GRANTS, N.M. — To the tune of nearly $1 million over 10 years, the Cibola Communities Economic Development Foundation (CCEDF), the entity tasked with being the economic driver of Cibola County, is now at a self-admitted risk of losing its nonprofit status; at the same time, it has not updated its bylaws in 10 years, and, as of publication, has once again lost its executive director.
On the morning ofApril 23, in a small conference room in Grants, New Mexico, tucked away on Roosevelt Avenue, CCEDF gathered to chart its future. Instead, the meeting proved that the Foundation — once entrusted with guiding Cibola County’s economy — is now a broken institution struggling to govern itself.
Financial reports were incomplete. Tax filings had been neglected for years. Board members openly questioned each other’s integrity. Votes were taken amid procedural confusion. Long-simmering personal feuds erupted into public view.
After receiving more than $822,000 in taxpayer funding over the last decade from Cibola County, the City of Grants, and the Village of Milan, CCEDF today stands without a clear mission, without functioning leadership, and without the trust of many of the businesses and public entities it was supposed to serve.
The information in this story comes from a recording from inside the boardroom, obtained by the Cibola Citizen. The Collapse of the Economic Development Foundation
The April 23 meeting, which lasted over three hours, was supposed to bring order to CCEDF’s growing dysfunction. The board was intending to adopt new bylaws and establish a working structure for the entity.
Instead, the entity unraveled.
Early in the meeting, routine business was stalled as members realized that last month’s minutes had not been properly prepared. The board had to table their meeting minutes, there was no argument at this point, but leadership acknowledged that the administration failed to have the minutes properly prepared.
The first big order of business was the bylaws, but the board president asked to push this later in the meeting because not all members were present.
Financial Questions
Then came the financial report. There was confusion around trips the entity paid for, one of those trips was for newlyelected Cibola County Treasurer JoAnne Martinez to attend a trade fair. This line item caused confusion because it appeared to be improperly budgeted. This confusion led to a question from Vice President Clemente Sanchez who asked, “We approved the budget like this?”
The business manager informed the board that they did approve this budget. She said that there is a separate budget for travel and sending representatives to conferences or conventions. “I anticipated as much I could,” she told the board. “But I didn’t know about JoAnne’s trip.”
A female board member can be heard asking about the specifics of the trip, and if it was actually used for bringing businesses to the community, the business administrator was not able to answer this question.
Board President Robert Castillo said he has not had the opportunity to work with the administration to correct the finances.
Improper Payments
A board member whose voice could not be identified in the recording asked about payments for cleaning the CCEDF building.
An argument erupted when this question was asked.
“It could be removed, or eliminated quite clearly,” Castillo said, “We could pay [the office manager] to do it.”
Mayor Erik Garcia speaks up, asking Cibola County Commissioner Ralph Lucero, “I thought that was your job?”
The office manager said he does not clean the building; he does the weeds. And they look to protect the building from homeless people. “If [Commissioner Lucero] happens to come by, he cleans up; if [another contractor] happens to come by, she cleans up.”
Until this December, Commissioner Lucero and [the other contractor] were being paid hourly for their work. Commissioner Lucero admits this in the recording, sometimes $75 an hour, more recently $30 an hour. As of December, the commissioner is now a contractor and not an hourly employee of CCEDF.
Castillo said he would look at the details and present a comprehensive plan.
The mayor then questioned another payment from August, when a former executive director of CCEDF was sent to a conference in Atlanta. In the meeting, the business manager explains that the New Mexico Northwest Council of Governments did not pay the invoice that CCEDF sent them to cover the cost of this travel, hotel, and food that CCEDF paid for.
PositivePay
Board members also learned that thousands of dollars in potential bank interest earnings had been lost due to poorly managed banking arrangements. Meanwhile, basic financial controls — like separating travel reimbursement funds from operating budgets — had not been properly maintained.
CCEDF was placed on PositivePay after a cyber attack hit the Cibola Communities Economic Development Foundation. Fraud had been occurring for several months at CCEDF before anyone found it. TBK bank placed CCEDF in PositivePay to help fix the issue, but they began losing interest.
