CITY OF GRANTS, N.M. – The City of Grants Charter is a document that restricts the abilities of the local government, while establishing that government. The charter is not a document that gives any power to the city, but instead limits what it can do. The 32-page charter can be confusing, so this week we will explore the actual government and the restrictions on its powers.
In the last few weeks, we explored what a charter is, then we explored the Preamble and Article One. This week’s focus – Article Two – deals with governing body of the city; it has 13 sections.
ARTICLE II: GOVERNING BODY
Section One: Corporate Authority; Composition; General Powers
This article is composed of three clauses. The first invests the corporate powers of the city to a council of four members, and a mayor to preside over their work. Essentially, this clause establishes a city council and declares that a mayor will lead that council.
The second clause gives all powers that are not specifically denied to the council, to the council. This allows the council to organize and run the city like a business so long as they stay within the restrictions of the charter and other applicable law.
The third clause declares that the mayor and councilors are ultimately responsible for ensuring the sanctity of the charter. Any violations or failures to comply must rest on their shoulders.
Section Two: Election; Residency; Terms
This section is comprised of five clauses, with the final one constructed of two sub-causes.
Known as the Election Clause, this first part of section two declares that the city council will have four councilors elected from four separate districts – it does not designate districts – and that the mayor will be elected at-large, or by all the people from each of the districts. This charter also establishes that candidates must meet all the qualifications outlined by the State of New Mexico and the rest of the charter to run for office.
The second, the Residence Clause, ensures two things: First, any person wishing to run for council must live in the district they are running for; candidates for mayor must live within the borders of the city. Second, all councilors and the mayor must continue living in their respective boundaries throughout their term in office.
The Terms Clause fills the third slot, establishing that councilors and the mayor will be elected to fouryear terms, and that councilors will be elected in staggered terms. This means that two councilors were elected in 2019, two more councilors will have elections in 2021, and the councilors from ’19 will face reelection in 2023. This is to ensure continuity in city government and that the work the city was doing will not be stopped if the newly elected leaders are unfamiliar with their duties.
The fourth clause was known as the Term Limitation Clause. This was repealed by a Grants City Ordinance because the New Mexico Court of Appeals declared term limits to be unconstitutional. The city is currently reviewing this ordinance and charter compliance since the preamble declares no charter amendments can be made without the will of the governed voiced in an election; the ordinance was passed instead of implementing an election due to the legislativ changes in state law which resulted in confusion for all municipal charter laws.
The final clause in this section is known as the Term Limitation and Vacancy of Office Clause. This deals heavily with the repealed clause from above but remains in the charter to ensure that any person who fills a vacancy in the council or mayorship will not have their term limit affected by whatever time they had served while filling the vacancy.
Section Three: Council Districts
This section is made up of three clauses and three sub-clauses. Primarily, it deals with how council districts are designated.
Opening the section, the Census Clause establishes that after every decennial – ten year – federal census (like the one in 2020) new council districts must be drawn to account for changing demographics, like population growth or loss.
The second clause establishes a timeframe for this work. New districts musts be drawn and adopted before the next regular election after the census.
The third clause establishes criteria the city must meet for the new districts to be legal. This is where the three sub-clauses come into play. The first declares that the districts must be constructed with the “One Person – One Vote” principle of the federal government. The second subclause declares all districts must be contiguous, compact, and convenient; this means districts cannot have gaps. The final sub-clause establishes that the districts must be built based on the economic, ethnic, and geographic characteristics of the area.
Section Four: Compensation; Expenses
This section has two clauses, both of which deal with the salary and per diem of the governing body. In essence, the city council gets to set their salary and the mayor’s salary. Per diem – a daily allowance – and other expenses can be given based on state law.
Section Five: Vacancies; Forfeiture of Office
This section is made up by three clauses, the first of which declares the reasons why an office may become vacant, these reasons include: death, resignation, removal from office, or any other reason as declared by state law and the charter.
The second clause establishes that any elected city official shall be considered to have resigned from office if they fail to maintain the qualifications of their office; this could include changing residency.
The final section makes it clear that no councilor will be considered as having resigned based on redistricting. The councilor will be allowed to serve out their term and then must face reelection in the new district during their next election cycle.
Section Six: Filling Vacancies
This section’s three clauses ensure that the people of Grants will have representation in their government.
The first deals with a vacancy in the mayor’s office. If a vacancy exists for any reason, the council will meet within 45 days of the vacancy to elect a qualified successor to the office – this does not have to be a member of the governing body – who will serve as mayor until the next regular mayoral election.
The second clause handles vacancies on the council. To fill any vacancy on the council, the mayor must appoint, within 45 days, a qualified successor to the office; the mayor’s appointee must be approved by the remaining members of the council to begin working as a successor. This is further explored in Article Three, which we will discuss next week.
The third clause deals with vacant councilor seats. This is called the Extraordinary Vacancies Clause because it is incredibly unlikely to happen. But if it does, citizens will continue to have a working government. If all elected offices are vacant at the same time, the Governor [seemingly of New Mexico, though that is not codified – or written – in the charter] will appoint a mayor and council to serve the people. This new government will call a special election to elect new city leaders.
