Lawsuit comes as council prepares to consider Mervin Victorino appointment to vacant District 1 seat
GRANTS, N.M. – Cibola County Assessor Dolores Vallejos, who was removed from the Grants City Council after the governing body found she violated the City Charter’s prohibition on holding another elected public office, has sued the City of Grants, arguing the city lacked authority to remove her without a court process.
Her suit challenges the city’s authority to enforce its Charter’s dual-office rule through council action rather than through a court proceeding.
The lawsuit was filed July 16 in Thirteenth Judicial District Court in Cibola County. The verified complaint names Vallejos as plaintiff and the City of Grants as defendant. The lawsuit is under case number D-1333-CV-202600210.
The complaint comes one day before Grants City Council is scheduled to consider Mayor Erik Garcia’s appointment of Mervin Victorino to the vacant District 1 seat at its July 29 meeting.
Victorino, an Allsup’s manager on Roosevelt Avenue and a District 1 resident, was appointed by the mayor earlier this month. Council confirmation is required before he can serve.
The seat has been vacant since March 11, when the Grants City Council found Vallejos met the Charter’s residency requirement after questions about where she lived, but violated Section 8.02 of the Grants City Charter because she continued to serve as Cibola County Assessor while also serving as a city councilor. The Grants City Charter, which was approved by the voters of the city, explicitly states that a city councilor shall not hold other elected offices while serving the city.
Section 8.02(A) states: “Except as authorized by state law, no elected officer of the City shall hold any other elected public office during the term for which the official was elected.”
The council’s March 11 vote did not overturn the November election results. Vallejos won the District 1 race by three votes, 133 to 130, over incumbent Zachery Gutierrez. Bob Tenequer also ran in the race.
Instead, the March 11 proceeding focused on whether Vallejos was qualified to continue holding the office under the Grants City Charter after she had already been sworn in.
Council Found Residency Met, Dual Office Violated
The March 11 hearing followed months of questions over Vallejos’ eligibility.
After the November election, Mayor Erik Garcia raised concerns about whether Vallejos lived in District 1. Vallejos told the Cibola Citizen she had changed her voter registration to her mother’s Del Norte Boulevard address for caregiving and medical reasons and said she spent most of her time caring for her mother, who has dementia.
At the March 11 hearing, the council found Vallejos met the residency requirement at the time she filed and continued to meet it.
The council then turned to the Charter’s dual-office rule.
Vallejos was serving as Cibola County Assessor at the same time she had taken the District 1 council seat. She holds the office of Cibola County Assessor today. During the hearing, she argued the issue should have been raised earlier because city officials and the public knew she was county assessor when she ran for council.
She also argued the Charter’s wording should not apply to her because she had already been elected county assessor before beginning her council term.
At the same March 11 meeting, Councilor Beverly Michael asked Vallejos whether she had considered resigning from the assessor’s office to be in compliance with the Grants City Charter. Vallejos said she did not intend to resign from the county office, which had roughly nine months remaining in its term.
The council then voted 2–0 among voting members to find Vallejos held another elected public office during her council term and was in violation of the Charter. Vallejos abstained because the matter concerned her eligibility. Councilor Fred Rodarte was absent, leaving only Michael and Mayor Pro Tem George Garcia to vote on the eligibility questions.
After the vote, Vallejos was asked to step away from the dais. The city has since treated the District 1 seat as vacant.
What Vallejos Alleges
In her new lawsuit, Vallejos does not dispute that the City Council found she violated the dual-office provision. Instead, she challenges whether the city had legal authority to remove her through a council vote rather than through court proceedings for the violation.
The complaint alleges the city violated New Mexico statutory removal procedures, deprived Vallejos of due process under state and federal law, and violated her rights under the New Mexico Constitution.
Vallejos alleges she was “unlawfully removed” from her elected position through city council action on or about March 11. Vallejos’ legal complaint states that no complaint was filed in District Court seeking her removal, no court hearing was held to determine whether removal was necessary or proper, and she was not afforded notice of a judicial hearing before removal.
Her complaint argues that New Mexico law requires court proceedings before an elected municipal officer may be removed from office. It cites state law dealing with removal for malfeasance in office and argues the city did not follow that process.
