Sunland Park City Council: Accusations, Insults & Walk-Outs But No New Mayor

Monday’s Sunland Park City Council meeting was marked by accusations, insults and walk-outs. The agenda indicated council members could have appointed a new mayor, but the embattled New Mexico city is still operating without one.

The man who was originally elected, Daniel Salinas, is facing a long list of criminal charges and cannot serve as mayor. Three other attempts have been made to replace Salinas, but the divided council struggles to come to a consensus.

“These people are supposed to be the leaders of this city and they have no clue what’s going on,” said one man during a public comment portion of the meeting.

“I think you ought to appoint the mayor the people chose instead of making a back room deal,” said another.

Two motions were made to try to appoint a mayor. Some of the crowd erupted in a chant for Gerardo Hernandez at one point.

Hernandez is the runner-up in March’s mayoral election, but authorities say he was blackmailed by Salinas and others through a video in which Hernandez is seen getting a lap dance from a topless woman.

Another potential appointee discussed was Javier Perea. Pearea was actually appointed mayor nearly a month ago by the same city council, but soon taken out because his appointment was determined to have broken the New Mexico Open Meetings Act.

Neither men received enough voted from council members Monday to be appointed.

Mayor Pro-Tempore Isabel Santos said she did not want to appoint anyone because she felt the law was not clear enough about whether council was legally allowed to appoint a mayor in this situation.

“We need advice from the state, sorry,” said Santos, her statement followed by a chorus of “boos” from the crowd.

At one point, tensions were so high between constituents and council members, Santos and council member Jessica Avila walked out of the meeting as it was still going on. They returned a short while later.

Council decided to double-check their legal options and set a meeting for Friday to revisit the topic of appointing a mayor.

Last month ABC-7 spoke with Dona Ana County Lynn Ellins, who confirmed Sunland Park city council could appoint a mayor if it declared the mayor’s seat vacant. Ellins also said the council’s other option was to call for a special election.