NM Mayor defies state health order, reopens city
Apr 28, 2020, 6:46 AM
GRANTS, New Mexico — Businesses in the small town of Grants New Mexico about 80 miles West of Albuquerque are getting mixed messages about reopening.
Governor Michelle Grisham hasn’t lifted the state’s Stay at Home Order but the Mayor of Grants is telling business owners to go ahead.
New Mexico’s KOAT reports that Mayor Martin Hicks has called all 100 of the city’s employees back to work on Monday along with opening the city’s only golf course and says that all local businesses should do the same.
KOAT says that at least 4 businesses have opened their doors and that all of them have implemented some sort of social distancing measures.
Hicks says he thinks that the Governor’s orders are a double standard and that it discriminates against small businesses.
“Our governor is saying to you here me on this she is saying to you you are going to die if you got back to work at city hall. You are going to die if you go back to your construction job. But it’s OK if you work at Walmart,” Hicks said at a gathering at the Grants City Hall.
Hours later state police officers issued a notice of violation to the city at the newly opened golf course saying that if they continued they could be issued a $5,000 formal citation.
Hicks was there a short time later telling golfers to go back and finish their games saying he would be coming back to get a game in even though he hadn’t golfed in years.
