City Commission - Regular Meeting

get my I call this meeting to order on April 28th, 2026 at 6:30 p.m. Will the clerk please call the role? Mayor Sharon McDonald here. Mayor Prom Josh Ruden here. Commissioner Baxter Patillo here. Commissioner Steven Bernett here. Commissioner Warren Robinson here. Commissioner Al Ernnandez here. Commissioner Mark Tapley is by phone here. Madame Mayor, we have a quorum.

All right. Uh we are going to have the invocation by our U. Pastor Sin. He's out in the audience. and we're going to have our pledge of allegiance by uh Commissioner Warren Robinson. Let's pray.

Father, we do love you on this evening. And Lord, um you've told us that we're to pray for all men, supplications, prayers, intercessions, giving of thanks for all men and all those in authority. And we certainly want to do that today. We want to pray for our president, our governor, our representatives, our senators uh and Lord uh our uh city commission here. Lord, I pray God that you'll bless them, give them wisdom, and Lord, I pray for this meeting, Lord, that you'll uh make sure that um this will be a successful meeting. Uh may everything be done uh decently and in order. And Lord, I'm thankful so much that we live in a country to where we can do these things. And we'll be careful now to thank you for all that you're going to do. For we ask it in Jesus name. Amen.

Amen. Thank you. Join me in the pledge. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. I need a mo u an approval uh will a motion for the approval of the agenda. So move. Second.

It's been moved by Commissioner Robinson and second by Commissioner Hernandez. And we're going to go for the vote. and Commissioner Tapley. Hi.

And the vote passes 70. Next on the agenda is the uh public comment. Uh, first on the uh, list is Tamara Hansen, and she's talking about union jobs.

Good evening, Madame Mayor, commissioners, city personnel, and the public. I'm Tamara Hansen. I'm the president of ASME Local 3818, the city workers union. And I'm here tonight because what's happening to the golf course maintenance workers is wrong. It is wrong. Not only because jobs are at stake, but because the process itself has not been been handled the way it should have been. These workers were told their jobs were being outsourced before the union was given an opportunity to do what the contract requires us to do. Review the proposal, evaluate the costs, and discuss alternatives. Those protections were not put in place by accident. They exist because taking public work away from city employees is a serious decision. It affects workers, families, service quality, and the taxpayers of Alamagordo. Since then, the city has tried to step back and reframe the process. The union has now received an RFP and financial information, but the paperwork after the fact does not fix the problem if the process is still not transparent, complete, and fair. And right now it is not. What we still do not have is a true applesto apples cost comparison. We still do not have a clear demonstration that outsourcing this work will actually save taxpayers money once all the real costs are counted. We still do not have a clear explanation of what service levels may be lost, what costs will remain with the city, what oversight will be required, and why pushing out experienced local workers is somehow supposed to be good policy. That should concern every one of you because this is not just a labor issue. This is a public accountability issue. If the city is going to take good

paying jobs out of this community, if it's going to place a public asset into private hands, and if it's going to risk lower service on a property the public values, then the burden should be on the city to prove that decision is justified and not after the work not with assumptions, not with incomplete numbers, and not after the workers have already been told their livelihoods are on the line. These are city workers. They're local workers. They're part of this community. They spend their wages here, raise their families here, and have taken pride in maintaining Desert Lakes Golf Course for the people of Alamagordo. So, I'm asking this commission tonight to do the right thing. Slow this process down. Reco require a real cost comparison. require require real alter alternatives discussion and make sure the rules that were negotiated are actually followed because if this commission allows public public jobs to be pushed aside without a complete and honest review then you are not just making a management decision you are sending message about what kind of city Alam Magordo wants to be. We are asking you to choose fairness, choose transparency, and choose the workers and community that have served this city faithfully. Thank you all for your time.

Thank you. Next on the um list is uh Kim Great White Al Marillo and she is going to be talking about the city manager contract. And um I know that um how much time uh are you asking for to go beyond the 30 minutes? 2 minutes. 2 minutes. Thank you. And this is because of uh the uh disability. So