An argument broke out because line items on the budget showed $83 in interest a month from their accounts, when it used to be $1,000.
Asset Sheet
Mayor Garcia then pointed out that the very building they were in, 1015 E. Roosevelt Ave., was not on the asset sheet of the CCEDF.
Losing Non-Profit Status Because of Failure to File Taxes President Castillo revealed that CCEDF had not filed its required IRS Form 990 nonprofit tax returns for at least four consecutive years — a violation that puts the Foundation’s legal nonprofit status at risk.
“Why [haven’t we filed taxes]?” Mayor Garcia asked President Castillo.
“Ask our accountants,” Castillo said. “The board should know we’re behind on those. I will have a better report next meeting.”
The manager said, “this has been reported to you over time.”
“I don’t remember hearing this,” a female board member’s voice is heard saying.
Vice President Clemente Sanchez told the board, “The 990s need to be done because we are at risk of losing our nonprofit status.”
The business manager then said, “We are lucky we haven’t received any letters from IRS.”
Amending the Bylaws
After arguments over financials, the board moved to bylaws.
A new set of bylaws was recently presented to the board by their newly hired executive director Steve Urban.
“Are we going to move on to the bylaws, now that Marlene [Toivanen, President of New Mexico State University] is here?” A female voice asks.
“If that’s what the board would like,” President Castillo said with reservation clearly heard in his voice.
“We voted on it,” Mayor Garcia said.
“I thought you may have changed your mind by now,” Castillo rebuffed.
“Why would I have changed my mind by now?” Mayor Garcia asked.
“I don’t know you do that a lot,” Castillo remarked.
A female gasp is audibly heard in the background with another whisper, “oh my gosh” in the back.
Castillo then asks for a motion and a second to begin conversations about the bylaws; the board had already approved the agenda which included discussion about amending the bylaws.
“Robert’s Rules of Order, sir. The board has already vote on it, so it moves to the item,” the mayor pointed out to President Castillo.
“I did not vote. The board voted.” Castillo remarked with authority.
“But you’re the chair.” Tensions boiled and voices are heard speaking over each other in the recording.
Finally, without requiring a motion or second, Castillo says, “the floor is open for discussion.”
A motion was made to approve new bylaws presented by the executive director who the board had hired just weeks earlier.
“No.” Sanchez said, “Are you calling for a vote?”
“I didn’t call for—” Castillo was cut off as Mayor Garcia explains Robert’s Rules of Order.
“A member made a motion – Robert’s Rules of Order, it goes; you call for a second. I made a second.”
Confusion about Robert’s Rules of Order rang out in the boardroom through confused discussions about which bylaws the entity is currently operating under.
Sanchez said that there is a committee for the bylaws – Sanchez, Castillo, former Village of Milan Trustee Vivian Brumbelow, and Marlene Toivanen from NMSU-Grants. He argued that the executive director has never before presented bylaws to the board.
A shouting match began between Sanchez and a female member.
“In an effort to maintain control you are willing to waste time so that no one can move forward and do anything?” the female member accused Sanchez.
“I’m going off of what the board did last meeting,” he said.
“We don’t have time to be jacking around,” the female member said. “You are dragging this out. Without money we can’t do anything.”
Then, attitudes boiled over and the two began shouting at each other.
“Point of order,” Mayor Garcia called, a parliamentary rule to refocus the discussion, “We’re talking about the bylaws.” Castillo remarked that the insults were the discussion.
Then, as the shouting grew louder, Castillo said, “I think I’m starting to agree with the mayor. We need to get back to discussing the bylaws.”
“The organization is going to be bled dry by the refusal to move forward,” the female voice said.
A male voice remarked that the bylaw committee has been working for a month and that has not produced anything. He said that as a business owner, he can’t believe they haven’t moved on the bylaws.
“We have bylaws on the table, I think we need to move forward.” The man, whose voice could not be distinguished in the recording, said.
A woman, potentially Marlene Toivanen, said that the bylaws presented and motioned on do not have protections for CCEDF’s assets, and she wants a lawyer to look at the bylaws. She called it a good foundation but said it needs to be expanded.