Section Seven: Judge of Qualifications
This section deals with legal powers the city has when it comes to determining council members’ qualifications. Clause A gives the councilors this power, while Clause B allows the council to establish more strict requirements for the office, and penalties for failure to abide by those requirements. Clause C allows councilors to subpoena witnesses, administer oaths, and have evidence brought forward. This is a housekeeping tool which can only be applied to the councilors or the mayor because Clauses A and B both state that the power is specific to the governing body’s own operations.
Clause D establishes protections for a member of the governing body who is accused of violating their qualifications. This allows the accused to demand a public hearing.
Section Eight: Investigations
Section eight outlines the same powers as section seven: subpoena witnesses, administer oaths, have evidence produced. Instead of using these powers for the governing body, however, the governing body may employ these for internal investigations. Failure to comply with the city will be considered a petty misdemeanor and comes with a fine determined in city ordinance. This penalty can only be applied to city employees since Section Seven does not lay out specific penalties for members of the government.
Section Nine: Governing Body Procedures
This section is made up of five clauses and two sub-clauses. It primarily deals with how the government will function when adopting new ordinances, rules, or conducting other business.
First up is the Meetings Clause, which ensures that the council will meet at least once per month; but restricts the city with special meetings, declaring that the mayor, or two or more councilors can call a special meeting – one councilor on their own cannot call a special meeting. This clause declares all meetings, except those allowed by New Mexico’s Sunshine Laws, to be open to the public.
The Rules and Minutes Clause allows the government to establish their own rules of conduct for the meeting (within applicable law), and that all parts of the meeting open to the public will be recorded on paper and made available for the public to view.
Next is the Roll Call Votes Clause, which establishes that any time the city needs to vote on an ordinance or resolution, they must have a roll call vote where each councilor individually votes “aye” in the affirmative, or “nay” in the negative. As per the Rules and Minutes Clause, other voting options may be available based on the meeting conduct adopted by the governing body.
The Voting Clause ensures that no action can be taken by the governing body without a majority of members present. Because this is a five-member government, that means three or more members must be present. This clause encompasses two sub-clauses; the first ensures that no ordinance can be passed unless the majority vote in the affirmative to support it. The second allows leeway for the state government; if there is an instance where a vote other than a simple majority is necessary to pass a specific item, then the members must adhere to that specific style of vote.
Rounding off Section Nine is the Quorum Clause: this establishes that anytime three members of the governing body are together, they are in quorum. This is unless they have a vacancy, at which point it is however many members constitute a majority. Meetings without quorums cannot conduct any business other than an adjournment and set a time for the next meeting. The governing body can take “such action as may be necessary” to ensure a quorum is present at the next meeting.
Section 10: Actions Requiring an Ordinance
This section has two clauses which further restrict the powers of the government.
Clause A declares that all items required by the state to be passed through ordinance shall be adopted in that manner. It lists other items necessary to be passed through resolution. This includes but is not limited to imposing taxes, changing utility rates, and amending or repealing other resolutions.
Clause B allows the governing body to pass other items that are not restricted to ordinance, through resolution or motion.
Section 11: Emergency Ordinances
Broken into three clauses, this section allows the government to act as necessary to meet challenges that may arise, like a global pandemic. Clause A establishes that the city has the power to enact emergency ordinances to secure the safety of the people it governs, but that these emergency powers are restricted so that the government cannot raise new taxes, grant new business licenses, or extend current ones, or change the price of utilities under the government’s control in the emergency order.
Clause B makes sure that the ordinance is proposed and voted on in the same manner as regular ordinances, but that the emergency ordinance must lay out the specific reasons for the emergency and give an emergency powers’ timeline, i.e., when they take effect, when they end or will be revisited. This is to ensure that the people of the city are aware of the actions of their government.
Clause C allows the governing body to alter the emergency ordinance before passing or rejecting it. It allows the ordinance to either take effect immediately after adoption, or at a time designated by the ordinance.
Section 12: Codes of Technical Regulations
Section 12 provides for adoption of a Code Technical Regulation. This is typically a reserved power for businesses but it is not uncommon for municipalities to implement this regulation. Specifically, Clause A provides that the city can adopt a standard code of regulations, which means a document which outlines the basic principles of operation for certain things like a planning and zoning board, or for other basic needs like record keeping and financial policies.
Clause B allows the city to sell these codes to the public, but keep in mind that New Mexico’s Sunshine Laws do allow for them to be inspected without purchase.
Section 13: Authentication and Recording
This section, a single clause, restricts the powers and duties of the city clerk. This clause declares that the city clerk will keep all resolutions and ordinances in an indexed book for the purpose of record keeping and later use. The city clerk must also keep an updated version of the city charter with all attachments properly indexed.
Summary
This is a long article which is intended to structure the government and limit their powers so the citizens of the city can dictate its future. It ensures that the people of the city will always have representation in their government, and it allows the government to take necessary steps to safeguard the common good in the event of disaster, while providing the people with the information to understand their government and its operations.
It puts restrictions, or checks, on the government and ensures that the people’s business remains available for the public to see and enables residents to participate in their government.
Next week we will cover Article III, which covers the mayor and city manager.