Town of Silver City recognizes Constitution week.

By Lynn Janes

The Silver City Town Council held a regular meeting August 26, 2025. Attendance to the meeting included Mayor Ken Ladner, Mayor Pro Tem Guadalupe Cano, and Councilors Nicholas Prince, Rudy Bencomo and Stan Snider.

Proclamations

September 17, 2025, will marks the 237th-year anniversary of the drafting of the U.S. Constitution of the United States of America. This designates September 17, 2025 – September 23, 2025, as Constitution week.

Lucy Whitmarsh attended to accept the proclamation. She thanked the town of Silver City for recognizing Constitution week. Whitmarsh has been a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), Jacob Bennett chapter and the DAR were instrumental in having Constitution week established.

Council comments

Bencomo didn't have any comments.

Snider thanked the mayor for scheduling a work session on parliamentary procedures

Prince thanked the efforts of the new parks and recreation director and staff for the opening of the new recreation center. He continued to thank all of those involved in moving the project forward. He mentioned the co-ops renovations, Lotus Center prayer wheel, Little Walnut, 32nd Street, waterworks, botanical gardens and downtown benches. "The town is changing and growing and we're clearing the biggest project started since the pause of the pandemic." He spoke to the people that commit themselves to the town and without them they would not have a town.

"Everyone has an opinion, not everyone participates. When you make mistakes, you get raked across every social circle. When you're successful, you're asked why you didn't do it some other way. I only have to put up with a fraction of it being on council, but the small glimpses I see from our employees and officers only makes me envious of the strength of their patience and calm."

Prince said Silver City has been home for 15 years but he was still blearning. "The myriads of ways people who look like me enforce division, ridicule, disenfranchisement, and poverty. In Chicago, growing up and attending school on the south side, we spent quite a bit of time in our history classes on Jim Crow, the Great Migration, redlining, white flight, gentrification, and urban renewal. How generation after generation, the same systems would reproduce hierarchies built on subjugation, exploitation, violence, and dehumanization, even when the out-groups became the new in-groups. The struggles we go through in our lives become fuel for the fire in our daily efforts."

Prince was surprised to learn that 30 years prior the city had hired employees for more money than the mines. He thought the value of the work for the city has been so grossly diminished because of inequality. He continued with all the bad things happening in the town and people leaving because they didn't feel safe.

"We have a diverse council. I know each councilor up here is looking at the same town I am from their window, and I know each councilor up here cares very deeply about this town. That is why I have no idea why we're putting any more on our plate for a federal administration that's cutting our budgets to enact a policy of a police state and mass deportation. I honestly can't tell if the police have drunk the Kool-Aid about what that root of these problems are or somehow think they're in control and will make out just fine with a little extra overtime. If we had better communications, things might not have escalated as poorly as we've seen this month. If we had an advisory board, we could have used that."

Prince continued with his complaints and saying he had been denied numerous requests for closed sessions. He pointed to the grievances filed and lawsuits threatened. "These were when performing my sworn duty to address the harm endured by the public I represent."

"Folks can't eat gold, and cash is a poor building material. I ask the citizens of our town to remember this when we're going through these hard years, and I'll ask management to remember that these times are made better through more democracy, not less. People need confidence. People need relief. People need to trust in our democratic bodies that their interests will be fairly represented. Not everyone gets what they want, but the changes made come from the kinds of debate, discussion, and decision-making that built this country past its need for kings and robber barons."

Cano wanted to thank the police department for the increased patrols downtown. She had heard from several business owners, and they had been really happy.

She noted that he CEO of Gila Regional Medical Center (GRMC), Rober Whitaker, has been hosting town hall meetings. He talked about how things have been going and how the hospital had been growing. They now have 23 specialists which she had not known and thought the community didn't either. She encouraged people to check out the website and see if they have a specialist they might need and could avoid having to travel.

Ladner said recently a council member has made a public comment that the city administration signed a contract without consulting the council. He referenced Stonegarden. He had made it sound like a serious omission. Ladner contacted the city attorney to ask him to give his opinion on the issue.

Charles Kretek, town attorney, said he had reviewed the ordinances for the town and specifically the one that applies to the town manager, the chief financial officer. It says it will be his obligation to sign contracts necessary for the operation or maintenance of the town and agreed that if fell under that power.

