March 8, 2019
To: All residents of Elephant Butte, New Mexico
Subj: Public notice of, “Letter of Interest” for the seat of Mayor
The Roberts Rule will be strictly adhered to:
The City of Elephant Butte requests that interested parties for the “Interim” position of Mayor please submit a “Letter of Interest” to City Hall, City of Elephant Butte 103 Water St. Elephant Butte, New Mexico 87935, no later than March 22, 2019. Attn: City Manager, (Electronic submissions will not be accepted.) Those letters will be submitted to the councilors for consideration and discussions at the April 03, 2019 regularly scheduled City Council meeting date. No appointment will be made at this meeting.
It is important to understand that the Mayor pro tem remains in the position of councilor, meaning that she retains the regular authority of a councilor to make motions and to vote on them. The Mayor pro tem does not cast a vote, as would the Mayor in the event of a tie vote, however still retains her councilor vote.
The governing body may select a Mayor on a majority vote of any person who is a qualified elector of Elephant Butte to fill the vacancy for the unexpired term of office. There is no specific procedure by which the council appoints a Mayor. It is up to the council to schedule an agenda item to appoint a mayor, this is not a special election. The council can select a current council member, or it can select a registered voter who is not currently on the council.
Until a person is selected as Mayor by this procedure, the Mayor pro tem will serve in that capacity. The process does not have to be completed in any particular time frame, nor at all and it can extend all the way to the end of the Mayor Kent’s term.
In the event that the council elects a sitting councilor to be Mayor, then there will be a vacancy in the office of that councilor, the selection of the Mayor and of a potential councilor will be two separate agenda items.