A. If a majority of the votes cast favors the incorporation of the territory as a municipality, the board of county commissioners shall call an election for the purpose of electing municipal officers at the first regular local or general election following approval. The election shall be conducted pursuant to the provisions of the Local Election Act [Chapter 1, Article 22 NMSA 1978]. The county clerk shall notify the secretary of finance and administration and the secretary of taxation and revenue of the date of the first election of municipal officers within ten days after the county commissioners have called the election.

B. At the first election for municipal officers following a vote in favor of incorporating territory as a municipality, the terms of office for the mayor and the municipal judge shall be until the next regular local election. The terms of office for one-half of the members of the governing body shall be until the next regular local election and for the remaining one-half of the members of the governing body until the second regular local election is held. The elected municipal officers shall continue in office until their successors are elected and qualified. The length of the terms of the first members shall be determined by lot.

History: 1953 Comp., § 14-2-7, enacted by Laws 1965, ch. 300; 1981, ch. 204, § 4; 1987, ch. 323, § 3; 2018, ch. 79, § 45.

The 2018 amendment, effective July 1, 2018, changed when the board of county commissioners must hold an election for the purpose of electing municipal officers after a majority of votes cast in a special election favor incorporating a territory as a municipality, and made minor technical changes; in Subsection A, after "board of county commissioners shall" deleted "within fifteen days after declaring the results of the election", after "electing municipal officers", deleted "Except for the fact that the election need not be held on the date specified in the Municipal Election Code for the regular municipal election, the election shall be called and conducted in the manner provided in the Municipal Election Code for regular municipal elections. The board of county commissioners shall perform the duties imposed by the Municipal Election Code upon the governing body of the municipality and the county clerk shall perform the duties imposed by the Municipal Election Code upon the municipal clerk" and added "at the first regular local or general election following approval. The election shall be conducted pursuant to the provisions of the Local Election Act"; and in Subsection B, replaced "municipal" with "local" throughout the subsection.

Temporary provisions. — Laws 2018, ch. 79, § 172 provided:

A. The term of an elected local government officer that was set to expire on or before June 30, 2020 pursuant to the governing statutes of that local government in effect before the effective date of this act shall expire on December 31, 2019, and that officer's successor shall be elected in the regular local election held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November 2019 for a term beginning on January 1, 2020.

B. The term of an elected local government officer that was set to expire on or after July 1, 2020 but on or before June 30, 2022 pursuant to the governing statutes of that local government in effect before the effective date of this act shall expire on December 31, 2021, and that officer's successor shall be elected in the regular local election held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November 2021 for a term beginning on January 1, 2022.

C. The term of an elected local government officer that was set to expire on or after July 1, 2022 pursuant to the governing statutes of that local government in effect before the effective date of this act shall expire on December 31, 2023, and that officer's successor shall be elected in the regular local election held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November 2023 for a term beginning on January 1, 2024.

D. The provisions of this section do not apply to the elections for municipal officers, the lengthening or shortening of terms of which shall be determined by ordinance of the municipality opting into having its municipal officers elected at the regular local elections.

E. The provisions of this section only apply to local government officers whose elections are subject to the provisions of the Local Election Act but do not apply to conservancy district or watershed district elections, which are subject to the provisions of Section 173 of this act.

Laws 2018, ch. 79, § 174 provided that references in law to the Municipal Election Code and to the School Election Law shall be deemed to be references to the Local Election Act.

The 1987 amendment, effective June 19, 1987, in Subsection A, inserted at the beginning of the second sentence "Except for the fact that the election need not be held on the date specified in the Municipal Election Code for the regular municipal election," and substituted "the Municipal Election Code for regular municipal elections" for "Sections 3-8-1 through 3-8-19 NMSA 1978, except that" at the end, and in the third sentence inserted "by the Municipal Election Code" both places it appears.