A Promise Unkept: Six Weeks After a 7-0 Vote, Alamogordo's City Commission Has Still Not Offered Dr. Stephanie Hernandez a Contract — and Taxpayers May Pay the Price

An Investigative Report | Alamogordo Town News / 2nd Life MediaBy Staff Reporters | April 26, 2026

Alamogordo , NM — On the evening of March 10, 2026, the Alamogordo City Commission did something that had not happened in years: it spoke with one voice. In a unanimous 7-0 vote, the commission directed the city clerk and city attorney to launch contract negotiations with Dr. Stephanie Hernandez for the permanent city manager role. The motion was put forward by Commissioner Mark Tapley and seconded by Commissioner Warren Robinson. 2nd Life Media Alamogordo

The community rejoiced. City staff exhaled. After more than two years of instability, political theater, ethics investigations, and the withdrawal of multiple outside candidates spooked by the commission's reputation for dysfunction, it appeared Alamogordo had finally chosen a path forward.

Six weeks later, Dr. Hernandez still does not have a contract. She has not received a formal offer of employment.

And according to sources to include former commission members familiar with the going on of city hall, a faction of the same commissioners who voted unanimously in favor of negotiating that contract are now quietly maneuvering to bury it — or replace it with a costly settlement.

This is the story of how a unanimous public vote was followed by a cascade of closed-door meetings, alleged legal maneuvering, an EEOC inquiry, and a commission faction that community members say is willing to spend hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars rather than honor a vote they themselves cast.

The History: A Decade of Dysfunction and a Pattern of Costly PayoffsTo understand what is happening today, you must understand what has happened before.For ten years, the city manager's office in Alamogordo has been less a seat of governance than a revolving door — spinning through scandal, factional warfare, and political sabotage. From 2015 to 2025, at least seven individuals have held the role, many in interim capacities, with tenures averaging just over a year. The result: fractured leadership, wasted taxpayer dollars, and a city government often paralyzed by internal conflict. 2nd Life Media Alamogordo

Public records and prior reporting tell a damning story of that pattern: Jim Stahle's quiet resignation in 2015 marked the beginning of Alamogordo's instability. Dr. George Straface's brief interim tenure followed and was not without controversy. Then came Maggie Paluch, whose tenure imploded in scandal after a December 2018 letter from Police Chief Brian Peete accused her of fostering inappropriate relationships with subordinates and creating a toxic work environment. Paluch resigned under pressure, leaving behind a fractured administration and a demoralized staff but received a large payout as a settlement to go away. 2nd Life Media Alamogordo

Her tenure had not been without accomplishments — she introduced the city's first comprehensive annual report and attracted major retailers — but she departed amid lawsuits and controversy surrounding the suspension of the police chief.

Public documents and city records paint a picture of chronic instability.

Others departed which came with a price tag for taxpayers of close to one million dollars- money that could be fixing the roads by the post office and around town . The revolving door has included settlements tied to the departures of Dr. George Straface, Maggie Paluch, Brian Cesar, and Rick Holden.

Exact settlement amounts are being procured via IPRA request from public records along with what prompted these payouts and the commissioners tied to these payouts to include past investigations into Al Hernandez, Stephen Burnett and Josh Rardin - a pattern that is repeating itself - a pattern that justifies term limits on city commissioners due to entrenched power and perceived corruption.

Political science researchers from the University of California system who have studied commission-manager governments nationwide emphasize that frequent city manager turnover severely undermines municipal effectiveness. Each managerial change resets progress, creates "learning curve" delays, slows infrastructure projects, and contributes to staff demoralization and taxpayer resource waste. 2nd Life Media Alamogordo

Past Precedent Raises Serious Questions About Present State of Affairs

Past commission action establishes a clear precedent: when the Alamogordo City Commission has voted to authorize a city manager contract, that contract has been drafted, negotiated, and returned to the commission for final approval within two to four weeks.

When the commission voted 7-0 to authorize the city attorney to draft an employment contract for Rick Holden, it moved quickly to contract execution. 2nd Life Media Alamogordo

The same pattern held with Brian Cesar's appointment. In both cases, the interval between commission authorization and formal contract approval was measured in days to weeks — not weeks to months.

That precedent makes what is happening now all the more conspicuous. As of the publication of this report, more than six weeks have passed since the 7-0 vote directing contract negotiations with Dr. Hernandez. The contract has not appeared on a public agenda for commission approval

Sources familiar with city hall operations and previous commissioners say it has not been formally offered. Per New Mexico law — specifically NMSA 1978 § 3-14-13 — the city manager shall be the chief administrative officer, employed for an indefinite term and until a vacancy is created by death, resignation or removal by the commission. 2nd Life Media Alamogordo

A commission vote to enter contract negotiations carries legal and ethical weight. Failing to follow through on that vote, legal observers note, is not a neutral act.

