Las Vegas mayor schedules secret meeting, misses deadline to submit city budget

There was a secret budget meeting scheduled for Monday, but sources at city hall told 4 Investigates that embattled Mayor Tonita Gurule-Giron wanted to keep the public meeting a secret because she's tired of reporters showing up to public meetings and asking her questions. 

However, there's a big problem with secret meetings – they're illegal in New Mexico. 

Gurule-Giron is at the center of a criminal investigation. New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas suspects she funneled city contracts to her boyfriend, and even made up city jobs for him. 

Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver suspects Gurule-Giron tampered with an election and committed voter fraud while trying to stack the council with her friends. 

Now, Gurule-Giron knew she had to meet with the city council to approve a budget, but she didn't want to be questioned – so she called a secret meeting. 

New Mexico's Open Meetings Act requires the city give a 48-hour notice to the public for special meetings. Since the 48-hour notice was not given, the secret meeting was cancelled. 

Due to this, the City of Las Vegas will miss a critical deadline to submit their budget to the state. 

City operations are in a difficult spot. At the last city council meeting KOB 4 was at, the finance director did not have a report ready. 

The council tried to take action to remove Gurule-Giron from office, but the mayor made a power play and removed that item off the agenda. 

Regarding the secret meeting – KOB 4 tried to get in touch with Gurule-Giron, but she did not respond.