At the onset of every City of Grants Council meeting, Mayor Martin “Modey” Hicks declares that the city is not in compliance with their charter. What exactly does that mean?
Well, it’s a little complicated, and we’ll get there if you stick with us.
First, we need to understand what a charter is.
A charter can be a couple of things: a set of instructions, like you’d find in a recipe book; a tool that declares the formation of a “thing” like a city or company, with defined boundaries and rules for the leaders of that “thing.”
In public government a charter is your blueprint for how things should be operating. In the exact same fashion, the city charter establishes first: the city is Home Rule, meaning it has more autonomy than most other municipalities in New Mexico; then it goes on to establish how the government will be formed, discussing the number of councilors and the process of electing them and the mayor.
Article three of the charter explains the relationship between the mayor and city manager, and their responsibilities to the people of the City of Grants; article four explains the duties and election of the municipal judge – this was a big point of contention in 2018, when Judge Elise Larson won her third term even though the charter said that this was not allowed, but state law declared that it was legal.
Article five deals with the city departments and advisory committees in the city; Article six deals with the financial responsibilities and record keeping; Article six deals with all record keeping for the city; Article seven deals with elections of officers and bonds; Article eight explains conflicts of interest and the ethics of holding office. The final article, number nine, deals with the city’s compliance with the charter.
In the coming weeks we will explore the charter and its complexities. For now though, the big take away is that the charter is what establishes the city and lays the groundwork for the formation of the government. It spells out rules and restrictions for how local law can be created or changed.
It demands transparency from the ruling government.