The Legal Landscape: What Precedent Says About Failure to Follow Through

New Mexico courts have been clear: government bodies cannot use procedural delay or bad faith maneuvering to undermine employment decisions that have already been publicly authorized.

The landmark case Palenick v. City of Rio Rancho is instructive. In that case, where a municipality terminated a plaintiff as city manager in violation of the Open Meetings Act, the New Mexico courts found that the city had breached the employment agreement. New Mexico PRC

The implications for Alamogordo are significant. A 7-0 public vote authorizing contract negotiations is a formal public act — recorded in minutes, witnessed by the public, and binding on the body that cast it in spirit if not yet in final contract form. Legal experts consulted for background by this outlet note that deliberately delaying or subverting such a vote — particularly when the delay appears motivated by discriminatory animus — could expose the city and individual commissioners to claims of breach of implied contract, employment discrimination, and violations of the New Mexico Open Meetings Act.

The Open Meetings Act declares that "a representative government is dependent on an informed electorate" and that the public is entitled to information regarding the affairs of government and the official acts of public officers and employees who represent them. New Mexico Department of Justice

The New Mexico Open Meetings Act's "limited personnel matters" exception allows a public body to meet in executive session to discuss an individual employee's dismissal, promotion, resignation, complaint or shortcomings however it does not allow for the process to be used as a delay tactic in a hiring decision that was already approved by a 7-0 vote.

That distinction matters. Former elected officials familiar with the executive sessions held say that discussions often range well beyond the narrow statutory scope of "limited personnel matters" — straying into territory that constitutes policy deliberation that must occur in open session.

New Mexico's Attorney General has made the state's position crystal clear in the current environment. "The Open Meetings Act is not optional," Attorney General Raúl Torrez said recently in a related matter. "It ensures that public business is conducted in the open, not rushed through under the guise wof an emergency when no true emergency exists. New Mexicans have a right to transparency and accountability from their local governments, especially when decisions of this magnitude are being made." GovPing

The Closed Doors: A Cascade of Executive Sessions

Since the March 10 vote, public records from the City Commission portal show that the city has called a special meeting for an executive closed session on April 7, 2026, and another special meeting for an executive closed session on April 21, 2026 Alamogordo — in addition to executive sessions within regular commission meetings to include another scheduled for this week as a part of the regular meeting agenda.

Sources with past connections to city hall, tell Alamogordo Town News that several of those executive sessions have been requested or driven by commissioners who opposed Dr. Hernandez's hiring — including Mayor Pro Tem Josh Rardin, Commissioner Stephen Burnett, and Commissioner Alfonso "Al" Hernandez. The public justifications offered for these closed sessions have been "limited personnel matters" and "pending litigation." But sources familiar with the process say the meetings are functioning as delay tactics — building a political case against delivering the contract. Per the former elected official “this is a tactic from an old play book used by Josh Rardin and Al Hernandez for years, it’s unethical and it’s outside of public view - shady and pushes the limits of the law.”

The pattern is consistent with prior behavior as witnessed by past actions. When former Mayor Susan Payne successfully championed a landmark first responder pay increase, Rardin vehemently opposed it, resulting in loud, unprofessional outbursts during executive session debates and abuse of executive session protocols, revealing entrenched resistance. His history of outbursts and conversations overheard by others led to ethics investigations into his temperament and behavior. 2nd Life Media Alamogordo

Government officials outside of local government confirmed an EEOC complaint and investigation notice issued to the city. Former city leaders speculate Rardin and allies, including Commissioner Stephen Burnett, are targets, based on a history of complaints and investigations during their tenures. 2nd Life Media Alamogordo

This newspaper confirmed prior to the March 10 vote that an EEOC investigation was already underway into commission misconduct related to the city manager hiring process. Staff members and commissioners have been questioned as part of that inquiry. The investigation pre-dates the 7-0 vote — meaning the commission cast a unanimous ballot to negotiate a contract with Dr. Hernandez while at least some members knew an EEOC inquiry was active against them.

The Betrayal: A Commissioner Blurts Out

The fractures within the commission have become impossible to conceal.

Multiple sources with direct knowledge of recent events tell this outlet that Commissioner Mark Tapley — who sponsored the original 7-0 motion to negotiate Dr. Hernandez's contract — was overheard in the hallway of City Hall in recent days in a heated exchange with Commissioners Rardin and Al Hernandez. According to those sources, Tapley confronted the pair, telling them directly that they had "stabbed him in the back.