Ladner wanted to address the search for the town manager. Several things needed to be taken into consideration. The process will take a while and will not be completed by the end of the year. The months of September, October, November and December will be difficult to schedule the various meetings that will be required. The council will have Municipal League commitments, campaigns and then the holidays. After the election in November a potential entirely new council will be installed in January. Many department heads will be either new or acting as they wait for the new administration to fill the positions.

"If the council and a new mayor waits until the new year, this will give the new employees time to learn and settle into their positions. This will create stability for the town and the future. A job description still needs to be created for the new town manager." Ladner added that statements have been made by a few council members that a job description has already been created. A year or two ago, when the manager's contract would be expiring, a committee had been formed to create a job description for a new manager. Ladner said in speaking with the mayor pro tem and some members of that committee, not everyone had been satisfied with the job description drafted. At that time the town manager had agreed to stay until the end of 2026.

At the last council meeting the town manager announced he would be retiring the end of this year. "He said that after attending approximately 600 council meetings, but not until the last council meeting did that change when two counselors decided to make a mockery of the council, the community, and staff. 'It is sad that it happened that way and I won't be a part of that,' he said. So here we are today discussing replacing one of the premier managers in New Mexico or anywhere or anywhere else for that matter."

Ladner continued to recount his record and how unheard of for it has been for a town manager in a small town such as Silver City. He manages nine departments, 165 employees, similar to that of a CEO of a corporation. "In spite of distractions and attempts to micromanage his job by some council members who have very little managerial experience or management background or credibility of their own, in spite of this, he has done an outstanding job." Ladner cited a few examples; Brown has taken the leadership in developing and now implementing a regional water plan for all of Grant County that will ensure adequate water needs for all of the surrounding community members for years to come. A very recent example of his management skills has been the new recreational center. The project had not only been completed on time, but under budget as well. "If you're aware of different government contracts that are usually let out, this is a rare thing that occurred." Replacing him will be difficult. "I hope the current council and the next council will take their time and hire the best and most qualified manager." In the meantime, Ladner felt they had a competent assistant town manager, business operations manager and other city employees that have the experience and expertise to make a seamless transition.

Approval of minutes.

Prince and Snider would not approve the minutes from the July 29, 2025, meeting saying they had not been done correctly. Snider had a question on the minutes. "I've got a question on the minutes before we approve them. Yeah, I was wondering, that whole meeting is kind of a blur." He didn't think it had been put in the correct order of events. "I thought the whole meeting kind of went into a blur, but when we came back, I thought we had a motion to reconsider and a vote on the motion to reconsider, and I did not see that in the, it wasn't reflected in the minutes." Alfred Sedillo, town clerk, said he had sent the minutes out to them some time ago and had received corrections from both Snider and Prince and he had made them. Sedillo sent them out again and didn't hear anything from any of the council members. Snider said, "You know, I did not go and listen to the thing again, but I do kind of recall having a motion to reconsider, and I don't know if we ever had a vote reflected in the minutes, and it might not have been there." The confusion of that part of the meeting continued to be confused.

Prince said the minutes before him didn't include all the revisions he had asked for. Sedillo said he had emailed him this revision and had not heard back from him with any problems. Sedillo had done 27 pages for the minutes of the meeting originally and now it had gone to 28 pages. Prince again said it did not have the revisions he submitted.

Ladner asked Sedillo to meet with Prince and Snider to make the changes they wanted reflected. The approval of the minutes for July 29, 2025, will be postponed.

Ladner asked that the council review the minutes when Sedillo sends them out. He added that hours and hours have been spent putting the minutes together.

The council approved the minutes from August 12, 2025.

Public input

Laura Schoen said she could see that July 29, 2025, that had been a sad day for the town looked like it might be continuing. "I watched in total disbelief, what an embarrassment to our town." The people that should be concerned for the community became self-serving and self-righteous. "Certain people were so fixated about ICE you totally disregarded our community safety. How dare you sacrifice our safety for your cause." She suggested if they had so much concern to make their homes safe houses.