The meeting descended into a shouting match over voting rights, with board members arguing about whether Ralph Lucero — Cibola County’s representative — was allowed to vote after a prior board vote in July 2024 had stripped his voting rights due to the county's lack of funding for the fiscal year. Despite no formal motion to reinstate him, Lucero was permitted to vote on key matters.
As board member after board member expressed frustration at the state of the Foundation.
'The organization is going to continue to get bled dry because of the refusal to move forward,' one male board member said.
The mayor added, bluntly, 'I guess what's the end game? Where's economic development going? It's going nowhere very quickly.'
Discussion pivoted again to who can vote. Cibola County Commissioner Lucero began to say that Erik Garcia, who was approved by the Grants City Council to represent the city in CCEDF meetings, was not allowed to vote.
“I have not voted in the last year and a half because the county does not pay any money to this organization. If you go back and look, the city and the village have not paid a single penny to this organization.”
Lucero was not wrong when he made this statement. The county stopped funding the way it had traditionally been, with an allocation and a guarantee of funding. Because CCEDF was failing to properly file taxes and ensure their money was being used responsibly, the county commission, which Lucero is a part of, voted to stop funding CCEDF: When reviewing voting records, Lucero voted to fund CCEDF at the county, he stood alone.
The City of Grants and the Village of Milan approved money that can be billed for.
Mayor Garcia became angry. “How much in reimbursements has our city approved? I'm like, how much reimbursements has the director and the secretary and everybody been doing? At the city – I was there Ralph – we allocated $40,000 for you guys to use for this physical year. It's available have you gone to get it, Mr. president? Have you applied for it? So, that means that we approved three voting members, Ralph. You haven't even had the discussion in your county as such. So, we have three both call a lawyer.”
Sanchez said that based on the 2012 bylaws, the city, the village, and the county have two votes no matter what.
“Mr. Chair, why have you allowed the city to be here and waste our time? We have voting stock and that’s it. Legally.” Garcia said.
“We allow anybody to waste their time anytime they want. I can’t dictate to you whether you waste your time or not.” Castillo said, “We are trying to be respectful of our city fathers and allow the city to participate in hopes that the city will come to its sense and pay its dues.”
“Do you understand how the city pays?”
“I understand that you are not paying, that’s all I understand.”
“Okay, well then you are ignorant sir, because there is a system to how government pays organizations.”
“I am totally ignorant to how you operate as a mayor,” Castillo said.
Several women begin to speak over each other.
A point of order was made to re-direct to the motion on the table. The motion was amended to update parts of the new bylaws, pending attorney review with amendments made as necessary.
The motion created confusion. Castillo continued asking if this meant they were approving the 2012 bylaws.
Sanchez makes a substitute motion to allow the executive director to work on the bylaws. More arguments over Robert’s Rules of Orders began to take place.
Castillo then asks for the motion to be repeated, “because I’d like to hear it again for your brain to understand; to make sure you are understanding what everyone else is understanding. And, before we begin, Ralph [Lucero, Cibola County Commissioner] you will be allowed to vote.”
“Man, you guys are dirty. Ralph [Lucero, County Commissioner] has never voted in anything prior to this,” Mayor Garcia said.
“And he should have been,” Vice President Sanchez said. “This is what governs us.”
A female voice then remarked that CCEDF hasn’t been following those 2012 bylaws, and then with a laugh she is heard saying, “So now we’re going to follow the rules?”
Adifferent woman says, “We decided as a board that [County Commissioner Ralph Lucero] does not have a vote?”
Sanchez says, while a different male is laughing in the background, “well we were wrong, we erred. This is what we are governed by.”
“That’s where I’m confused, if we took away [his voting rights], how do we just bring it back to make it convenient or to inconvenience someone? That doesn’t seem right.” A female voice says.
“This board did err, it discriminated against the county by not allowing them to vote and allowing the city to continue voting.” Castillo said.
The woman said that the whole board took a vote and said that Lucero does not have the right.
