Clovis mayor accuses city commissioner of misusing public funds

CLOVIS, N.M. – Clovis Mayor Mike Morris publicly accused a city commissioner of misusing public funds. The allegations came out last Thursday in a commission meeting. 

“I’m very disappointed that commissioner David Bryant isn’t here this evening, because I had hoped that maybe he would finally have some sort of explanation for what occurred,” said Morris. 

The mayor said commissioner David Bryant used city money to pay for his attendance at a multi-day training in Santa Fe from the New Mexico Municipal League. 

Bryant said he was there during a June 15 commission meeting. 

“What sessions did you attend commissioner?” asked the mayor during the meeting.

“Um, I’ve been through all of them. All the parliamentary procedures, the finance, the legal, how to work with your finance department, insurance,” said Bryant. 

But the mayor says Municipal League reps told him that’s not true, that Bryant was not at the training. Even though, everything for him to attend in Santa Fe was paid for. 

“I approached him, in person after the meeting to have discussion about that. He did not wish to discuss that with me,” Morris said.  

City Commissioner Gene Porter says he did an investigation of his own, and was told the same thing by Municipal League reps that Bryant was not at the training. 

“I think that the request for resignation is in order, and it’s ultimately up to commissioner Bryant to do so,” said Porter. 

“If he will not resign, if he will not replace the money. Then, you know, the voters in district three will have the final say, as to whether or not what he’s done is acceptable,” said Morris. 

Some Clovis residents stepped up to the plate to defend Bryant, saying it’s just a case of bad blood between him and the mayor. 

“We do know a hit job and we see it. We’ve seen the hostility that you have towards David, it’s been very recognizable,” said Farril Defoor, a Clovis resident. 

The mayor says he’s asked commissioners for the development of an ethics ordinance that would handle situations like this in the future.

The mayor did not state in the meeting how much the city paid for a hotel for Bryant.

KOB 4 reached out to commissioner David Bryant for his response to these allegations. We haven’t heard back yet.