Editor’s Note: The Cibola Citizen thanks Grants City Clerk Fran Salas and her team for their assistance in gathering documentation about the following information.
GRANTS, N.M. – The City of Grants has taken the first steps in rewriting its city charter. The Grants City Charter has been the topic of significant controversy since 2018, with the controversy only growing with the 2020 Grants City Council passing an illegal ordinance to amend the charter; and a charter crisis that slowed the thengovernment to a halt. After the election of 2022 government business started again, with an almost all-new government holding the reigns.
Now, after years of crisis that plunged the city into a lame duck government during the worst of COVID-19, the City of Grants is finally working to correct course. This new effort to rewrite the city’s governing document is spearheaded by Councilor Beverly Michael of District Four.
The new government was sworn in on April 1, 2022. Not long after her entrance to the council did Councilor Michael call for a Charter Advisory Committee to help rewrite the document that is meant to guide and restrict the government while protecting the people of the City of Grants.
The Charter Advisory Committee, while agreed on in principle by the councilors, did not get started until recently. To get the committee running, Councilor Michael had to ask the city manager during an open meeting why no work had been done to get this process going, a boot that pushed the city to draw up applications for the committee.
Who is on the Committee?
The City of Grants is assembling a team of local academics to tackle this revision process.
The Charter Advisory Committee is a board with seven seats. One seat is designated for one person from each of the four city council districts, so each district has at least one member. Three seats are at-large, this means these seats can have members from any of the council districts.
District One does not currently have a representative; the seat is vacant.
Representing District Two, Thomas McGaghie, retired from New Mexico State University-Grants.
Representing District Three, Brian Johnson of NMSU-Grants.
Representing District Four, Carol Peterson, retired from Grants High School.
The first at-large member is Ray Clemmons, retired as director of Grants-Milan Airport.
The second at-large member is Reyes Jaramillo, principal of Los Alamitos Middle School.
The third at-large seat is currently vacant.
The Charter Advisory Committee will stand for only eight more months, as it must finish its work by September 28 when it will step down by law. This is because the resolution passed by the city council in September 2022 allows the committee to stay working for only one year, the resolution is 22-1775.
As of press time, the city was still looking for members. Interested residents can contact Grants City Hall at 505- 2877927 to inquire about board applications. To be considered for this position, the applicant must be a Grants city resident. This is an unpaid board.
Charter Crisis
The Grants City Charter is a document that guides and restricts the government of the City of Grants. It specifies how certain things are to be ran, in particular it limits the mayor’s powers and simultaneously the city council’s powers to make sure that neither branch of local government becomes too powerful and runs over the wishes of the collective city. The charter does this by including the Grants City Clerk and Grants Municipal Judge, and the Grants City Attorney in a series of mandates that puts checks on each branch of the local government. Primarily, the charter requires that the citizens of the city have the maximum amount of control over their local government while simultaneously protecting the laws and rules of the city.
A provision in the preamble of the current city to set term limits on locally elected officials including the mayor, city councilors, and the municipal judge. In 2017 when running for her third term as Grants’ Municipal Judge, Elise Larson challenged the validity of the charter. Larson’s complaint was simple: The NM Constitution prohibits term limitations for elected officials, the charter cannot prohibit term limits.
Larson won her battle, and after being ordered by a judge to update the charter, the city appeared to be heading in a direction that was in-line with state law. In February of 2020 – just before the COVID-19 shutdowns began – the Grants City Council passed an ordinance which repealed the term limitation phrasing. This decision by the council would prove to be controversial, creating many cracks in the foundation of the government. Infighting within the city council led to a message being read before every meeting, “The City of Grants is not in compliance with the city charter.” Outof- compliance because the preamble demands any changes to the charter be made in an election.
The COVID-19 pandemic would only further escalate tensions in the city’s governing chambers.
Since taking over, the current city council is pushing to rewrite, strengthen, and bring the city’s governing document back into compliance. This effort, spearheaded by Councilwoman Michael, will be completed no later than September 28, giving the council time to approve the changes and send the new charter to citizens for a vote in 2024.
The next meeting of the Charter Advisory Committee, where members are expected to begin work, will be at 3 p.m. on February 9 at the City Hall Council Chambers, 600 W. Santa Fe Avenue.