Cloudcroft's Fresh Start: New Year, New Mayor
Trustee, now mayor. Tim King steps into village leadership vacuum after December turnover. Who is he?
For the third January in a row, Cloudcroft has a different mayor.
In a sit-down interview before his appointment and several phone calls afterward, the village’s newly-appointed Mayor Tim King spoke with the Reader’s Chris Hearne.
Let’s get to know King, but first…
Let’s Play Catch-up
If you thought the village administration's year couldn't get any more turbulent, December proved otherwise, plunging Cloudcroft into an even more profound crisis.
Elected with a wide margin of votes in November 2023, Mayor Craig Turner announced his surprise resignation only one year into his four-year term at the end of the December 5, 2024, council meeting, just three days after Village Clerk Julie Pinson stepped down from the role she assumed in July of this year.
On December 17, 2024, the council appointed Trustee Tim King as the new mayor to serve the remaining three years of the former mayor's term.
Ten days later, Police Chief Roger Schoolcraft, hired earlier this summer, submitted his resignation.
The unexpected mayoral vacancy thrust Tim King into the center of the action after one year as trustee; now, he’s been appointed mayor for the next three years.
In his first week, King faces pressing challenges to:
Appoint a fourth trustee to take his former chair;
Clean up administrative systems, especially financial budgeting and reporting;
Recruit, hire, and train a new clerk;
Recruit, hire another two police officers;
Submit the 2024 audit to the overseeing state agency; and,
Generate an accurate budget and balance sheet the trustees (and village) can believe in.
Making Moves in Office and Online
King has worked quickly to address the most pressing issues during his first council meeting and first over-the-holiday weeks in office.
With council approval, he engaged Karen Gutierrez of High Water Mark to help reconcile historical financial records, generate an accurate budget, file all missing and required paperwork with state and federal authorities, and establish better reporting systems. The New Mexico Municipal League recommended High Water Mark.
"It's going well. She's really on the ball,” says King. "She helped Ruidoso years ago deal with a similar problem; they had two hundred and thirty-seven negative findings on their audit. They got those down to zero. Karen knows her stuff."
King placed an online questionnaire for interested candidates. The Online Trustee Questionnaire form should help facilitate appointing a fourth trustee. Their responses can be viewed online. He’s posting a similar signup application online for people who want to volunteer for other roles.
King and the council look to bring in additional experienced help familiar with the systems and issues the village faces with its internal reporting systems. Announcements on that front may be forthcoming.
"Right now, we're flying blind," says King.
"The quarterly reports to the Department of Finance and Administration are behind, and the 2023–24 and 2024–25 budgets overlap. Fixing this is absolutely our number one priority."
King is not only the mayor; he’s also the de facto chief information officer for the village.
He's looking to rebuild the village’s antiquated processes and paper-based systems. Several steps to use digital tools and services to improve office productivity are underway.
"I've set up Microsoft 365 for the village and started using teams, calendars, and tasks. It's all about getting everyone on the same page and ensuring communication flows efficiently," King says.
King is serious about harnessing digital power and the internet to dramatically improve the village's productivity and increase the value of data the village office provides residents.
"We shouldn't be doing this like it's 1920 with paper. Everything needs to be digital, and we're working to ensure the data is uploaded properly and efficiently."
King knows what he doesn’t know and has been making phone calls to state and regional officials who support New Mexico municipalities for help. He reports that people are very receptive.
Who is Tim King?
Tim King's connection to Cloudcroft began in 1995 when he first visited the area for archaeological work. Drawn to the village's natural beauty and tight-knit community, he purchased land nearby in High Rolls and spent several winters there.
"Funny thing—when I came here in '95, I thought this place would become like the new Moab or Aspen. I couldn't believe people didn't know about it," King says.
Although his career kept him moving across the country, Cloudcroft left a lasting impression.
"When Gail and I came out here in 2020, we were kind of sick of our jobs, and then COVID hit," King says. "Then we got a call in April of '21 that the Summit Inn property was available. We decided to go for it."
In 2021, King and Gail Percich (they later married in April 2023) purchased the Summit Inn, a historic lodge in the village one block south of Mad Jack's, and began renovating their family-run business.
The improvements he and Gail have made to the interior of the Summit Inn are impressive. The original structure is roughly one hundred years old, rehabbed and reinforced in the late 1940s with lumber scavenged from a nearby train trestle. From digital door locks to the wi-fi heater and an army of remote-controlled Roombas to tidy up floors, the inn is decorated with high-tech touches that improve the guest experience and ease of ownership.
"We've been here for three years now, and we've built something that we're both proud of as we've figured out this whole innkeeper thing."
Tim's Early Life and Career
Born and raised in Ohio, King’s childhood was marked by a deep curiosity about the world around him. He developed an early fascination with technology, history, and exploration. "I've always been a tech nerd. I was 10 when the Atari 800 came out, and I had to have one."
King pursued his education at Youngstown State University, earning a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and Archaeology. His early career took him across the United States, working on cultural resource management (CRM) projects in states like Pennsylvania, Colorado, and Alaska. Archaeology honed King's analytical skills, teaching him to decipher patterns in fragmented evidence.
