City of Anthony board trustee member calls for Mayor Murillo to resign
ANTHONY, N.M. (KVIA) -- Gabriel Holguin, a trustee with the city of Anthony, New Mexico, requested the immediate resignation of Mayor Diana Murillo.
In a letter sent on Tuesday, trustee Holguin asked the Mayor to "immediately resign."
Trustee Holguin wrote different concerns regarding Mayor Murillo's tenure and actions.
"Throughout your tenure as Mayor (Murillo), you have demonstrated on several occasions your incompetence and undesire to serve the people, as well as the ability to effectively carry on the position that you were elected to by the people," Holguin wrote.
Trustee Holguin states the most recent example is Mayor Murillo's recent "acts of misconduct," allowing the Interim City Manager's contract to expire twice.
"I feel that the city hasn't been operating properly since 2016 when she took over... on numerous occasions she has abused her power such as removing items from the agenda," Holguin told KVIA.
He also claimed an amendment was extended to allow the current Interim City Manager to work half-time in the City of Anthony. Interim City Manager Mario Juarez-Infante was allowed to work part-time for Sunland Park.
Holguin also mentioned Mayor Murillo previously attempted to advertise the City Manager position as a part-time position. According to the letter, the position was advertised at a $110,00 salary, superseding the current City Manager pay scale of $70-85 thousand.
Along with the City Manager topic, Holguin claims that Murillo led the effort to hire an outside attorney to investigate false accusations made against himself. "The hiring of this firm never came to the board for approval," he said.
Holguin says the events of March 15 during the last public meeting led to the writing of the letter. At that time Mayor Pro-Temp, Elva J. Flores, reportedly recorded members of the community in attendance of that meeting.
In a video recording of the meeting Flores is heard asking a constituent be removed from the premises after making "silly faces" at Flores. Following up with a request to have her banned from meetings.
According to Holguin's letter the mayor agreed with Flores and about four officers to escort her out. Holguin calling this a "misuse of city resources".
"He's asking me to resign on the grounds of what? What he says, what he estates doesn't have no grounds," Mayor Murillo told KVIA. "He can claim all he wants and it's based on lies," she added.
Murillo argues all of the accusations are merely one person's opinion and she does not plan to leave office.
City of Anthony Board of Trustee Gabriel I. Holguin letter to Mayor Murillo by Heriberto Perez on Scribd