The city’s position at the March 11 hearing, based on the council’s action, was that the Charter itself made the council the judge of its members’ qualifications and that failure to meet Charter qualifications created an automatic forfeiture of office.
The legal question now before the court is whether that Charter process was enough, or whether state law required the city to go to District Court before Vallejos’ seat could be considered vacant.
Complaint Challenges Charter Rule as Applied
The lawsuit also challenges the city’s use of the dual-office rule itself.
Vallejos argues the city improperly enforced Section 8.02 as an additional qualification for elective office. Her complaint claims New Mexico law allows a qualified voter to hold municipal elective office if that person satisfies the residency requirement and argues the City Charter provision was unconstitutional as applied to her.
That argument goes directly to the rule the council relied on in the March 11 meeting. The Charter rule is written broadly. It prohibits a city elected officer from holding “any other elected public office” during the term unless authorized by state law.
At the March 11 hearing, Mayor Pro Tem George Garcia said he did not see state law clearly authorizing Vallejos to hold both offices. Michael also said she believed the Charter language remained enforceable. Rodarte was not present and has not commented on the matter publicly.
Vallejos’ lawsuit asks the court to find the city’s enforcement of Section 8.02 unlawful as applied to her.
Damages and Relief Sought
Vallejos is seeking declaratory relief, damages and any other relief the court finds appropriate.
The complaint says she suffered economic loss, emotional distress, damage to her reputation, humiliation and embarrassment. It also alleges she lost salary and benefits tied to the office, along with the authority and opportunity to complete the term to which she had been elected.
Vallejos is also seeking punitive damages, attorney fees and court costs. The complaint includes a demand for a jury trial.
As of press time, the City of Grants had not filed an answer in the case.
District 1 Vacancy and Victorino Appointment
The lawsuit arrives as the City of Grants is preparing to consider another appointment to the same District 1 seat.
The Charter says that when a city council seat becomes vacant, the mayor shall appoint a qualified successor, subject to confirmation by the governing body. The appointee serves until the next regular municipal election for that position.
After Vallejos was removed, Mayor Garcia first nominated Tannin Cash, a local business owner and Delta Tire CEO, to fill the seat. That appointment did not move forward after no councilor made a motion to approve or deny the appointment.
Earlier this month, Garcia appointed Mervin Victorino.
Victorino, 49, is from the Pueblo of Acoma, graduated from Grants High School in 1995 and currently manages the Allsup’s on Roosevelt Avenue. He told the Citizen he lives in Valencia Village inside District 1 and has lived in Grants for about seven years.
Victorino said Garcia approached him about the appointment and that he asked for time to speak with his family before agreeing to be considered.
“I’ve never had a position like that in my life,” Victorino said in an earlier interview. “I want to make sure I’m the right guy. Not just, ‘Here’s this guy. Let’s go ask him.’ I’m okay with it. I’m down. I’m a quick learner.”
If confirmed, Victorino would fill the seat while the lawsuit over Vallejos’ removal moves through court.
Larger Charter Crisis Continues
The lawsuit is the latest development in a broader Grants Charter crisis that has been unfolding since the November 2025 election.
The city has faced questions over residency requirements, the dual-office rule, how vacancies should be filled, how Charter amendments must be approved and whether Grants properly moved its municipal elections from March even-year elections to the November regular local election schedule.
The Charter states that the regular municipal election shall be held on the first Tuesday in March of each even-numbered year. Grants did not hold a municipal election on March 3, 2026, after the city relied on prior ordinances moving elections to the November regular local election cycle.
Former Mayor Martin Hicks has also filed lawsuits challenging the city’s handling of the Charter and election schedule.
The City Council has discussed sending proposed Charter amendments to voters this year, including questions involving term limits, municipal judge authority and whether city elected officials should be allowed to hold another public office while serving.
For now, the most immediate question is whether District 1 will have a council representative after July 29.
The larger question – whether the city’s March 11 action was legally valid – is now before the court.
The Cibola Citizen will continue following the court case and the council’s action on the District 1 appointment.