By Mary Alice Murphy
Grant County Commission Chair Chris Ponce, as part of his commission reports at the end of the Aug. 14, 2025 Commission regular meeting, expressed his frustration at an article he read that day in the Silver City Daily Press.
The article announced that Silver City Town Manager Alex Brown had made the decision to retire at the end of this year instead of at the negotiated extension of his contract to the end of 2026, due to the lack of respect at the July 29th Council meeting from two members of the Town Council— District 2 Councilor Nick Prince and District 3 Councilor Stan Snider.
Ponce said that he had known Brown since high school. "He was a great football player. This man came into the town to work as finance director when I worked at the Silver City Police Department. He is a good man, a great person and went on to become town manager. To me, town of Silver City does not understand what a manager they have there and what he's done for this community. This man has done wonders for the town of Silver City. His finance department has done great and what's disturbing to me is that you have two council members that don't understand what they have there. You know, in today's age, it seems like the louder you are, the more attention you get. And you only, sometimes, you only sit there and listen to certain groups and certain people that are pushing you to do things.
"And we forget that, as elected members of the community, we have to represent everyone, not just a certain view or not just the loudest group. They're going to miss Town Manager Alex Brown, and I'm going to tell you right now, it's going to be difficult for them to get another town manager like Mr. Brown, but if that's what the town council decided to push and go through, while I wish them luck, because there is nobody like Mr. Brown for Silver City. He was born, he was raised here. He cares about his community. Look at the things he's done that he was very instrumental in."
He said commissioners and town councilors have said for years that kids don't have enough to do in Silver City. "They don't look at the instrumental part Brown had in putting that rec center together, giving the kids something to do. Look at the things that he has done for the community. Look at their finances, how strong they are, and what he does for our community."
Ponce continued his frustration by saying it was a shame the the town has someone of Brown's caliber, and because of special interests, the councilors decide to look at other things. "You know what sort of bothers me, too, is I don't know what direction they want to head, or what direction they're going to head, but at the end of the day, they're going to lose somebody that they're going to wish they had back because of that."
"When I worked in an administrative position as a captain of the Silver City Police Department, even as a chief or or deputy chief, Mr Brown, when we had something like a violent or serious crime that happened within the town of Silver City, my job was to let him know. He would come out and would sit next to me in that police car, not to micromanage. He cared about his community. He wanted to know what we could do, what resources we needed, making sure that the officers had everything they needed to do the job that they needed to do to help our community. That's the type of person he is. You go talk to him. If you're reasonable and sensible, he's going to give you money. He's going to help you. He's going to help your budget. Many people from this community have approached him to help them in the community, to do certain things for them in this community, and he has been there."
"At the end of the day, this man did what he needed to do for his community. The other thing that sort of strikes me, is, as an elected official here in the town council or county commission, one of your biggest priorities is public safety. This man understands that, and he worked hard."
Ponce said that in Silver City, there have been attacks on law enforcement, "But in this case, a councilor starts disagreeing and trying to get rid of $2,000 already spent from Operation Stonegarden."
"Come on. You gotta lose the town manager because you don't understand what that money is used for? You need to take the time to see what that money's for. I attended a meeting for the Trout Fire. I'm not sure what other commissioners were there. I'm not going to mention his name, I had one of the town council members, and maybe I should mention his name, come to me where they should be kind of listening and understanding what's happening with our fires because of our public and public safety and what's in danger.
"And his biggest concern, and he even approached the sheriff, was because one of his buddies was put in jail for trying to block the road and trying to run over a state police officer and deputies. And that was his biggest concern at that time, asking, 'how do we get him out of jail?' That is unethical. Could I file an ethics complaint? Yeah, I'm not afraid. One thing I'm going to tell you about me is I will not sign anything anonymous. I was in law enforcement for 25 years. There are a lot of complaints out there, people sitting in prison because my name was put on it. So I'm not worried about putting complaints on anybody. But what disturbs me is that the focus that has been lost, and what this man, Alex Brown, has done for the town of Silver City,
"I sit up here, do I and our county manager (Charlene Webb), agree all the time? No, we don't. But there's a time and a place to sit down and explain to each other why we don't agree with it and what needs to be done. At the end of the day, our job, as a commissioner and mine, as chair of this commission, is to support our county manager and her staff with what they need to do. You know, my biggest thing when I started being a commissioner, and I started looking at all these things that we have with this and that, and she wants do things right. And you know what? She's done a great job doing that, and she's had to set me down and explain to me, because I'm a little stubborn. Everybody knows that, everybody hears me. I'm probably the most vocal person up here, and I see stuff and probably get the most hate. No, that's fine. I don't care. This is part of my job. She's done great.
"This is what they don't see. I don't know what the agenda is. I don't know what's going on, but I can tell you, they lost a great man when he retired. He was the best thing that happened for the town of Silver City. And I'm going to tell you, citizens of Silver City, be careful what you wish for and be careful who you vote for, because Silver City is going to go through a little turmoil. I don't care who the assistant town manager is. This man has the experience, has the education, and was from this community, and I am deeply saddened that we have two town councilors doing this. I think what needs to be happening is they need to listen to their constituents, because there's a lot of big things that they should be working on, other than what they're working on. And same thing for our commissions, there's a lot of bigger things that we need to work on, too.
"I'm saddened by this. I really am, and go on, send the hate mail. Do whatever you gotta. That's why this man was a great person, and this is what happens to him for doing his job. No, that's not right, and I've said it. And if any new town council members want to talk to me, call me. I'll meet you. We'll have coffee, we'll do whatever we need to. So, you know, understand where I'm coming from."
In his closing remarks, Ponce said: "I want to take my hat off to our county manager, t oour assistant county manager, and our finance director. The way we take care of our people is very important to us.Our county manager and our finance director, assistant county manager, they took it upon themselves and put a 5% increase in the budget for our employees. You know, employees, you ought to be thankful for that, because I'm going to tell you something. The leadership in our union missed an opportunity to open up negotiations for a raise or for whatever else they needed. They missed that opportunity. It is not management's responsibility to remind them of these opportunities. It is their responsibility to put it on their calendars when these timeframes come in to negotiate wages. But our county manager and her staff took it upon themselves to put in an increase for all our employees. That's what a county manager does, and that's what her staff does. So I really appreciate what they've done. I hope that our employees really appreciate and see that they're not just thinking of themselves, they're thinking of the employees that we have and also caring for them."
At the end he apologized to the public. "I am frustrated, and I hate to see our Town Manager go, and I do want to tell him, thank you. I appreciate everything you've done for Silver City. I wish you would reconsider. Things will get better, hopefully here soon. And so thank you. Mr. Brown."
District 5 Commissioner Thomas Shelley and District 4 Commission Eddie Flores echoed Ponce's remarks by saying that every time they had interactions with Town Manager Alex Brown, he had been always positive and helpful.
Flores also noted that he appreciated the efficient way that Brown always led meetings. "I hope the councilors will reconsider." He also agreed that the commissioners don't always agree on decisions, but they always act with respect.
