Mayor Dusty Wiley confirmed that Cloudcroft Trustee Gail McCoy announced her resignation from the council Tuesday, August 20, leaving the village Board of Trustees effective immediately.
McCoy told the Reader:
“I did not haphazardly run for office without knowing this. I already knew that I wanted the job at the library. I mean, everybody in the village knows, dang, they know my whole life, you know? So, I needed the income."
“So, I did my research. I contacted the lawyer, Zach Cook. I contacted Debi Lee. I contacted the Municipal League.“
“The lawyer mentioned to me, well, you shouldn’t be able to do this, but the Municipal League at that time said yes, there was a loophole. And so I took it. Knowing that I would have to recuse myself during the fiduciary-type of resolutions or different things.”
The Reader: Why now?
“When you change from a seasonal employee to part-time, you have to go into PERA, which is the retirement. That’s what’s happeneing right now, as part time, I will have to be paying into PERA. So I’ll start [August 20] at 8 o’clock in the morning. And when I sign that paper, I won’t be a trustee.”
“I think I’ll be more effective in the public. From what I’ve seen on both sides. I think we need more public input. Like workshops and different things that the public could be involved in. Before I became a trustee, I was on the water ordinance committee. That was made of one trustee, the clerk, and the rest of us were citizens.”
“I’ve learned more by being an employee, as far as my trustee position. I’ve seen it from the inside out now.”
At the July council meeting, McCoy said,
"I have seen the library reborn after a long time of shuttered hours and multiple directors.”
“Its reopening was last July. The library has seen a great resurgence of locals, part-time tourists, and all expressing surprising gratitude for the services we provide."
"We live in a tourist town, but also there's 24% of our population is under income or the poverty line. So we provide services that are free — such as computers, photocopying, we even help people. A lady came in today, needed some help, doesn't have a computer at home. We're there."
"The library is not a revenue producing entity and it never will be. It is a public service. It is to offer services to the community. It is to be a community hub.”
Wiley said, “I’d like McCoy as a trustee personally; she gave me different views, different than I would ever have thought of, so I like her as a trustee. And I think she’ll do well working at the library, as well.”
Who Comes Next
In the 2025 election, McCoy ran for her trustee seat unopposed—as did Hamilton and Hardwick.
Her successor fills the seat by appointment. Mayor Dusty Wiley picks the name. The three remaining trustees decide whether it stands.
Wiley said he’ll issue an announcement soliciting letters of interest for the vacant seat. He’s looking for “Anybody that’s got knowledge about the village and has some thoughts, and is willing to put the time in.”
Wiley says applicants should live and be registered to vote within the village.
As for what council environment they’d be stepping into? “I got a great working relationship with all the trustees, at least I feel I do. I think it’s been a real smooth working group at this point,” Wiley says of the current council.
The rules are new. House Bill 298 rewrote parts of New Mexico’s municipal code and took effect on June 20 after being signed in April 2025.
An appointment now requires a majority vote of the governing body members present. The nominee must be a registered voter living in the village.
There is also a clock. If the seat sits empty for 15 days, the board must vote at its next meeting — and keep the item on every agenda thereafter until someone is seated.
Three trustees remain: Keith Hamilton, Danny Hardwick and Matt Willett.
Mayor Wiley sits on the governing body but ordinarily votes only to break a tie.
The appointee would not serve long. An appointed trustee serves until the next regular local election, in 2027. McCoy’s term expires then as well, leaving nothing to fill — so the seat should go on that ballot for a full four years. Whoever is appointed may also run for it.
Cloudcroft has done this before. Trustee Hamilton joined the board by appointment before winning the seat outright.
Learn more about Gail McCoy. Check out Hannah Dean’s April 2025 profile of McCoy in the Reader in April 2025.
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