By Lynn Janes

The town of Hurley held a work session June 4, 2024. Attendance to the meeting included Mayor Ed Stevens, councilors Nanette Day, Reynaldo Maynes, Keana Huerta, and James Langley.

Ben Young, town attorney made a presentation to the council concerning statutory compliance and best practices for the mayor and council municipality.

Young said he would be providing them with a broad overview of the state statutes and would be focusing on the New Mexico municipal code.

He went over all the responsibilities of the mayor and council and what they could and could not do. The mayor will be the presiding officer and the tie breaker in the vote if need. He also functions as the CEO.

If the office of the mayor or a council member has been vacated the council votes for the replacement.

The council has corporate authority as a governing body but do not have authority to tell the staff what to do. Young went over all the powers of the council. He then went on to explain how those powers could be exercised through ordinances and resolutions. These have to be done through the open meetings act. The open meetings act sets the time, dates, location of meeting and how agenda items will be handled.

Young let the council know that the personnel manual had not been updated since 2011 and they needed to review it and make the necessary changes to avoid any problems. He gave the council some of the problems that could happen.

Personnel evaluations need to be done on a regular basis and not just a simple recommendation. The evaluations must be done on all employees by the department heads.

The best practices section of the municipal code covers the roles of the elected officials. Young went over all those rolls. They cannot pressure employees and must work together. The mayor carries the legislative weight. Buck stops with the mayor. He must maintain a good relationship with the department heads.

He went over the clerk / treasurer roll in the municipality.

The state offers training to all municipal employees and elected officials. Young recommended that they take advantage of the training on a regular basis. He also recommended some training available at NMSU (New Mexico State University). By attending the trainings, they not only receive the latest information needed to do their jobs but have the opportunity to meet fellow elected officials. Many things they have been experiencing could help with what the council might be experiencing.

Young went over the leadership principals and referred to them as the magnificent eight. Some he mentioned, faith, belief and values shared, policies and manuals that can be executed, and development of good relationships with staff that trickles down.

"There is value in the data from how the public perceives the municipality, even on social media" Young said it would all be valuable. They could develop and build relationships. "You have to operate together to set policies and build a sustainable system that will last beyond your time in office."

Young brought up rules for board meetings. He told them they all come from different places and experiences, and they had to remember to respect each other. Avoid personalizing in debates and address the agenda. Minimize conflicts in front of the public and staff.

Young addressed the process of creating an agenda and to have policies in place this fiscal year. He spoke about how they can engage the public and public comment. If the comment does not coincide with agenda items, the council cannot comment but it can be put on the next agenda. Young went over some of the situations that could require a call to him.

The council must always have proper interactions with the staff and not have any close relationships. Young lined out some of the things that could happen and cautioned them. Employees have protections under state law. He brought up the Whistleblowers Protection Act. Langley discussed this for a while and spoke about a recent incident.

Young briefly went over the Sunshine Laws. They pertain to three specific statues. They have been called sunshine laws because they have been meant to shed light. He said he could easily do an hour long presentation. All meetings must be public meetings. They can't discuss matters and make decisions out of the public eye. The agenda must be available 72 hours before the meeting for the public to see and it must be specific. Regular meetings need to allow public comment. Special meetings the council does not have to allow public comments but may run into problems if they don't. Young went over some of the exceptions to this.

If they have had a violation Young said they had a window of time to cure that. They could have a special meeting. He spoke about contract bids and problems that could arise and how they could avoid those. Many possible examples discussed between Young and the council.

Inspection of Public Records Act has been built in to allow the public to see the minutes of the meetings and other public records. They went over different scenarios of how to handle those requests and what records would be expected to present.

The last thing Young addressed had to do with the primary things that have resulted in litigation with a municipality or entity. He had a separate presentation that he told the council he would provide them. Many had to the with the rights that protect the public outlined in the New Mexico constitution. He went over some of those possibilities. He also went over some of the outcomes. The Whistleblower Protection Act is specific to government employees. Many times, it surrounds communications. He covered several other statutes.

The next regular meeting will be June 11, 2024, at 5:00 pm.

Meeting adjourned.