right, reasonable accommodation. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Kim Great White Al. I stand here tonight as a neuros shaman Catholic Christian and a citizen who believes in God we trust must be more than a motto on the wall. It must be a standard for this integrity of this body. I do not I did not speak at the last meeting that I attended. I re I rested in I and the rest of the commi community were misled. On March 10th, we witnessed the vote 7 to zero to negotiate a contract with Dr. Hernandez. We thought with the revolving door of Al Maggoro's leadership had finally stopped spinning. We believed our voices were heard. But six weeks have passed and as reported in Alam Magordo's second media life, the 0 to7 vote appears to be a shell game. When Dr. Hernandez remains without a contract, this commission has missed retreated and closed door executive sessions, which they have on the agenda tonight, too. Sources suggest fractions of this commission, specifically Commissioner Ranskin, Bernett, and Hernandez, have actedly maneuvered to bury the vote at worse and worse, used hundreds of thousands of taxpayers dollars on a settlement to make her go away. Commissioner Rascin, you were reported to overheard that about the

potential assessment. It's not my money. You're right. It's our money. This money should be a fix should be used to fix our roads and support our failing infrastructure, not funding political agenda and egodriven payoffs. Commissioner Bernett, I have reached out to you repeatedly. You are unwilling and ignore my invitation to engage in the neighborhood. Your silence, especially in the face of these allegations are a violating open meeting requests, are deafening. Commissioner Hernandez, you are unable to step up and forget your self-interest for the greater good of this city than to do the honorable thing step down and let leadership really who want the job and are willing to lead the people to give us the city we want step aside. So I want to remind you that the state attorney general is watching. The EEOC is investigating. But more importantly, the people of Alagordo are waking up. We see the visible hostility directed at the most qualified, highly educated Hispanic woman who has ever stood and posed for this position. I My demand tonight is simple. Honor your vote. Honor the people's voice. Execute the contract with Dr. Hernandez immediately. Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Next on the uh list is Rudy Contrarus and he is going to be talking about the city manager's contract. Uh, my name is Rudy Contas. I have been here before. I I'm once again going to advocate for Mrs. Hernandez. I want to address those of you who are having issues in offering a contract to Dr. Stephanie Hernandez for the position of permanent city manager. After spending thousands of taxpayer dollars desperately to find a much less qualified candidate, you are now willing to spend thousands more to see her out the door. She and has she has been and she is the most qualified candidate for this position that this commission and prior commissions for that matter have ever seen. And that is why this commission voted unanimously 70 to contract negotiations with her. But now you uh want to delay that contract and somehow make it go away. And I'll tell you why you're doing this. It is her superior knowledge and outstanding qualifications that have been a problem for you ever since she was appointed acting city manager over two years ago. She is way over your heads. And since you don't believe in transparency, she has become a threat to those of you who choose to engage in special interest and backdoor politics when it comes to city government functions. And that and and that and the fact that she has an Hispanic woman only amplifies that threat that you feel. Let's call an ace and ace and tokenism tokenism. Whatever concerns the citizens of this community have can just go out the right out the door with Miss Hernandez, right?

After all, you guys have plenty of taxpayer dollars to throw around. Talk about corruption. After everything that Dr. Hernandez has gone through with on this city with this on this city manager position, we have seen that what racism and discrimination in plain sight looks like. There is no other explanation for this and you guys should be ashamed of it. Thank you.

Um, next on the list is Thaddius Gilmore and he's going to be talking about union jobs. You have three minutes. Thank you, Madame Mayor, distinguished commission members. I'm Tad Gilmore. I'm here tonight as a proud uh member of the union to stand for our jobs and our community. As I'm certain all of you do, too. I thank you first for your service. I'm sure that's something that's not not said enough. Secondly, I would like to thank you for all the great things that are happening uh for Alam Gordo. Uh however, I do have to say no thank you to eliminating public sector union jobs. These are good uh good opportunities. I think it's a huge mistake. These are opportunities for our community members. The kind of public service that brings pride, lifts some of our most vulnerable, and leads to stories not unlike some of ours. Madame Mayor, I know you know what I'm talking about. You're from here. You rose up through the ranks to to make history. I want those sort of things and those stories for my daughter and for all of these kids. By letting this thing out of your hands, we're asking for trouble. Most of the heavy lifting is already done by you guys and by your city management.

I wonder what the benefits would be of cutting anyone else in at this point. Certainly, it would come with pitfalls, both seen that we know about and things that we don't yet know. The best idea I've seen is go ahead and take full control of the golf course for yourselves. Continue to ramp this thing up, add new city positions, union jobs, and finish the improvements you want done. Any contractor large or small can only take away from this equation. I mean that's they have to right. None of them are smarter, more capable or even care as much as you folks do and your team of excellent managers. We have all of the big brains, all of the experts, all the technology, and all of the credentials that any of these guys have. Let's just take this bull by the horn and get her done. Go Tigers.

Thank you. Thank you.

