9% think the city is headed in the right direction, and a majority say they'd vote against the sitting Mayor and against most of the current City Council if the election were held today. Michael Miller isn't a sitting councilmember, and in a year like this, that alone can look like change. But Miller spent seven years inside Corpus Christi city government as a Planning Commission chairman, and on the one issue voters say matters most, his answer isn't the clean break they're looking for, it's a different way of not finishing the job: putting the region's most important infrastructure project back out to bid instead of completing the public, accountable water supply Corpus Christi voters have said they want.

A Private Bidding Process Could Mean Abandoning Inner Harbor Altogether

Under the process Miller favors, a private company, not the city, not Corpus Christi ratepayers, and not the current council, would effectively help decide which desalination project gets built. That could mean the region's currently funded, currently permitted Inner Harbor plant loses out to a different site, including one that today has neither full permits nor funding, because it looked more attractive to a private bidder. That's a fundamentally different, and far riskier, path than finishing the plant Corpus Christi has already spent years securing.

His Plan Would Also Mean Walking Away From Federal Help

Throughout the summer of 2026, the sitting City Council fought over whether to bring in outside money for Inner Harbor, including a U.S. Bureau of Reclamation grant worth up to $120 million toward the project, and in two separate 5-4 votes, some sitting council members turned it down. That money was on the table at all because Inner Harbor is a public, city-owned project: the Bureau of Reclamation's WaterSMART desalination construction program is open only to public entities, cities, states, water districts, and similar public agencies, not privately owned facilities. Under the private ownership structure Miller favors, with a company, not the city, owning whichever site wins his proposed bidding process, this exact category of federal funding would likely be off the table entirely. Reopening Inner Harbor to private ownership doesn't just risk starting over, it risks forfeiting the same federal money the current council has spent the summer fighting over.

Wants to Reopen the Process, Not Finish Inner Harbor

Asked directly whether he supports the Inner Harbor Desalination Plant as currently permitted and approved, and whether he'd back developing it as a city-owned water supply, Miller said the city should not pursue owning and operating it at all. Asked separately about a different, previously stalled desalination project, one with only a partial permit and no current funding, he said his preferred approach, a request for proposals built around a public-private partnership or a "Build-Own-Operate-Transfer" deal, would make "all sites available for proposal," letting private bidders help decide which project gets built. Miller isn't proposing to keep building Inner Harbor under new ownership. He's proposing to reopen site selection and hand that decision to whichever private bidder makes the most attractive offer. (Michael Miller, signed candidate questionnaire submitted to the Coastal Bend Coalition, August 19, 2026)

Hasn't Told Voters His Real Position

Miller's own campaign website lists "water and infrastructure" as a priority, but nowhere on it does he mention the Inner Harbor plant, desalination, his opposition to the city owning it, or his preference for reopening the process to private bidders. Corpus Christi voters deserve to hear his actual position on the city's defining issue directly from his campaign, not buried in a questionnaire submitted to outside groups. (miller4corpus.com, reviewed September 2026)

The record they don't want you to see.

Michael Miller is a vice president at a commercial construction company who spent seven years on Corpus Christi’s Planning Commission, including a term as its chairman, before resigning this year to run for an At-Large council seat. He has a real record of community service, including board roles with Goodwill Industries and Metro Ministries. This isn’t a page about personal scandal, it’s about a policy difference on the issue voters say matters most.

That puts him at odds with both the candidates with the strongest water records and the voters he’s asking to elect him. Mark Scott has warned against “Take or Pay” contracts with a privately owned facility, and Scott Corliss wants Inner Harbor approved as city-owned on the council’s first agenda. A June 2026 survey found 60% of Corpus Christi voters want the water supply to always stay publicly owned, versus 24% open to any private ownership, and named water the city’s top problem by a wide margin. There’s a funding cost too: this summer’s City Council fought over, and twice voted down, outside money for Inner Harbor, including a U.S. Bureau of Reclamation grant worth up to $120 million, funding available only because the project is publicly owned. Miller’s private-ownership model would likely put that same category of federal money out of reach for good.

Asked directly whether he supports developing the Inner Harbor desalination plant, already permitted, funded, and years into development, as a city-owned water supply, Miller said no. Asked about a separate, stalled second-phase project with only a partial permit and no current funding, he said his preferred approach, a request for proposals for a public-private partnership or “Build, Own, Operate, Transfer” deal, would make “all sites available for proposal,” letting private bidders help decide which project moves forward. Put together, Miller isn’t proposing new ownership for the existing plant. He’s proposing to reopen the entire question of what gets built and hand much of that decision to whichever private bidder makes the best offer.

It’s also a position voters can’t easily find out about on their own: Miller’s campaign website names “water and infrastructure” as a priority without ever mentioning Inner Harbor, desalination, or where he actually stands. Corpus Christi has spent years and hundreds of millions of dollars building toward a city-owned plant that’s funded and permitted today. Reopening that process now, and risking it shifting to a different, less-ready project chosen by a private bidder, is the wrong direction, from the wrong candidate, at the wrong time.

I firmly believe that the city should not pursue owning and operating a seawater desalination plant... I believe we should execute it in the same manner that they do it around the globe, which is through a public-private partnership (P3) or a Build, Own, Operate, Transfer (BOOT).

Michael Miller (signed candidate questionnaire submitted to the Coastal Bend Coalition, August 19, 2026)

Corpus Christi voters have been clear about what they want: water security as the top priority for city government, and a publicly owned water supply, by a 60 to 24 margin. Michael Miller doesn’t just favor different ownership, he wants to reopen the entire question of what gets built and hand much of that decision to a private bidder instead of finishing the project Corpus Christi has already funded and permitted. Reject Michael Miller. Vote against him on November 3.

Coastal Bend Coalition · Board of Directors