Schoen said $28,000 would not be much but it could make a difference allowing more patrols so that an elderly woman that has owned her home for 50 years could feel safe to come outside. She spoke to some people that had left downtown due to being scared. She would like to hire someone to help in her store but didn't want to put anyone in that position. She shamed the council members that had voted against Stonegarden and didn't blame the town manager for not wanting to be part of their selfishness and disregard for the whole community and had every right to call the council members out. "How could you be so narrow-minded not to think about the betterment of Silver City? How could it be a negative for us not to receive additional support for our town? Yet that is the only direction your mind went, not at the positive it could do. I will call you out, too, Councilman Prince and Snider. How can you sit up there with such a negative viewpoint of Silver City? Shame on you. Shame on you for voting for a cause and not for the safety of your community. In my opinion, you don't deserve to be up there. "

Simon Wheaton-Smith had come to speak to the council as a private citizen. He wanted to advocate for the town to adopt the Roberts Rules of Order. He also referenced the New Mexico Municipal Legue provides a Rules of Procedure. He spoke to both and highlighted some procedures and thought it might help.

Raul Turrieta is chief deputy assessor for Grant County, and also serves as the president of the museum society. He had been in Bayard to honor Jovita Gonzales and wanted to acknowledge her. She had been on the Bayard city council and a Grant County commissioner. Turrieta had considered her a mentor since he started in the assessor's office at twenty years old. "Anyone that runs for office is a winner, win or lose. I admire all of us that run for office." He wished them good luck in the upcoming election.

Turrieta encouraged everyone to attend Carnitas Musica Y Mas and went into some of the events and music they would have.

He has served in county government for the past 44 years and wanted to make a few statements. He thanked his wife for being his biggest supporter. "I am honored to be part of the museum society, and we are still hanging on." He named the people in the society and their contributions adding to feel free to talk to them anytime.

Turrieta said, "Alex you have done a phenomenal job. I saw you on the first day you walked in, and we can come to you."

He added the majority of the museum society has been natives. "Please know the issues and come talk to us. We are here and our door is open." He knew November would bring a whole new story and wished all good luck.

Burke Fleming said he had received a phone call from Gretchen Tatch. She was the sister-in-law of Frank Tatch. He husband had been involved in building a number of places around the area and she had some items she wanted to donate to the American Legion. He received the boxes and took them to Susan Berry to take a look at. Berry had worked at the museum for years and he thought she might be interested.

Three days later Burke came back to retrieve the boxes and take them to the American Legion. She said she had given them to the museum. "Susan, you have no authority to do that. They are to go to the American Legion." At that point he went to the museum, and they said they could not give it back. He received a letter back from Tatch saying she didn't want the museum to have anything because of a past issue she had with them on an item loaned they would not return.

At this point Fleming contacted Alex Brown, town manager and Fleming called what they had done embezzlement. Brown said, "Those are awfully strong words." Fleming called Ladner and asked if he could do anything. Ladner said, "We have problems with the museum." Later Brown called Fleming and said he could pick up the items. Fleming told Joe Drake, commander of the American Legion, he could pick up the items. The museum would not give them to him when he went to pick them up. Fleming made more calls. The following week he had been able to pick them up and the museum didn't provide an inventory. He went into some of the things that should be there.

Fleming went into an incident with items from the Lim family that had been in the area a long time ago and owned a restaurant. The museum came in and again took items and didn't do any kind of inventory. He later found out a lot of the Lim items had been sent to Deming. The family thought it would stay in Silver City in honor of her family. She had been very upset.

He felt the museum needed to have some kind of inventory control.

Roger Tree said he had come from Tucson but grew up in Scottsdale. If someone wanted to come speak at a council meeting, they would be one of a million. "This feels good to have a small town that you can attend a meeting like this." He had immersed himself in the community and talked about all the nonprofits in town. "It is totally amazing." It had become clear to him how hard it has been to operate in a city with limited funding and a small population, but everyone did a commendable job.

Tree volunteers with the museum society and added they had some issues with the museum. The society has taken the stance they will take the high road and not broadcast the problems which had not been reciprocated. He said they had provided the council with documents and wondered if they had been read because this has been going on for a long time. The society will be providing more, and he hoped the council would take them into consideration. Tree said, "I am an Anglo, but we have a lot of Hispanics on the board. I hope we can move forward in a positive way."

