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Town commissioners move to close special meeting after employee says she wasn’t notified of planned closed session
Summary
At a Sept. 19 special meeting, Helena Meyer, a town employee, told commissioners she had not been given written notice that the meeting would go into closed session to discuss complaints or disciplinary action against a specific employee; commissioners paused business and moved to close the meeting after discovering the agenda lacked an approval line.
At a special town meeting on Friday, Sept. 19, 2025, Helena Meyer, who identified herself as a town employee, told the panel that she had not received written notice that the meeting would move into closed session to discuss complaints or possible disciplinary action involving her.
“I was never notified by email or by my immediate supervisor or any written form … I wouldn't have known that I was in close session,” Meyer said, adding she had not been informed she would be “pulled into close session” and asked commissioners to explain the reason so she could prepare. She cited the New Mexico Open Meetings Act when describing the notification she said she was owed.
The exchange occurred near the start of the meeting, after roll call and the invocation. After Meyer spoke, one commissioner noticed the printed agenda did not include a line to approve the agenda. That prompted a procedural debate about whether the body could lawfully proceed without an explicit agenda-approval item. “There is a problem with our agenda here,” a commissioner said, and another member warned that without an approval line they could not move forward.
During the back-and-forth, the person identified in the transcript as the mayor said the meeting would be closed because it lacked the required agenda-approval line: “Yeah, we already started. So we're going to close the meeting because we don't have an agenda agenda approval line.” Other participants objected, and the discussion grew fragmented as officials debated procedure and next steps.
Meyer asked for clarification that she had been singled out for a closed-session discussion about complaints or disciplinary action; she said she had not received email, notice from her supervisor or any written notice of the closed-session item and that she expected the 24-hour written-notice protections she cited in her remarks. Commissioners acknowledged the comment but moved quickly into a procedural dispute over the agenda's format and whether formal approval of the agenda was required before substantive business could proceed.
The transcript ends amid objections and overlapping remarks as officials moved to close the meeting because of the defective agenda. The record provided does not show a formal vote, a recorded motion to convene the closed session with the required notice language, or a final determination resolving Meyer’s claim about notice.
What happens next: The transcript ends without a formal resolution on Meyer's request for clarification about the closed session or a recorded vote on whether to close the meeting; the matter may return to a subsequent meeting or be addressed through staff follow-up or legal review under the New Mexico Open Meetings Act.
