Commission Votes 5-2 to Hire New City Manager Robert Stockwell — Without Public Debate, Without Naming Candidates in Advance, and With the Mayor Absent, Calling in and Objecting for Transparency Reasons

The Alamogordo City Commission voted 5-2 on June 15, 2026 to hire a city manager following a closed executive session — with Mayor Sharon McDonald calling in toward the end and voting no, and Commissioner Warren Robinson voting no. No candidate was named in the agenda before the meeting. No contract terms were publicly disclosed. No commissioner stated their reasons at the dais before the public. This outcome vindicates five months of reporting by this outlet. The citizens lost the process. The courts still have the case.

ALAMOGORDO, N.M. — The Alamogordo City Commission voted 5-2 this morning to hire a city manager Robert Stockwell, approving the selection following a closed executive session at the Donald E. Carroll Commission Chambers. The vote was taken without prior public identification of any candidate, without public disclosure of any contract terms, without a public comment period, and without a single commissioner standing at the dais before their constituents and explaining their vote before casting it.

Mayor Sharon McDonald, who was traveling and called in toward the end of the proceedings, voted no. Commissioner Warren Robinson voted no. The four-commissioner bloc — Commissioners Baxter Pattillo, Stephen Burnett, Joshua Rardin, and Al Hernandez — voted yes and joined by Mark Tapley.

Robert Stockwell, who served as Alamogordo's city manager from 1992 until a 5-1 commission vote terminated him in 1997, was present in the chambers and prepared for the closed-door discussion. He was the subject of five months of reporting by this outlet, which first documented in January 2026 that the four-commissioner bloc was quietly maneuvering to install him regardless of the formal process.

Today's vote confirms that reporting by this news agency was accurate from its first word.

"Following Dr. Hernandez's departure, I repeatedly asked my colleagues to either appoint an Acting City Manager or start an open recruitment process. At least 3 times, those recommendations were rejected. The lack of foresight has now created the very urgency I warned about." — Mayor Sharon McDonald, June 11, 2026

What Happened This Morning

The Commission convened the special meeting at 10:00 AM as noticed. The meeting opened with a brief public session, then adjourned into a closed executive session under § 10-15-1(H)(2) — the limited personnel matters exception — for 'City Manager recruitment and City Manager hiring.' Robert Stockwell was present before the session began.

Mayor McDonald was not physically present. She had communicated her travel plans to a colleague before the meeting was placed on the calendar. Mayor Pro Tem Josh Rardin — a member of the four-commissioner bloc — presided in her absence.

The Commission reconvened in open session and, under Item 3 of the agenda — 'Action, if any, related to the Executive Closed Session' — voted 5-2 to hire the selected candidate. The public learned for the first time, at the moment of the vote, that the decision had been made. No commissioner explained their reasoning. No public comment was taken before the vote. No contract terms were disclosed. The meeting adjourned.

This is the exact sequence — closed session, immediate vote, no deliberation, no explanation — that Alamogordo Town News and Concerned Citizens of Alamogordo have documented across thirteen separate OMA incidents since February 2026 and which are the subject of pending litigation in Case No. D-1215-CV-2026-00514 before Judge Lori L. Gibson Willard in the Twelfth Judicial District Court.

Five Months Ago, We Told You Exactly This Would Happen

On January 23, 2026, Alamogordo Town News and New Mexico Conservative News published a joint report under the headline 'Alamogordo Insiders Reportedly Champion Former City Manager Robert Stockwell — Despite Questionable History — for Open Position.' That article is available at newmexicoconservativenews.com and at 2ndlifemediaalamogordo.town.news. It reported the following, based on tips from multiple sources, nearly five months before today's vote:

Mayor Pro Tem Josh Rardin and Commissioner Stephen Burnett were identified by name as the key figures 'pushing the agenda of the Alamogordo insiders' and had 'quietly committed to favorable votes' for Stockwell. The remaining external finalists — including Dana Schoening and Jerry Flannery — had withdrawn, with one taking other employment elsewhere. The sole remaining viable candidate in any legitimate process was Acting City Manager Dr. Stephanie J. Hernandez, who had earned high performance ratings, stabilized operations, implemented performance-based budgeting, corrected underfunded liabilities, secured grants, and managed budgets of $80 to $95 million with measurable success.