Tapley, sources say, was incensed that the commissioners who voted with him on March 10 are now leading a faction to reverse or circumvent that vote.

The about-face by Rardin, Burnett, Al Hernandez, and Commissioner Pattillo is not subtle

Sources from the golf course crowd with close ties to the four commissioners in the faction to renege say the 4 are colluding, and are now actively exploring whether to settle with Dr. Hernandez — potentially for a sum in the hundreds of thousands of dollars — rather than honor the contract vote and “just make her go away.”

This newspaper has been told that Commissioner Rardin, when confronted about the cost of a potential settlement, responded with words to the effect of: "It's not my money." A half-million-dollar taxpayer settlement, in Rardin's apparent calculus, is preferable to handing a qualified, unanimously-selected candidate the job she was voted to receive - $500,000 would do a lot of road repairs, but it appears Josh Rardin, Al Hernandez, Stephen Burnett and Baxter Patillo would rather pay a potentially lethal EEOC case settlement to make Dr Hernandez go away rather than fix roads the citizens demand fixed. Ego over road repairs with limited taxpayer fund. This demands an AG investigation.

.This is the same pattern that has defined Alamogordo's city manager revolving door for a decade: political vendettas funded by taxpayers, process weaponized against qualified public servants, and accountability deferred indefinitely behind closed doors.

The Woman at the Center

Dr. Stephanie Hernandez has capably served as acting city manager for 27 months, standing poised to become the first Hispanic leader in this pivotal position and the most highly educated in decades, armed with a Ph.D

She implemented performance-based budgeting, corrected underfunded liabilities in the city's self-insurance program, scrutinized contracts, and pushed for precision in contingency funds. She oversaw a necessary water rate increase tied to infrastructure loans and managed a 200% surge in public records requests without compromising service

She has overseen an $80–95 million all-funds budget and roughly 330 employees while emphasizing transparency, contract oversight, and fiscal corrections. She hired nine new department directors, secured critical grants for infrastructure, and introduced performance-based budgeting that has begun reversing recent dysfunction — establishing the most diverse and educated director-level leadership in the city's history

The visible hostility toward Dr. Hernandez from Rardin, Hernandez and Burnett commissioners has been witnessed by staff, residents, and fellow commissioners. It is not subtle. It is not new. And it is now the subject of an EEOC investigation.

IPRA Demand: Alamogordo Town News has all emails, notes, draft contract documents, and any communications between commissioners — including the Mayor with attachments and documents internal and external, related to the hiring of city manager Dr. Stephanie Hernandez. Commissioners Rardin, Burnett and Hernandez attempt to try to hide these documents from the press and the public behind the excuse of “personnel matters” or “pending litigation,” in an effort to hide their antics behind executive session and outside of public view. Alamogordo Town News if necessary will seek the resources of the state Attorney Generals Office, and possibly direct litigation, if necessary for full transparency and full document release to the public, of all documents related to the matter of hiring Dr Stephanie Hernandez.

New Mexico law is clear: communications about official city business are subject to IPRA.
The Bottom Line

The Alamogordo City Commission voted 7-0 — unanimously, publicly, on the record — to negotiate and issue a contract to Dr. Stephanie Hernandez. That vote was witnessed by residents, recorded in minutes, and celebrated by a community exhausted by years of dysfunction. Six weeks later, no contract has been offered. Secret executive sessions have multiplied. An EEoC inquiry is active. A commissioner is openly accusing his colleagues of betrayal. And at least four commissioners appear to prefer paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer money to make Dr. Hernandez go away rather than give her the job they voted to give her.

Alamogordo's city manager's office has been less a seat of governance than a revolving door for a decade. 2nd Life Media Alamogordo

The question now is whether this commission will choose to be the one that finally breaks that cycle — or the one that proves, once again, that in Alamogordo, a unanimous public vote means nothing when the wrong people decide they don't like the outcome.

The voters are watching and need to comment at Tuesdays commission meeting. The AG is watching. And so are we.

Note: Alamogordo Town News / 2nd Life Media is committed to transparency and fact-based local journalism. Additional tips, information or documents, and records related to this story may be submitted confidentially to ChrisEdwards@KALHRadio.org This report is based on public records, official commission documents, prior reporting, sourced interviews with former commission members and legal research. Statements attributed to commissioners based on overheard conversations are sourced from multiple individuals with direct knowledge and have not been independently confirmed by the commissioners named.

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