Next on the agenda is the city manager report. Good morning. Good morning. Good evening. Good evening, Madame Mayor, Mayor Pro Tim, commissioners, citizens. Um, just a few things. Um, budget hearings are Monday, May 4th, beginning at 5:30 and going until you say. Um, and then if needed on Tuesday, May 5th at starting at 5:30 as well. Um, citizens are welcome to tune in or show up. They are open to uh the public. Your budget books will be emailed out out to you tomorrow for the electronic version and a hard copy will be in your boxes by Thursday morning. Um, I have some pretty exciting news. Um, I would like to introduce the newest member of our leadership dream team. Somebody who actually doesn't need to be introduced, but I'm going to do so anyways. Shellyley Dohan Dohanig Baron. Say hello ma'am. um is our is our new community new community development director. She brings decades of experience in municipal engineering, infrastructure, planning and land use with a deep expertise in planning and zoning development review and regulatory coordination. She has successfully led large-scale multidisciplinary projects across water, wastewater, transportation, and solid waste system. Shelley combines strong technical knowledge with a collaborative community focused approach helping to guide thoughtful strategic growth for the city of Elmagoro. Also, we have a civil engineer which we haven't had one in a very very long time. U Miss Esther Sherman will be starting at the first week of May. Esther brings a strong background in systems engineer, infrastructure development, and large-scale project management with experience supporting complex federal and military programs. She has led multi-million dollar infrastructure initiatives, manage

procurement and contract processes, and work closely with crossf functional teams to deliver efficient missionritical projects. With her technical expertise and strategic approach, she will be a valuable asset to our engineering team. Um again she will start the first week of May and then on speaking of engineering we will have our projects update our quarterly projects update in May and I will be putting a comprehensive list and the status together. I will email it to you and then I'll also put it out on social media and to other outlets. And that's all I got. All right. Thank you. Um remarks and inquiries by the city commission. I just have one. Uh Stephanie, we talked about or you talked about Grant's contract with the state. Uh where are we at on that? Do you know?

So, uh yes, I do know. Um so, Grant's contract can be can be extended, but it needs to be very defined for a defined term. So in order to have a defined term, we need to kind of work with the management company to def to uh determine how long are they going to need. Is it going to be 30 days? Does it need to be 60 days? Is it going to need to be 90 days? And then we just need to kind of put that process out there in the transition plan to make that happen.

Okay. Cuz I I just want to make sure that this transition goes smoother smoothly and not being rushed as far as the new management coming in. And I I know obviously Grant did send out a email uh talking about some other things. So I just wanted to make sure that we're getting that handled that way there's no interruption in the service there.

Anyone else? Did you have something for tonight? I just wanted to say that on uh last Friday uh the 24th uh we were uh the city the acting city manager and myself were uh at Hollowman Air Force Base and Colonel Ethridge and uh Chief Ford. Uh that is going to be their last meeting with the city of Al Maggoro as um Colonel Ethridge is being um transferred to another base in um South Carolina or and so he's going to be uh leaving on May 8th and um Chief Ford is going to be retiring. So we are sad to see them go. Uh we think that they were um a great partnership and we I enjoyed uh meeting with them. So during this uh short term as the the mayor, so I wanted to let you all know that we will have a new um a new um colonel and a new uh chief uh that will be uh coming into place for next month and I look forward to meeting them. So I just wanted to to let you know on that. Um next on the agenda is the consent agenda. Uh do I have a motion to approve that?

So moved. Um, can we pull off item number three, please? Which one? Item number three. Okay. All right. Uh, we are going to, um, we need a motion on the consent agenda for items one and two and item three is going to be pulled for further discussion. Do I have a motion? So move. Second. So, it's been moved by Commissioner um, Bernett and second by Commissioner Hernandez. And now we're going for the vote.

Commissioner Tapley, what is your vote? I. And the vote passes 70. I am here for item three. Okay.

Do you want me to read it? Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you were going to read it. consider and act upon acceptance of a grant agreement between the state of New Mexico Department of Transportation and the city of Elmagoro in the amount of $108,900 to plan, design, renovate, and construct the White Sands Regional Airport, including the electrical systems. And uh we have Evelyn Health.

Sure. Uh mayor, mayor, prom commissioners, uh this is one of our grants that comes from the legislature. Something they're doing a little different this year is any of the legislature uh allocations that have to do with transportation, instead of having them run through DFA, they're actually having them run through DOT. So, this is kind of one of the first ones we're bringing like this that says DOT instead of uh the state or DFA, but this is to renovate the electrical vault at the airport. So, is this to actually do the work or just to study it? No, this is actually to do the work. Okay. I just want to make it public. Yeah, sure.

