Commentary: Same Pattern, Same Silence: Potential Sexual Harassment at Alamogordo City Hall Demands Answers

Alamogordo NM Commentary- Over the past 60 days, several city employees have come to us with the same concern: City Hall has become a workplace where comments about appearance are tolerated, assignments seem to follow favor rather than merit, and people are afraid to speak up. These are not new problems here. That is exactly why they deserve answers now.

I am not writing to accuse any individual of a crime. I am writing because what employees describe, if accurate, falls short of the city's own policies and could expose taxpayers to real legal liability.

A double standard on workplace conduct

Employees describe a senior official who has publicly criticized others for using familiar, family-style terms with coworkers, while themself commenting openly on an employee's looks and body. In one instance, employees say the department leader joked that “he should pose for a calendar and could fill all twelve months.” “He could be my Santa January thru December.” 

Swap the genders and few would hesitate to call that inappropriate. Comments about a subordinate's physical appearance are exactly what the city's harassment training warns against. When they come from leadership, they set the tone for everyone below. They also tell employees which rules are enforced, and for whom.

What innuendo costs a workplace

A "joke" about a coworker's body is never only a joke. The EEOC's bipartisan Select Task Force on harassment found that harassment affects all workers, not just the target, and that its true cost includes lost productivity, higher turnover, and reputational harm. The task force's co-chairs testified that lost productivity often shows up as quiet disengagement, and that a bad reputation drives away potential new hires.

The task force also found that harassment too often goes unreported, because people fear being disbelieved, blamed, or punished. In a city government where everyone knows everyone, that fear is magnified. When leaders make suggestive comments in front of staff, every employee learns that appearance is being noticed and graded. Those who object learn to stay quiet, and the best of them start looking for other jobs.

The perception of favoritism

Employees also describe projects being pulled from one manager and handed to another, the same one singled out for comments on his appearance, with no clear explanation. Some department directors are reportedly seen frequently with the city manager outside work, and staff say those directors appear to receive preferential treatment.

Perception matters in public service. Even if every decision has a sound reason, employees who cannot see that reason will fill the gap themselves. That erodes trust, morale, and the city's ability to keep good people.

Meanwhile, some targeted employees have been placed on paid administrative leave. Coworkers worry the pattern targets people who "don't fit the image" leadership wants. Paid leave costs taxpayers twice: once for the person on leave, and again for the work left undone. The public deserves to know the criteria being used.

We have been here before

In 2023, the city added sexual harassment content to commission training after a departing employee raised concerns in an exit interview. Her concern, as it was relayed, was whether appearance affected how some commissioners treated staff.

That same year, the city hired outside counsel to independently investigate the conduct of its commissioners. One sitting commissioner was named in that investigation and again in a second outside investigation in 2025. The December 2023 report found credible evidence that commissioners broke the city's Code of Conduct by going around the city manager to pressure employees.

The same report recorded a former city attorney's exit-interview allegation that a commissioner had engaged in sexual harassment. It found the Code of Conduct gave no clear guidance on handling that complaint, and nothing indicates the allegation was ever investigated. Excerpts of both reports became public only this month, after persistent records requests by Alamogordo Town News. 

Each episode was handled quietly and then forgotten. Employees now see a familiar pattern taking shape, and they have little faith it will be handled differently.

This city has watched leadership scandals play out before, with residents left to absorb the cost.

What this has already cost taxpayers

Alamogordo's habit of settling quietly is well documented:

• About a decade ago, the city agreed to pay $137,500 to its former personnel manager. She alleged she was demoted and fired after supporting a coworker she believed was being treated unfairly.

That coworker, a former public safety lieutenant, settled separately for $250,000.

• In 2023, the city manager left under a retirement and settlement agreement after accusing commissioners of interfering with staff. The outside investigator found his core allegations credible.

• In 2025, a second outside report found the search for a permanent city manager had been "tainted." It warned that passing over the top-scoring candidate, the only woman in the pool, could support a discrimination claim.

• In April 2026, after closed sessions, the commission voted 4–3 to accept a settlement tied to that candidate's EEOC complaint. The terms were not disclosed in open session.

The two figures made public total $387,500 in net pay closer to a half million in total. The rest remain undisclosed, along with the cost of repeated recruitments and outside legal work.

Title VII applies at City Hall

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 covers employers with 15 or more employees, and that includes city governments. Under it, sexual harassment is a form of illegal sex discrimination. It covers unwelcome verbal conduct of a sexual nature that creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment, or that interferes with someone's work.

Three points matter here. The person harassed does not have to be the opposite sex of the harasser, so comments by a woman about a man count the same. No one has to be fired or demoted for harassment to be unlawful. And it is separately illegal to retaliate against anyone who complains or cooperates with an investigation.

When a city loses or settles these claims, the bill does not go to the officials involved. It goes to the city's budget and its insurance pool, which means it goes to residents. New Mexico's Human Rights Act adds state-level exposure on top of the federal law.

What the city should do now

The commission can get ahead of this before the next complaint becomes the next settlement:

• Commission an independent review of the current workplace complaints, conducted by an outside HR firm or attorney who reports to the full commission, not the city manager.

• Release the findings of both outside investigation reports in full, with only legally required redactions, and explain what was done about the harassment allegation.

• Disclose the total amount paid in employee settlements over the past ten years.

• Publish the criteria used to place employees on paid administrative leave, and report how many are on leave today and at what cost.

• Require refresher harassment training for all elected officials and senior staff, with attendance made public.

Alamogordo is better than this

This city runs on people who show up: the crews who keep the water running, the clerks who answer every call, the officers and firefighters who work every holiday. They deserve leaders who treat them as professionals, not as gossip or as pin-ups. Most of our elected officials and directors know that, and many have said so on the record.

But respect does not enforce itself. Our charter leaves commissioners to police one another, and the record shows how rarely that happens, how ineffective and how it further supports the good ole boy narrative. Accountability will come only if residents ask for it, out loud and in person.

The next regular commission meeting is Tuesday, Oct. 13, at 6:30 p.m. Come to public comment. Ask for the reports, the settlement totals, and an independent review. Employees should not have to choose between their careers and a respectful workplace, and residents should not keep learning the truth only after the check clears.

Sources

• EEOC Select Task Force report of the co-chairs (2016)• EEOC co-chair testimony on the costs of harassment• EEOC fact sheet on sexual harassment• Alamogordo Daily News: Ex-city worker to get $137,000• 2nd Life Media: "Will Never Be Released" (Sept. 18, 2026)

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