“My opinion is that if no one is funding than no one should be voting. If everyone is going to be allowed to vote and they don’t fund, then I should be allowed to vote. No one is providing the money, whether you approved the money or didn’t approve the money is not the issue because the money is not coming,” Commissioner Lucero said.
“The thing is, we’re confused because we’re going off of proposals that we have, we [have to] determine who can vote,” Sanchez said.
A woman said, “I have been on this board for two years and we have never operated off of those 2012 bylaws.”
A man said, “A president is supposed to know the bylaws and uphold them, correct?”
Castillo said, “I have the same responsibility you have as a board member.”
Board members began to question the president about actions he took as president to remove bylaws discussion from the agenda. President Castillo had no idea what they were talking about, Vice President Sanchez stepped in and took responsibility because, “Robert was on vacation.”
Sanchez said that he removed it, “because we have a committee to work on these bylaws.”
“Again, how many times has the committee met?” The woman asked, “I’m not going to explain that again, I’ve told you. And I sent an email to [Steve Urban] about setting up a meeting with the committee, I didn’t hear anything back.
Roberts Rules of Orders erupted again, for the third time, the motion is read to approve the bylaws with an amendment that assets will be listed in the bylaws and remove the executive director as a tie breaker, with approval pending attorney review.
Castillo called for a vote, first by voice, then asked for a show of hands. When the vote for “no votes” was called, Commissioner Ralph Lucero raised his hands.
This created a firestorm in the meeting room.
Arguments over who could vote began to erupt, and one female board member accused President Castillo, Executive Director of the Continental Divide Electric Cooperative of not even living in Cibola County. Several accusations were made.
There was a 5-5 tie about the bylaws. The Village of Milan, the City of Grants, each pay into Cibola Communities Economic Development Foundation; Cibola County government does not.
“What is the endgame? Where is Economic Development going? It’s been going this way for a very long time,” a female voice said.
“I want solutions,” Castillo said. “The solution here is getting you off the board,” Mayor Garcia remarked. “We really want to move forward, and the bottleneck is you and Mr. Clemente.”
“How am I a bottleneck? Where am I a bottleneck?” Sanchez asked.
“It’s been like this for a long time, no that we have a new director who has enthusiasm to get stuff done, it seems, as business owners, that the team you guys have up here is just lacking skillset.”
“You’re a government employee, not a business owner,” Castillo quipped to the mayor who owns several business fronts.
“See, sir, you’re incompetent. I am a business owner, and I have been a business owner for 10 years,” Garcia said.
“How long have you been the mayor?” Castillo said, “Talk about incompetent, look at the mayor.”
A female board member broke into the insults and asked who in this room wants Commissioner Lucero to vote.
“Then we need a motion to see if the city should have the right to vote,” Castillo argued.
Sanchez then pulled the 2012 bylaws and explained that the way he reads the current rules is that the county gets two votes, the village gets two votes, and the city gets two votes.
A new motion was made, ordering: by Tuesday, April 29, the bylaws be ready.
The male who made the motion said that he does not want to wait another week, or let another month go by without proper bylaws. He said that Sanchez needs to get the bylaws committee working.
“You don’t tell me what to do. I don’t know who you think you are.” Sanchez yelled across the table. A second to the motion is given.
Copies of the 2012 bylaws had to be printed out for the board as members did not have them nor were they familiar with the text inside of it. Together, they read the section about representation.
They determined that by the 2012 bylaws, representation would consist of: two representatives from the City of Grants, two from the Village of Milan, and two from Cibola County (but only one member from the county was present). Arguments persisted about funding, Commissioner Lucero argued that it wouldn’t be right since the City and the Village don’t give direct full checks to CCEDF and require them to provide receipts for the funding, they do not deserve votes.
Sanchez said that funding does not determine seats on the board. A female told him, “I disagree with that,” another woman read from the bylaws: “The total number of members of the board of directors will be determined by their financial contributions.”
Sanchez disagreed that for every $20,000 you get one more seat. He said “You could give $1 million and only have two voting seats.” This created significant confusion among the members, as at one point the City of Grants had three members serving on CCEDF at the cost of $40,000 a year.