That January article also documented Stockwell's specific history. He served as Alamogordo's city manager from 1992 to 1997. The City Commission voted 5-1 to terminate him in July 1997 following conflicts that included his push to force the resignation of the Alamogordo Department of Public Safety Director over alleged favoritism. His departure included a reported settlement payout of approximately $124,000 from the city during a period of fiscal strain. In 2016, a motion to bring him back failed 4-3 — after closed-session negotiations had gone so far that Stockwell allegedly notified city hall staff of his return and incurred preparation and travel expenses. A smaller settlement was reportedly paid. In April 2019, Stockwell was placed on paid administrative leave as city manager of California City, California, following a performance evaluation, and resigned in May 2019.

Our January reporting named the commissioners, named the candidate, described the insider coordination, and documented the history. It concluded with this editorial note: 'If a change is desired by insiders, then it needs to be a clean change not a change backwards to when the city had a $2.2 million dollar budget deficit and faced staff cutbacks.'

We reached out to Rardin and Burnett for comment before publication of that article. Neither responded. Today, Rardin presided over the special meeting in the Mayor's absence. Burnett voted yes. The plan documented on January 23 executed on June 15 through a 5-2 vote conducted entirely behind closed doors.

Our January 23 reporting named the commissioners, named the candidate, described the insider coordination, and documented the history. That was 143 days ago. Today's vote was the conclusion of a plan that was already in motion before most citizens knew a search was underway.

The 7-0 Vote Was Never Intended to Be Honored 

The March 10, 2026 unanimous 7-0 vote to offer Dr. Hernandez a contract as permanent city manager was, in the sworn judgment of a sitting commissioner who was physically in the room during the session that reversed it, never genuinely intended by the majority to be fulfilled.

Commissioner Warren Robinson — who voted yes on March 10 and seconded that motion — walked out of the April 28 closed session that produced the 4-3 reversal. He signed a notarized sworn statement on June 11, 2026, attesting under penalty of perjury that during the April 28 session 'it was obvious to me that the majority had preplanned the meeting and decided the outcome before the session began' and that the four-commissioner bloc 'had no intention of offering Dr. Hernandez a valid contract.' He described their conduct as 'underhanded maneuverings' reflecting a 'lack of honesty and integrity.' He wrote in paragraph 8: 'The proceedings were inconsistent with the ethical conduct required of elected officials and with the public's right to transparent government under the New Mexico Open Meetings Act.'

Dr. Hernandez herself confirmed publicly on June 9, at her final commission meeting, that the traditional contract route was deliberately stalled after the 7-0 vote: seven weeks passed without 'even a hint of a contract,' despite every prior city manager receiving a signed contract the same week as their vote. She described the EEOC complaint she ultimately filed not as adversarial litigation but as a negotiation vehicle — 'two options' she presented because the traditional route was being blocked. That EEOC complaint became the justification for closed executive sessions under the attorney-client privilege exception — sessions that, as Commissioner Tapley confirmed on the record at the June 9 meeting, were held without a city attorney present.

The 7-0 vote was the show. The closed sessions were the substance. Today's 5-2 vote was the conclusion. That is what the court record now documents across thirteen separate OMA violations, a sworn insider account, and five months of reporting that turned out to be accurate.

