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Mayor Sharon McDonald leads commission into closed session to discuss hiring city manager
Summary
At a meeting on April 21, 2026, Mayor Sharon McDonald presided as the commission approved its agenda 5-0 and then voted to adjourn into an executive (closed) session to discuss hiring a city manager under the state personnel statute cited in the motion.
Mayor Sharon McDonald called the commission to order on April 21, 2026, at 5:30 p.m., asked for a motion to approve the agenda and — after a 5-0 recorded vote — moved the body into an executive session to discuss hiring a city manager.
"Can I get a motion to approve the agenda?" McDonald asked, after which Commissioner Mark Tapley moved to approve the agenda and Commissioner Al Hernandez seconded. The clerk recorded the result as "The vote passes 5 0." The roll call taken earlier showed Mayor Sharon McDonald, Mayor Pro Tem Josh Bridal, Commissioner Baxter Petrillo, Commissioner Al Hernandez and Commissioner Mark Tapley present; Commissioners Steven Burnett and Warren Robinson were absent. The clerk then stated that a quorum was present.
Later in the meeting McDonald introduced a motion to adjourn into an executive (closed) session "in compliance with 10-15-1(H)(2) NMSA 1978, as amended, to discuss limited personnel matters: hiring [a] city manager." The motion was moved and seconded and McDonald closed the public session: "We're adjourned." The transcript records the motion as made by Commissioner Al Hernandez; the second was recorded in the transcript as by another commissioner. No public vote on a final hiring decision was taken in open session.
Under New Mexico law cited by the commission, discussions of certain personnel matters may be held in closed session; the meeting record in the transcript shows the commission used that authority to discuss hiring a city manager. The meeting also included a short opening prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance before routine agenda approval.
The commission did not announce any public decision regarding the city manager during the portions of the meeting captured in the transcript. The body adjourned into the executive session for further discussion; any subsequent actions or public votes were not captured in this transcript.
