2023 New Mexico Statutes › Chapter 3 - Municipalities › Article 14 - Commission-Manager Form of Government; Municipalities Over 1,000 › Section 3-14-14 - Manager; duties; attendance at meetings; budget.

A. The manager shall:
(1) enforce and carry out all ordinances, rules and regulations enacted by the commission;
(2) employ and discharge all persons engaged in the administrative service of the municipality;
(3) prepare and submit an annual budget; and
(4) make recommendations to the commission on all matters concerning the welfare of the municipality.
B. The manager shall have a seat, but no vote, at every meeting of the commission. Except when clearly undesirable or unnecessary, the commission shall request the opinion of the manager on any proposed measure.
History:
1953 Comp., § 14-13-14, enacted by Laws 1965, ch. 300.
ANNOTATIONS
Manager's authority to discharge does not supersede mayor's and council's.
— There is nothing in this section to indicate that the mayor's and/or city council's authority to discharge and employ under 3-11-6D NMSA 1978 is superseded by the city manager's authority to discharge persons in administrative service.
Sanchez v. City of Belen
, 1982-NMCA-070, 98 N.M. 57, 644 P.2d 1046, cert. denied, 98 N.M. 336, 648 P.2d 794.
Power to hire or fire.
— Subsection (A)(2) of this section does not supersede the mayor's or city council's power to hire or discharge an employee. 1987 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 87-69.
Employees in "administrative service"
may be properly defined to include all city employees in nonexempt status, and to specifically exclude all appointed officers of the city. 1987 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 87-69.
"Persons engaged in administrative service" construed.
— The phrase "persons engaged in the administrative service of the municipality" can reasonably be interpreted to refer to employees who carry out the daily operations of the municipality and to exclude appointed municipal officers. The city manager's authority over "persons engaged in the administrative service of the municipality" does not include authority over other appointed municipal officers. The legislature has provided the governing body of a municipality with authority to appoint officers and to prescribe their powers and duties; appointed officers, therefore, serve at the pleasure of the governing body and are not subject to the authority of the city manager, who is also an appointed officer.
Authority of City Manager in a Mayor-Council Municipality
(6/23/22), Att'y Gen. Adv. Ltr. 2022-02.
City manager does not have the authority to supervise, employ or discharge other appointed municipal officers.
— The municipal offices of clerk, municipal attorney, police officer, treasurer and manager are not part of the "administrative service of the municipality", and therefore the city manager, an appointed municipal officer, does not have the authority to appoint other municipal officers, does not have the authority to discharge another appointed municipal officer, and does not have the authority to change the salary and benefits of persons holding appointed offices. Appointed officers serve at the pleasure of the governing body, and the governing body has direct authority over appointed officials.
Authority of City Manager in a Mayor-Council Municipality
(6/23/22), Att'y Gen. Adv. Ltr. 2022-02.
Law enforcement responsibilities of the city manager.
— The city manager is authorized to "enforce and carry out all ordinances, rules and regulations" enacted by the city council, but has no authority to exercise powers conferred upon sheriffs of counties to suppress disorders and keep the peace within the municipality, a power provided to the mayor under NMSA 1978, § 3-11-4.
Authority of City Manager in a Mayor-Council Municipality
(6/23/22), Att'y Gen. Adv. Ltr. 2022-02.
Municipal manager is not public officer of municipality for purposes of N.M. Const., art. V, § 13.
1979 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 79-28.
Sole authority to hire and fire personnel.
— This section recognizes the manager as the chief administrative officer of a city under the commission-manager form of government, responsible only to the commission who may discharge him at will. Sole authority to hire and fire the personnel of the city is vested in the manager, without concurrence of the commission. 1957 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 57-126.
Law reviews.
— For article, "Prisoners Are People," see 10 Nat. Resources J. 869 (1970).
Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references.
— 58 Am. Jur. 2d Municipal Corporations, Counties, and Other Political Subdivisions § 185.
62 C.J.S. Municipal Corporations §§ 370, 391, 392, 394 to 405.