That's it. All right. Well, do I have a motion? What What is the electrical vault? Is it just for all the lighting out there on the light? It has all the controls for the lighting and then a lot of the runway controls and it's it's a rat nest of wires right now. This was actually um not this last legislative session, but the legislative session before. This was our number two project because ICIP stuff. Yeah, it needs to be done desperately and we can't upgrade some of the other items that are down the line from it until we upgrade the electrical. Is that enough money to do it? Mhm. We believe so. Okay. It's kind of a small grant. So,

yeah. And it's it's not a huge area. It's just within that vault, too. We're not talking about running a whole bunch of conduit or anything. We just need to do the panels, the switches, everything that's in that vault. In the vault. Okay, cool. Thank you. Thanks. Move to approve item number three. I'll second. All right. It has been moved by Commissioner Hernandez and second by U. Mayor Pro Tim Weirden. And we're going to put it up for the vote. Commissioner Tapley, what is your vote?

I passes 70. We're going to move on to item number four, discussion of RFP for the golf course. And this is going to be by Steven Bernett. Commissioner, uh, there was no information on there, so you're just going to, uh, before I ask about it, uh, I got your email earlier about legal advice. What is the legal advice that we shouldn't be talking about this?

So, just for right now, because we are in, uh, communications with the union and providing them the proper notice and chance to respond. I would just limit um any of your questions to basic just status um at this point just so that way the city's position uh with the union can can stay uncompromised as far as future proceedings without having their input so far. But we are we are currently in the process of engaging with the proper notice requirements um and uh and communication proceedings with them. Okay. I I just I just have one question about it reading through the new RFP. uh there was an extra position created and I was wondering why.

So as um I can't remember who I spoke to. I think it was uh Commissioner Tapley and Commissioner Patil. Um a lot of that we were looking at our job descriptions and other areas that have um that could have the maintenance as an RFP. We changed that in the up in the updated one. It no longer has that in there. So it it's been changed since. Okay. That that was the only thing I had on it. All right, we're going to go to item number five, which is one more question, mayor. I'm sorry. One more question on this matter, if that's all right. Uh, the manual for the standard operating procedures, is that included now?

Um, it's not exactly included in the RFP because it hasn't gone out, but it will be. Okay. Yes. Got it. Thank you. Yes. Okay. Is that everything? Thank you.

All right. Item number five is the uh motion to recess into executive close session pursuant to NMSA1 1978 10-15-1H2 for the purpose of discussing limited personnel matters hiring of the city manager and NMSA1978 10-15-1H7 uh for discussion subject to the attorney client um privileges pertaining to threaten or pending litigation to which the city is or may be a participant. And this is going to be a roll call vote. I'm just going to go call for a motion.

Second. Okay. It has been motioned by Commissioner Bernett and second by Commissioner Hernandez. And we're going for the vote. Make sure to say recess. Okay. Make sure you say recess instead of a Okay. Well, um, this I'm just reading what's on here. So, it said motion to recess. I think I read that at the beginning.

And Commissioner Tapley, what is your vote? Hi,

we are racist.

return to open session and shall state that the minutes should reflect that the only matters we discussed during the closed s session was the pending litigation to accept the settlement proposed by Stephanie Hernandez, the acting city manager, and we are reconvening at 8:13. I'll make a motion to reconvene. Second.

Sorry, that was Commissioner I made the motion and Commissioner Hernandez second. Mark, how do you vote? Hi.

We back in session. We're back in session. Okay. Did you want to read your statement? She did. I did. Okay. I'm waiting for you or anybody motion and the vote passes 70. The action that we will take from the closed executive session. The motion I'll propose it is to accept the settlement proposal presented by Dr. Stephanie Hernandez and delegate authority to Lynn Isacson uh to finalize the settlement agreement. Do I have a motion? That was the motion.

Do I have a second? I will second. The motion has been made by uh Mayor Pro Tim um Rearen and it has been second by Commissioner Patello. Mark, how do you vote? N and the um motion pass 4 to three.

Make a motion to adjurnn. Second. There's been motion uh by commission uh mayor ro uh pro Tim Greeren and second by commissioner Hernandez mayor just give me one second. Okay.

Okay. I I apologize. So that was commissioner uh mayor prom and who second it commissioner and that was to adjourn correct. Yes.

And commissioner tapley. Hi.

Commissioner Robinson. I'm waiting for your vote. And the vote passes 70. The meeting is adjourned.