CIBOLA COUNTY, N.M. – A change in local leadership may be coming to Cibola County as local seats go up for election.
The 2025 Regular Local Election, will take place on Tuesday, November 4, 2025. Voters in the City of Grants, the Village of Milan, and the Grants-Cibola County Schools Board will be asked to choose new leadership this fall, with a number of municipal and educational positions up for election.
According to the New Mexico Secretary of State’s Office, candidate filing day for all local offices is scheduled for Tuesday, August 26, 2025, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., at the Cibola County Clerk’s Office. Declarations of candidacy must be submitted in person during that window. The deadline for write-in candidates is Tuesday, September 2, 2025, during the same hours.
Grants to Elect Two City Councilors
The City of Grants adopted Resolution 251895 in June to formally opt into the election cycle outlined in New Mexico’s Local Election Act. Two City Council seats are up for grabs:
• District 1 – currently held by Councilor Fred Rodarte
• District 3 – currently held by Councilor Zachery Gutierrez Councilor Gutierrez was appointed in 2024 to fill the seat vacated by Erik Garcia, who previously represented District 3 before being elected mayor. If he decides to retain the seat, it will be Gutierrez’s first time appearing on the ballot.
Both council positions carry four-year terms.
Election Day voting in Grants will take place at the Cibola County Clerk’s Office, located at the Old County Building, and at other countywide polling locations. Voting hours are from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Village of Milan Mayor, Trustees, and Judge on the Ballot
The Village of Milan will also hold its local election on November 4. Resolution 2025-023, passed by the Village Trustees, confirms four positions on the ballot:
• Mayor – currently held by Felix Gonzales
• Trustee – currently held by Chris Archuleta
• Trustee – currently held by James Mercer
• Municipal Judge – currently held by Willie Jaramillo The mayor and trustee terms are for four years, while the municipal judge seat is for a two-year term. Candidate filing and writein deadlines mirror those of other local offices.
Grants Cibola County School Board Election Includes Three Seats, Tax Question
The Grants-Cibola County Schools Board will have three of its five districts up for election this fall, according to a notice sent by Superintendent Max Perez to the county clerk. The seats include:
• District 1 – Emily Hunt-Dailey
• District 2 – T. Walter Jaramillo
• District 3 – Ron Ortiz
• Property Tax Question All three positions are four-year terms. In addition to board elections, the school district will also place a Capital Improvements Tax Question on the ballot. This funding mechanism, if approved, would continue to provide revenue for infrastructure and maintenance at district schools.
The property tax question is going to ask residents:
“Shall the Board of Education of the Grants Cibola County School District No. 1, County of Cibola, New Mexico, be authorized to continue the Public School Capital Improvements Tax at the rate of $2.00 per each $1,000.00 of net taxable value for property within the District under the Property Tax Code which includes residential, nonresidential for the property tax years 2027, 2028, 2029, 2030, 2031 and 2032 for the purpose of: A. erecting, remodeling, making additions to, providing equipment for or furnishing public school buildings, including teacher housing and pre-kindergarten classroom facilities; B. purchasing or improving public school or pre-kindergarten grounds; C. maintenance of public school buildings, including teacher housing, or public school or pre-kindergarten grounds, including the purchasing or repairing of maintenance equipment and participating in the facility information management system as required by the Public School Capital Outlay Act [Chapter 22, Article 24 NMSA 1978] and including payments under contracts with regional education cooperatives for maintenance support services and expenditures for technical training and certification for maintenance and facilities management personnel, but excluding salary expenses of school district employees; D. purchasing activity vehicles for transporting students to extracurricular school activities; E. purchasing computer software and hardware for student use in public school classrooms; and, F. purchasing and installing education technology improvements, excluding salary expenses of school district employees, but including tools used in the educational process that constitute learning and administrative resources, and that may also include: (1) satellite, copper and fiber-optic transmission; computer and network connection devices; digital communication equipment, including voice, video and data equipment; servers; switches; portable media devices, such as discs and drives to contain data for electronic storage and playback; and the purchase or lease of software licenses or other technologies and services, maintenance, equipment and computer infrastructure information, techniques and tools used to implement technology in schools and related facilities; and (2) improvements, alterations and modifications to, or expansions of, existing buildings or tangible personal property necessary or advisable to house or otherwise accommodate any of the tools listed in this subsection.
☐ FOR the capital improvements tax
☐ AGAINST the capital improvements tax”
This question will be asking for Cibola County property owners to pay $2 per $1,000 they get taxed to the school district. This would be a continuation of an ongoing tax, not a new tax.
Why Grants and Milan Elections Won’t Be in March
Voters in the City of Grants and the Village of Milan might notice something unusual this election cycle: their local elections won’t take place in March, as many have come to expect. Instead, both municipalities will now hold their local elections during the Regular Local Election, which is scheduled statewide for Tuesday, November 4, 2025.
This shift comes as part of a provision in New Mexico law that allows cities and villages to opt in to the Regular Local Election system. Under Section 1-22-3.1(B) of the New Mexico Statutes, any municipality can choose to move its local elections to the November ballot by passing an ordinance and filing it with the Secretary of State no later than June 30 of the year prior to the election. (The seats up for election listed in this newspaper have been transmitted to the Cibola County Clerk in accordance with requirements.) This change was intended by state legislators to streamline elections and consolidate them with other races on the state ballot, potentially improving voter turnout and reducing costs/labor burden on municipal (city/village) clerks.
Going forward, local elections in both Grants and Milan will be held in November rather than March, unless the city or village decides to reverse course in a future election cycle.
The 2026 Midterms
While 2025’s election covers municipal and school board races, Cibola County elections—including the Board of County Commissioners— will take place in 2026 during the national midterm elections. State legislative, gubernatorial, and federal elections are also expected next year.
In 2026, the City of Grants will be electing the positions of mayor and two councilor seats. Other positions like Municipal Court Judge will be up for election.
For more information about the 2025 election cycle, candidate forms, or polling locations, residents can contact the Cibola County Clerk’s Office or visit NMVote.org.