Charles Tucker, the city’s Inspector General, presented an annual briefing to the Las Cruces City Council summarizing hotline usage, complaint categories and recent investigations.

"As of this morning, it's 493," Tucker said while reporting hotline totals and explaining that the city’s contract covers up to 100 recorded complaints per year before per-complaint charges apply. He noted the city exceeded that 100‑complaint threshold in fiscal 2024 and incurred about $3,000 in extra costs.

Tucker gave a breakdown of top complaint types and caseload: policy issues (22%) and employee relations led the categories; fraud, theft of time and conflict of interest each represented roughly 9% of complaints. He said the office had received 62 complaints so far in the contract year, with 18 still open.

Tucker described several investigations and referrals: an allegation of theft from Parks and Recreation was referred to LCPD and not substantiated; alleged contractor fraud was referred to LCPD and not substantiated; an unfair hiring complaint at the library was referred to HR; one substantiated case of an employee stealing time led to termination; a South Central Solid Waste matter was forwarded to the State Auditor.

On oversight and process, Tucker said complaints are triaged by a hotline committee (assistant city managers and the HR director) and routed to the appropriate office or to the IG when issues involve fraud, waste or abuse. He said the IG’s investigations are redacted and reviewed by the oversight committee and flagged a past redaction error — redactions were being lost in emailed copies — that has since been corrected.

Councilors asked clarifying questions about what counts as a recorded complaint and whether the IG handles employee relations; Tucker said every recorded submission counts toward the contract total and that the IG only takes employee matters when they involve fraud, waste or abuse. Tucker said he gathers complaint data to identify policy issues and works with departments to address them. The briefing concluded with council thanks and no formal action.