"In my judgment, the executive closed session of April 28, 2026 was not a genuine deliberation on the noticed topics. The outcome had been determined before the session began." — Commissioner Warren Robinson, Notarized Sworn Statement, June 11, 2026

What We Filed Four Days Ago — and Why the Courts Still Have the Case

On June 11, 2026, Alamogordo Town News, publisher Chris Edwards, and Concerned Citizens of Alamogordo filed three emergency documents with the Twelfth Judicial District Court asking Judge Gibson Willard to halt this exact vote before it could happen.

The Emergency Supplement documented thirteen OMA violations, the special meeting notice, Mayor McDonald's public condemnation, Acting City Manager Dr. Hernandez's written acknowledgment of the pending litigation, a sworn statement from Commissioner Robinson, and reports from four independent business community sources who each separately described the Stockwell appointment as a 'done deal' confirmed by the four commissioners — using nearly identical language.

The Proposed Temporary Restraining Order asked the court to restrain the Commission from appointing any city manager before the June 23 hearing, to require preservation of all commissioner communications about the appointment and about Robert Stockwell, and to compel sworn testimony from Mayor McDonald, City Clerk Rachael Hughes, and Acting City Manager Dr. Hernandez about how the special meeting was scheduled.

The Motion to Compel Appearance and Testimony asked the court to require those three witnesses to testify under oath — including about whether Commissioner Pattillo coordinated the special meeting through individual commissioner phone calls outside a properly noticed public meeting, which Commissioner Robinson confirmed to this reporter directly and which constitutes a rolling quorum violation under New Mexico law.

The court did not rule on those filings before this morning's meeting. The June 23, 2026 hearing remains on the calendar at 8:00 AM. The question before that court is not whether the appointment happened — it did — but whether it can stand. Under NMSA 1978, § 10-15-3(A), actions taken in violation of the Open Meetings Act are void. Under N.M. State Investment Council v. Weinstein, 2016-NMCA-069, OMA notice violations independently invalidate resulting actions regardless of whether the parties agreed on the substance.

The courts will decide whether today's vote is void. We will be at the June 23 hearing to present the case.

Commissioner Robinson's Sworn Statement — Filed Before the Vote

Among the documents filed June 11 was a notarized sworn statement from Commissioner Warren Robinson — who voted no today. In that statement, signed under penalty of perjury before a notary public in Otero County, Robinson attested that during the April 28, 2026 closed session that reversed the unanimous 7-0 public directive to hire Dr. Hernandez:

'It was obvious to me that the majority had preplanned the meeting and decided the outcome before the session began.' He stated the proceedings reflected 'underhanded maneuverings' and that he 'left the meeting disappointed in the lack of honesty and integrity of the actions I witnessed.' In paragraph 8, he wrote: 'In my judgment, the executive closed session of April 28, 2026 was not a genuine deliberation on the noticed topics. The outcome had been determined before the session began. The proceedings were inconsistent with the ethical conduct required of elected officials and with the public's right to transparent government under the New Mexico Open Meetings Act.'

Commissioner Robinson's no vote today is consistent with that sworn statement. He voted for Hernandez in March. He walked out of the April 28 session that reversed that vote. He swore under oath it was preplanned. And he voted against this morning's appointment.

Our Position — Unchanged, Precise, and On the Record

We stated this clearly before the vote and we restate it now: we have no objection to Robert Stockwell serving as interim or permanent city manager if he is the best qualified candidate from a pool of multiple publicly identified, publicly vetted candidates considered through a transparent process.

What we object to is a process in which no candidate was named in the agenda before the meeting. No proposed contract terms were disclosed to the public before the vote. No opportunity for public comment was provided before the decision was made. And — most critically — not a single commissioner stood at the dais before their constituents and stated, on the record and in public, why they support this particular person over any other, what criteria they applied, what their prior relationship with the candidate is, and why this rushed process serves the public interest better than an open recruitment would have.

That last obligation is not procedural. It is the core of representative government. An elected official's accountability to the public is not discharged by casting a silent vote after a closed session. It is discharged by deliberating openly — by defending their reasoning in the room where the people who elected them can hear it, question it, and hold them to it. That is what the dais is for. That is what the Open Meetings Act was written to require. And that is what did not happen this morning.

