Residents sue Rio Rancho alleging ordinances improperly approved

RIO RANCHO — Several Rio Rancho residents are asking a local judge to overturn almost a half dozen ordinances set to go into effect either July 1 or next summer, alleging the city did not follow its own procedures to approve them, according to a recently filed complaint.

Corrine Rios, who ran last year for the District 57 seat in the New Mexico House of Representatives, issued the filing June 20 with more than a dozen residents in the 13th Judicial District Court of Sandoval County, asking it to invalidate Ordinances 5, 7, 8, 18 and 22 and prevent city officials from enforcing them until they are properly approved, according to the complaint. The city was summoned June 23 and is required respond within 30 days, according to court records.

“Ordinances enacted without sponsorship by a member of the governing body, not presented at meetings by such a sponsor and clearly notated in the official documents are not merely procedurally defective — they lack legitimacy and lawful force,” stated Rios, who claimed in her filing that she and others approached city officials, including Rio Rancho Mayor Gregg Hull and District 2 Councilor Jeremy Lenentine, about sponsorship of city legislation.

The filing further alleged that the city’s actions are “not isolated or inadvertent procedural errors, but part of a sustained pattern of noncompliance that undermines the rule of law and the integrity of the legislative process.”

The lawsuit does not ask for monetary damages, but rather a "citizen oversight board" to review the city's governing procedures and recommend reforms. Rios asked that she and the other residents joined in the lawsuit be named to the board.

Rios also requested Sandoval County Judge Christopher Perez rule on a temporary restraining order before July 1 in hopes that the ordinances that are set to go into effect on that date — Ordinances 05, 7 and 22 — don’t have a chance of being implemented, the filing said.

If Perez rules against Rios, she may challenge his findings in federal court, she said in the filing.

The ordinances cited in the filing include Ordinance 22, regulations for short-term rentals, considered by the council on Oct. 10, 2023; Ordinance 18, setting the mayor’s and council members’ salaries, considered by the council on Aug. 22, 2024; Ordinance 5, updating the lodger’s tax, considered by the council on Feb. 27; Ordinance 7, amending water and wastewater rules and rates, and Ordinance 8, raising the municipal judge’s salary, both measures considered by the council on March 27.

Each of the ordinances were presented either by City Manager Matt Geisel, Deputy City Manager Peter Wells or then-acting utilities director Steve Gallegos, the filing said.

“We do not give unelected staff members our consent to be governed,” Rios said in an interview.

She said she was inspired to sue the city after attending the May 8 meeting of the Rio Rancho Governing Body in which councilors struck down the controversial Ordinance 13. The measure would have would have extended terms for Rio Rancho’s elected officials as well as done away with the local spring municipal election and photo identification needed to vote.

“After that, I got to thinking to myself, ‘I want to know who sponsored this ordinance,’” Rios said in an interview. “I’ve run (for statewide office) and I’ve been very active; I know how things are supposed to be passed.”

When she did not see a sponsor for the ordinance, Rios thought it was “weird” but gave the city the benefit of the doubt, thinking officials forgot to add one, she said in an interview. But her examination of previous ordinances showed no sponsors listed for any of them, she said.

Rios told the Observer she estimates that there are hundreds of city ordinances that were passed without following city procedure, but challenging all of those measures in court would have been burdensome.

City spokesperson Jaley Turpen wrote in an email that the city does not comment on pending litigation.