“We might have, I don’t remember,” Vice President Sanchez said. “Can we go back to the thing that no one is paying anyway.”
This period of the meeting was marked by significant periods of silence as members struggled to move forward.
“I don’t know, can we make a decision?” Lucero asked.
For the second read, the new motion was read. Have the bylaws complete by Tuesday, subject of attorney review.
There was concern from a female board member that if the president sends the bylaws to the attorney, he may change the wording. She said that she would prefer the executive director to submit the bylaws not President Castillo.
Castillo said he would speak to the attorney and then the board could speak to the attorney after that. Castillo said that the attorney has already looked over the 2012 bylaws on behalf of Continental Divide Electric Cooperative.
By voice vote, the board agreed unanimously to send bylaws for attorney review.
A Board Without Control
The April meeting made one fact unmistakably clear: CCEDF’s board no longer controls the organization.
Basic principles, like how taxpayer dollars are spent and exactly what role is responsible for what part of developing the economy in Cibola, are not even written down and have been enforced since 2012 wantonly.
• Voting rights were enforced inconsistently and politically.
• Basic governance standards, including Robert’s Rules of Order, were ignored or misunderstood.
• Leadership roles, including that of the Board President, were openly called into question.
• Several board members said they no longer had confidence that the Foundation could manage public resources responsibly without sweeping structural changes.
By the end of the meeting, members had only narrowly voted to provisionally adopt new bylaws — and even that decision was mired in accusations of procedural manipulation, improper voting, and concerns about legal liability.
Taxpayer Dollars Support CCEDF
Through Inspection of Public Records Act (IPRA) requests filed with the City of Grants, the Village of Milan, and Cibola County, the Cibola Citizen obtained government payment histories showing how much taxpayer money has been given to the Cibola Communities Economic Development Foundation (EDF) over the past decade.
This financial information was not available through EDF itself and had to be requested directly from each government entity.
To help understand these payments, until 2018 when Kate Fletcher became Cibola County Manager, nonprofits were handed a check with the full amount of funding they requested. After Fletcher and the county changed how they pay nonprofits, the other government agencies followed suit. CCEDF, like all other nonprofits seeking funding from Grants, Milan, or Cibola County must provide receipts and “actuals” (actual examples of their work) in order to receive the taxpayer dollars.
City of Grants:
Between 2019 and 2023, the City of Grants paid CCEDF a total of $156,500, with funding varying by year. These funds were typically allocated through the city’s general fund. The City of Grants has been critical of CCEDF. The current city council with Erik Garcia presiding as mayor has approved $40,000 in funding for CCEDF. They must request the funding through the city with actual receipts in order to be paid.
Village of Milan:
From 2014 to 2020, the Village of Milan paid EDF a total of $126,370. Milan’s funding was often tied to annual agreements but slowed and ultimately stopped as concerns grew over EDF’s financial reporting and operational effectiveness. Milan, like Grants and Cibola County, grew concerned about potential misuse of taxpayer dollars, and changed the system so nonprofits can only get paid if they show actual “deliverables”.
Cibola County:
Between 2015 and 2023, Cibola County contributed $539,500 to EDF. However, beginning around 2020, the County Commission became increasingly critical of EDF’s operations, eventually voting to suspend ongoing funding due to concerns over missing tax filings, limited reporting, and accountability problems. Today, Cibola County is incredibly selective of entities it funds, with very strict reporting requirements. Cibola County attempted to support CCEDF and even tried helping them to file their reports so it would be done correctly, and they could receive funding. Instead CEDF staff have been hostile to government employees, as has been discussed in public meetings.
Adding these amounts together, at least $822,370 in public money has been directed to EDF from these three entities alone in the last 10 years. This is not the total amount of taxpayer dollars given to CCEDF by the local governments, it is nearly a snapshot that does not include funding from the Grants-Cibola County School District.
Each of these public payments was intended to help CCEDF serve as a regional economic engine for the people of Cibola County.
In the end, what remains is a taxpayer- funded organization off adrift — one that has lost the confidence of its partners, its leadership, and the people it is meant to serve.