La Junta council verbally resolved five complaints; July 27 follow-up undocumented

La Junta City Council members verbally resolved or closed five citizen-complaint issues July 20 without a formal vote. As of July 31, public records did not document the outcome of a work session scheduled for July 27 on future complaint procedures.

The July 20 council record identifies the issues as the disclosure of a city manager job application; an alleged conflict involving the city attorney and city manager; alleged exclusion of Council Member Maureen Rikhof from communications; and alleged mayoral and city-manager involvement in a March 2026 fireworks-and-assault incident. The record says the first issue was resolved, the second closed after the city attorney’s resignation, the third concluded, the fourth resolved and the fifth concluded, with the citizen complaint closed.

City Attorney Clay Buchner advised the council that the first four issues did not warrant additional council action and that law enforcement handled the criminal aspects of the March incident. Those statements reflect the attorney’s advice and the council’s verbal conclusions, not findings from an independent investigation. Mayor Ayala recused himself and left the room during discussion of the allegation involving him, then returned. The record shows no vote on the five dispositions.

The council also left unresolved who should review future conflict-of-interest disclosures or complaints. Members discussed the city attorney, an independent ethics board, an outside hearing officer, the council and HR. Ayala said the topic would return at the next meeting, while Rikhof described it as delayed for more discussion.

The stated next step was a July 27 work session at 5 p.m. with Buchner to review the CIRSA handbook and develop a complaint process. Buchner said he was preparing advice on a framework for receiving complaints and setting parameters for review or investigation. A search of the city’s public CivicClerk portal and public meeting-calendar records found no accessible July 27 agenda, packet, minutes, transcript, recording or later council record documenting whether the session occurred. The available public record does not establish whether the city adopted a reviewer, investigator, ethics board, hearing officer, HR procedure or deadline.