Jose Ray said what he would be about to say would be his own opinion. He had come to talk about Brown and his time working with him during his tenure on the council.

Ray watched, listened, observed, the leadership of his position. "You always were very professional with all your constituents, including myself." Ray continued, "Mr. Brown, you went way above your duties of the job. You always were very attentive to the public needs. You helped the public in more ways than we know, than we noticed." He added that nobody deserved to be ridiculed like he had been.

In the past, Ray had a conversation with Prince and at that time Ray hoped he would change his heart but had not. "Mr. Snider, you have no idea how much you are hated by the town. Mr. Prince, I googled your name. And what I googled and what I found out was very disturbing. Mr. Snider, we talked at my house for over an hour, and you wanted to defund the police with a committee. I told you I was not for it, and I'm not for it. I asked you what happens if we start a committee to oversee your committee, and it still stands. I'm very disappointed in both of you. Very, very disappointed. You have no idea what you're doing." He told them they needed to learn to talk man to man and not go behind people's backs.

Ray said, "I was always proud to be a town councilor and when I asked for things Mr. Brown you always gave it to us, you gave to everybody."

"If the wrong people get on the council, what we have been doing for the town of Silver City is not going to happen anymore." Ray spoke to all the events in the town and named a long list. "Please, you guys, change your attitudes. Change your minds. There comes a time when all things end."

With that being said, "Mr. Brown, I truly enjoyed you. As a town manager, a public servant, boss, a man of patience, a mediator, a person of good heart, and intentions. We must also not forget that you did a lot of babysitting. Que Dios te bendiga a tu y a tu familia. God bless you and your family. Enjoy your retirement and welcome to our club. Amigos por siempre. Friends forever. "

Reports

Managers report

Brown said Jacqui Olea, assistant town manager, had something she wanted to read to the council. She had a letter from the trails and open spaces committee. The letter endorsed the pack burro race. A representative had attended their meeting and provided a novel proposal and had done an excellent job answering questions about the event. The committee felt the nature of the event perfectly aligned with Silver City mining history and would provide an economic benefit to the town and businesses. The committee had expressed concern about the impact of dozens of burros and their handlers running along Boston Hill trails that could be vulnerable to damage. They asked that the town staff evaluate the event's impacts, both positive and negative. They added that this could be an annual event and should be taken into consideration when evaluating the impact.

Brown said they would be assisting them with lodgers' tax funding for advertising since it will be the first year. They also have another grant that could help with advertising.

Sedillo provided a list of the candidates for the upcoming election. For the mayoral candidates they had Simon Wheaton-Smith, Dale Lane, Levi Emmett Timmons and Councilor Gaudalupe Cano. The district two candidates will be Nicholas Prince, Eric Ernest Vreeland and Jep Andrew Housley. The district four candidates will be Victor Nanez and Jennifer R. Ryder. The municipal judge has two candidates Mark Larry Van Buskirk and Olga Jean Orosco Munoz.

New business

The council approved canceling the September 9, 2025, regular council meeting.

The council approved the amended Grant County JPA (joint powers agreement) for consolidated public safety answering point (PSAP). Brown said the amended one addressed the updated software system. The other thing will be the billing which has before used the responding agency and now will be the area of the activity. If the county responds in Silver City, Silver City will pay. In the unincorporated the county will pay for it. He had an example of the county responding to a call in Hurley and it would be paid by Hurley because it served those residents. The last change to the JPA Gila Regional Medical Center will be a member and charged accordingly.

The council approved the recommendation of the mayor to reappoint Patricia Stoller to the trails and open spaces advisory committee. Ladner had received a letter of recommendation from the committee in which is said she had been a valuable member. Ladner said he had also spoken to her and been impressed by her willingness to serve. She has been reading the minutes from previous meetings and will be going in with an open mind.

The council approved, Prince abstained, for Cano to be the voting delegate at the 2025 Municipal League Annual Conference. Historically the mayor has served as a voting delegate and the mayor pro tem as the alternate. Ladner said he could not attend.

Cano made a motion for Snider to be the alternate. All council members approved.

The council went into executive session to discuss threatened or pending litigation in which the Silver City Museum may or may not become a participant.

The council came back from executive session and attested that no other business had been discussed except what they listed would be discussed.

Meeting adjourned