2023 New Mexico Statutes › Chapter 3 - Municipalities › Article 14 - Commission-Manager Form of Government; Municipalities Over 1,000 › Section 3-14-2 - Commission-manager; special election for adoption.

A. Upon petition signed by qualified electors, not less in number than fifteen percent of the votes cast for the office of mayor at the last regular municipal election, filed with the municipal clerk and verified by the municipal clerk to contain a sufficient number of legal signatures, the governing body shall, within ten days of verification, adopt an election resolution calling for the holding of a special election on the question of organizing the municipality under the commission-manager form of government, or the governing body may submit to the qualified electors of the municipality the question of organizing the municipality under the commission-manager form of government. The election shall be held in June or July in odd-numbered years or July or August in even-numbered years in accordance with the provisions of the Local Election Act [Chapter 1, Article 22 NMSA 1978].
B. The question to be placed shall read substantially as follows:
"For the commission-manager form of government and providing for the election of five commissioners ____; and
Against the commission-manager form of government and providing for the election of five commissioners ____".
History:
1953 Comp., § 14-13-2, enacted by Laws 1965, ch. 300; 1985, ch. 208, § 110; 2018, ch. 79, § 55.
ANNOTATIONS
Cross references.
— For examinations of signatures, purging and judicial review of petitions,
see
3-1-5 NMSA 1978.
The 2018 amendment,
effective July 1, 2018, provided when a special election on the question of organizing a municipality under the commission-manager form of government shall be held; in Subsection A, after "holding of a special election", deleted "within ninety days after the verification of the petition", and added the last sentence of the subsection.
The 1985 amendment,
in Subsection A, inserted "and verified by the municipal clerk to contain a sufficient number of legal signatures" and "within ten days of verification adopt an election resolution calling" and substituted "for the holding of a special election, within ninety days after the verification of the petition" for "provide for the holding of an election, not less than thirty days nor more than sixty days after the filing of the petition".
Transition to commission-manager form of government.
— Where a petition was filed with the clerk of the town of Edgewood seeking to change Edgewood's form of government from a mayor-council form of government to a commission-manager form of government, and where the governing body of Edgewood passed a resolution calling for a special election and placing the ballot question regarding the potential transition on the ballot, should the electorate of Edgewood vote in favor of the commission-manager form of government as part of the special election, each current member of Edgewood's mayor-council governing body should remain in their official position until the new commission takes office, and during the transition period, the current governing body should utilize its powers and authority to arrange for an appropriate administrative structure in order for the new commission to assume governing authority over the town, including the districting of Edgewood into five separate commissioner districts, as well as any additional actions necessary to provide for the election of five new commissioners and the transition to a commission-manager form of government, and any commissioner elected pursuant to that election will commence their terms on January 1 of the following year.
Potential Transition to Commission-Manager Form of Government
(7/29/20), Att'y Gen. Adv. Ltr. 2020-07.