Over 32 percent of Alamogordo's citizens live below the poverty line. Most families in this community count their dimes. The city manager position commands a salary between $175,000 and $215,000 annually, directing an organization that manages an $80-$95 million budget and affects the daily lives of more than 31,000 residents. Those residents deserved to know who was being considered, why, and on what terms — before the decision was made. They were denied that today.

"An elected official has an obligation — both ethically and legally — to debate and define their decisions before the public. Anything less is unethical, immoral, and illegal." — Chris Edwards, Publisher

What Happens Now

The June 23, 2026 hearing before Judge Lori L. Gibson Willard in the Twelfth Judicial District Court remains scheduled at 8:00 AM — now eight days away. The Commission also has a regularly scheduled meeting that evening at 6:30 PM. The legal questions before the court are significant and unresolved.

Can today's vote be declared void under § 10-15-3(A) of the Open Meetings Act? The petition argues yes — and the Weinstein precedent supports that argument. Can the settlement agreement with Dr. Hernandez — $485,000 from general taxpayer funds, never publicly deliberated — be compelled for public disclosure? The Las Cruces Sun-News precedent says yes. Can a 24-month structural compliance injunction requiring sworn post-session certifications be ordered to prevent this pattern from continuing under the next city manager? The court will decide.

We do not know how the court will rule. We know what the record shows. Thirteen documented OMA violations. A sworn statement from a sitting commissioner that the April 28 outcome was predetermined. An on-the-record admission by a commissioner that no attorney was present when the attorney-client privilege exception was invoked. A sitting city manager who publicly confirmed the EEOC complaint was a negotiation tool, not adversarial litigation. A mayor who publicly confirmed her open process recommendations were rejected three times. And a special meeting, held in her absence, that produced a vote with no public deliberation and no commissioner explanation.

The citizens of Alamogordo deserved better than this. We will continue to say so — in print, before the courts, and in every forum available to us as a press organization operating under the legal protections guaranteed to the press.

The hearing is June 23. We will be there.

Case No. D-1215-CV-2026-00514 | Chris Edwards et al. v. Alamogordo City Commission | Twelfth Judicial District Court, Otero County, New Mexico | Judge Lori L. Gibson Willard | Hearing: June 23, 2026, 8:00 AM, Remote via Zoom | Controlling Authorities: Las Cruces Sun-News, 2003-NMCA-102; Weinstein, 2016-NMCA-069; NMSA 1978, §§ 10-15-3(A), 10-15-3(C), 10-15-4.

Documents filed June 11, 2026: (1) Petitioners' Second Emergency Supplement to Ex Parte Motion for Temporary Restraining Order; (2) Proposed Order Granting Emergency Temporary Restraining Order; (3) Emergency Motion for Order Compelling Appearance and Testimony of Mayor Sharon McDonald, City Clerk Rachael Hughes, and Acting City Manager Dr. Stephanie J. Hernandez, and for IPRA Preservation Order. All available for public review at the Otero County District Court, 1000 New York Ave., Alamogordo, NM.

Original January 23, 2026 reporting: 'Alamogordo Insiders Reportedly Champion Former City Manager Robert Stockwell — Despite Questionable History — for Open Position' — available at newmexicoconservativenews.com and at 2ndlifemediaalamogordo.town.news. That report named Rardin and Burnett by name, documented Stockwell's 1997 termination, 2016 failed rehiring, 2019 California City departure, and warned against returning to past leadership. It published 143 days before today's vote.

Chris Edwards is publisher of 2nd Life Media Alamogordo Town News and a named petitioner in Case No. D-1215-CV-2026-00514. Tips, documents, and whistleblower communications: cedwards121788@icloud.com | 575-520-2785. Whistleblower protections apply under New Mexico law.

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