Lawsuit filed against City of Anthony, NM over city manager hire

ANTHONY, New Mexico (KVIA) -- Just two days after an Anthony, New Mexico Board of Trustees meeting didn’t go as expected, ABC-7 has learned that residents are now filing a lawsuit against the city.

The lawsuit claims the city of Anthony broke the law in the way that they hired city manager Mario Juarez-Infante.

The suit alleges the city didn’t create a committee to hire hire him, which is required by law, and also raises questions about Juarez-Infante’s experience.

The suit was filed to the third judicial district court on Monday.

ABC-7 spoke with one of the plaintiffs of the suit on Wednesday.

“There’s numerous reasons why we’re filing this lawsuit," said Anthony resident Adrian Perez.

"There have been multiple violations, and the hiring of the city manager. In fact, they want to hire him for part-time when the posting was for full time," Perez added.

Juarez-Infante is also the manager of Sunland Park, which both the plaintiffs of the suit and Anthony board of trustees member Gabriel Holguin feel is a conflict of interest.

“I’m concerned, and what that does is it doesn’t give a fighting power to Anthony when requesting for funding," said Holguin.

That same point is brought up in the lawsuit.

The suit alleges Juarez-Infante’s part-time contract with the city of Anthony, while being full-time with Sunland Park, violates anti-donation provisions of New Mexico state law.

ABC-7 has reached out to city manager Juarez-infante for comment, who says he intends to send us a written statement.

We also reached out to the mayor of Anthony and the manager of Doña Ana County, but have not heard back from either at this time.

We'll be sure to keep you updated on-air and online at KVIA.com.

If you'd like to read the entirety of the lawsuit for yourself, you can view it here.