Las Cruces council cures Open Meetings Act violations and ratifies internal city manager hire

The Las Cruces City Council voted on Jan. 13 to cure Open Meetings Act violations identified by the New Mexico Department of Justice and to ratify its prior internal hiring decisions, including the selection and employment agreement for Akani Tomopeau as city manager.

The council approved four linked resolutions in a special meeting after public comment and a series of staff explanations about the state Attorney General’s findings. Council votes on the key items were: resolution 25-081 (limit search to internal candidates) — 5 yes, 2 no; resolution 25-082 (narrow internal field to three finalists) — 6 yes, 1 no; resolution 25-083 (review of the selection of Akani Tomopeau) — unanimous yes (7-0); and resolution 25-084 (cure and ratify selection and employment agreement) — unanimous yes (7-0). The final votes ratified the April 1, 2024 employment agreement the council had previously approved in open session.

The action responds to a December 20, 2024 opinion from the New Mexico Department of Justice that found the city violated the New Mexico Open Meetings Act (OMA) when council members discussed and narrowed the search in closed sessions on or about March 18 and March 20, 2024, and when the council selected a finalist in closed session. City Attorney Brad Douglas told the council the AG identified three main problems and offered two remedies; the council followed the AG’s preferred remedy: a public, OMA-compliant meeting to summarize past discussions and ratify decisions.

“The OMA violations can be cured by holding an OMA-compliant public meeting, summarizing all the discussions outside of a public meeting, and ratifying the actions by a public and open vote of a majority,” City Attorney Brad Douglas said during the meeting.

Council members recounted differing recollections of the March 2024 closed sessions while summarizing why they supported an internal search and why they narrowed the pool. Several councilors said human resources had screened an initial internal list (reported to be about nine candidates) and provided resumes and minimum requirements to council members before the closed sessions. The three internal finalists discussed and later ratified were Akani Tomopeau, Sonia Delgado and David Cedillo; Tomopeau was the council’s selected candidate and had an employment agreement approved by council on April 1, 2024.

Councilor Cassie McClure said in the Jan. 13 public deliberation: “At that time, I had no discussions about whether or not this is going to be an internal and external search. The reason I heard about it was a press release.” Other councilors described weighing continuity, internal experience and the candidates’ familiarity with Las Cruces in reaching their votes.

Public commenters urged a different remedy. Several speakers, including Lehi Moorer and Patty Hartman, urged the council to restart the recruitment from the beginning rather than ratify past decisions. Moorer said the restart “makes a lot more sense and it has a much better opportunity for the public to be able to observe and be a part of that process.” Other residents asked for greater transparency about the materials the council used; multiple callers said candidate resumes and selection materials should have been included in the public agenda packet.

“Kudos to the Department of Justice for the findings,” resident Lynn Moorer told the council, and asked why resumes and the list of internal applicants were not provided earlier to the public for review. Kathleen Sullivan, a member of the public, raised the compensation question, saying during public comment that the package under discussion totaled roughly $216,000 and asking the council to explain that level of pay.

Council discussion repeatedly returned to process: several councilors and staff noted there is not, at present, a standardized, written policy for city manager hiring in the charter or municipal code and that past hires used a mix of approaches (community panels, staff screening, external search firms). Multiple council members said they would pursue clearer, more public hiring procedures for the future. City Clerk Christine Rivera and the city attorney confirmed the council had coordinated closely with the New Mexico Department of Justice in drafting the resolutions and that the AG had reviewed and approved the language used in the packet for today’s remedies.

The council’s vote completes the AG’s preferred remedy: public deliberations about why the council limited the search to internal candidates, why it narrowed the field to three finalists, and why it selected the finalist — followed by a public ratification vote. The council noted that the AG gave a second option — restarting the process — but said it would follow the DOJ’s guidance and cure the violations rather than repeat the search.

Council members and staff said they intended to implement procedural changes going forward, including clearer notice practices for closed sessions, written guidance about who reviews candidate materials and wider public engagement in future executive searches. Several councilors apologized to residents and to the three finalists for the procedural errors and said they regretted the delay between the 2024 actions and the AG opinion. Mayor Mary Enriquez thanked city staff and the AG’s office for their work resolving the matter.

The ratification leaves in place the employment agreement the council previously approved for Akani Tomopeau; councilors said their vote today was aimed at correcting a legal defect in how prior deliberations were held rather than re-litigating the merits of the hire.