The Alaska Years: Adventure and Expertise
One of the most transformative chapters of King’s life unfolded in Alaska, where he worked on the Alaska Pipeline Project and developed his expertise in Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Tasked with creating spatial data systems to comply with local, state, and federal regulations, King embraced the intersection of technology and environmental management. His work often involved flying over the pipeline corridor and collecting and analyzing data that informed critical land use and resource preservation decisions.
Reflecting on his time in Alaska, King describes it as both challenging and exhilarating. “Alaska taught me how to manage large-scale projects under extreme conditions,” he says. “It was the perfect blend of adventure and precision.” This experience cemented his belief in the power of GIS as a tool for solving complex problems, a conviction he now brings to Cloudcroft.
Putting Data to Work
In his first year as a trustee, King has made a strong impression by doing more than just showing up to vote at meetings. He enjoys projects and always seems to have a handful in the works at any one time.
King earned credibility in his first year as trustee by actually implementing projects and going beyond just talking.
Early on, he applied for and received a grant to furnish the Village Office and council chambers with TV screens. The screens now flank the chamber walls and display information discussed at various village meetings, allowing everyone to follow along.
Working with the Public Works team, King introduced software that dramatically reduced the workforce and cost involved in a recent survey mandated by the government to find old lead and copper water and wastewater pipes that needed upgrading. The project went smoothly and, per capita, cost a fraction of what cities such as Alamogordo spent to do the same. The map of the work is online.
King has also been busy gathering data on village buildings and land using advanced 3D data capture mapping equipment.
He's flown his drone over Elevation Park to collect vital data for a future grant application. Once in the village's database, the data can be used to analyze problems, guide improvements, and provide essential data to insurance companies and government agencies.
Cloudcroft has never gathered this information before.
King wants to spur Cloudcroft’s transition to smarter digital-based information systems.
One of his most ambitious goals as a trustee and now mayor is implementing a Geographic Information System (GIS) for the village. King gets teased for how often he talks about GIS and lights up when discussing the tech’s applications for the village.
GIS technology allows users to visualize and analyze spatial data, making it an invaluable tool for managing resources, planning infrastructure projects, and improving transparency. King envisions a Cloudcroft where residents can track local projects in real-time, view maps of water and sewer systems, and access data on everything from traffic patterns to emergency services.
"GIS is like Google Earth on steroids," King explains. "It's a spatial spreadsheet that connects data to specific locations, allowing us to see the bigger picture and make informed decisions."
"GIS isn't just maps; it's data you can visualize and analyze. Whether it's tracking service calls or planning stormwater drainage, it's about smarter decision-making,” he says.
"Making decisions with data—what an awful idea, right? That's the future, though, and we need to embrace it here in Cloudcroft," says King. "To me, all of our forms should be online. It's 2024, not 1994. We shouldn't have fill-outable PDFs; we should streamline everything from the start."
King has advocated for a user-friendly website where residents can find meeting minutes, pay bills online, and access forms. He also supports leveraging AI and automation to reduce administrative burdens. These changes, he argues, will make local government more accessible and efficient.
In practice, King hopes to use GIS to:
Streamline infrastructure projects—GIS can help prioritize repairs and prevent costly mistakes by mapping the village's roads, water lines, and storm drains.
Improve transparency—residents could access interactive maps to see how public funds are used and track the progress of ongoing projects.
Enhance emergency preparedness—by creating detailed elevation models using LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), the village could better plan for flooding and other natural disasters.
While implementing GIS in a small village is ambitious, King sees it as essential for modernizing Cloudcroft's operations. "We can't keep relying on outdated methods," he says. "GIS is a game-changer."
"I feel a village GIS system can move Cloudcroft forward and make it one of the most innovative villages in New Mexico.”
Getting on Track
The path forward is challenging for the mayor and trustees. This year, the weaknesses of the village's management have become painfully apparent: inexperienced employees, little to no proper training or management, and weak or nonexistent double-checking of work.
The turnover that occurred this year also exposes the village's lack of knowledge retention. It appears Mayor Denney never fully debriefed Mayor Turner with a status report of where things stand and what village matters need attention. As of yet, no meeting is planned for Turner to upload what he knows to Mayor King.
It is impossible to quantify, but it’s not hard to believe that these gaps in knowledge-sharing cost the village — time, money, credibility, and momentum. This is one reason King wants to get the village's digital information systems up to speed: readily available, accurate information can help village staff better serve the community.
The Years Ahead
Despite his quiet, calm demeanor, King has shown he's no pushover.
When Trustee Jim Maynard went before the council twice in 2024 to get approval for a revoked replat in his Skywater subdivision, King firmly voiced his opposition because he felt the 2023 approval of the replat by mayoral fiat under Bill Denney was a circumvention of village ordinances—and, as King stated in the open meeting, that Maynard knew better.
When the former mayor's wife recently challenged the council at a public meeting for not supporting her husband's recommendations, King made it clear from the dais that “if you want to get to your problem, turn around and look at the person that quit.”
Whether his data-driven approach and personal leadership style can stabilize a government in crisis remains to be seen.
As one trustee noted, "We need stability more than anything else."
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I think it's time Cloudcroft had a King! 🤴
Mayor King sounds like a good plan I think the technology upgrade will be very helpful
Improved communication is very important