Cloudcroft's New Mayor Confronts Water, Budget in First Interview
Dusty Wiley discusses water leaks, frozen state grants, staffing, revenue, budget, and how he got here. Plus, WATCH: Jonny Coker interviews Wiley on the new Mountain Talk podcast.
Watch Mayor Wiley’s first interview with Jonny Coker.
Coker is a freelance journalist from New Mexico. He spent three years at KRWG Public Media, and his stories have been featured across the state and nationally on NPR.
Then go deeper: read Hannah Dean’s follow-up interview as the Mayor talks water, budget, the election, staffing, tourism, and how he got to Cloudcroft. Starts below.
Dusty Wiley became Cloudcroft's fifth mayor in six years when he took office this January, inheriting a village losing nearly a million gallons of water monthly and, according to Wiley, one that may not see a clear budget balance sheet until June or July.
After more than 20 years in government, Wiley fell in love with Cloudcroft during his commutes between California and his Arizona ranch near the New Mexico border. The Wileys eventually relocated here.
In California, as an assistant commissioner for the Riverside County Agricultural Commissioner’s Office, “I did budgets and operations, I did all kinds of things,” Wiley said.
Wiley follows Mayor Tim King, who was appointed after Craig Turner's sudden resignation in 2024. Turner, elected in 2023, followed Mayor Bill Denney, who was appointed when longtime Mayor Dave Venable retired in 2020.
“I’ve been seeing for the last six years or so, the village has been struggling ever since Mayor Venable left,” he said. “I decided I should step in and try to use some of the talents that I’ve learned over the years and share that with the village and hopefully get the village on the right track.”
Personal Commitment to Cloudcroft
Wiley’s commitment to public service comes amid profound personal loss.
His son, Roger Wiley, was killed in Alamogordo the day after the November 2023 election.
Dusty Wiley had run for mayor that year, along with five other candidates.
On that election night, Roger had called his father. “He goes, I only voted for one person. That was you, because I didn’t know anybody else on the ballot, and I’m not gonna vote for somebody I don’t know,” Wiley recalled.
That was the last time they spoke.
This election cycle, the trial and conviction of Roger’s killer coincided with Wiley’s campaign.
Wiley says his wife, Vicky, is his “closest advisor.” She currently stays in Hawaii with three of their grandchildren—ages three, six, and eight—now in their temporary custody.
“Vicky’s wonderful. She’s done a lot for me.”
“My original plans were that she’d come over here and I’d go visit her, and we’d stay and go back and forth or whatever, but she couldn’t stay up here too much. My wife’s had a hard time living here because of all the memories of Roger.”
“I know what happens. She comes back here, and she goes to the cafe. She sees Roger doing dishes. She sees Roger out there serving. He always worked here before he became a mechanic for Vision Ford. I think as time goes on, she should be able to be here.”
“I do feel supported by the village,” Wiley said.
Water Infrastructure Emergency
Cloudcroft is losing nearly a million gallons of water each month to leaks, forcing the village to enter emergency water-hauling contracts while crews aggressively search for leaks in aging pipes.
“Just down the road from me here last night, they found a water leak,” Wiley said. “They’re always looking for leaks right now. Our maintenance people, JJ and the whole crew, they’re great.”
Public Works Supervisor Joe John (JJ) Carrizal estimates significant additional leakage. “He said there’s 40 gallons total (per minute). So there’s still more out there, whether it be one large one or whether it be 15, 20 more small ones,” Wiley said.
At January’s village meeting, the council unanimously approved an emergency contract with Oasis Enterprises for as-needed water hauling at $759.17 per load—a discounted rate secured from a previous contract secured through a Bureau of Reclamation drought-related grant.
The village recently hired McKim & Creed for 40 hours of additional leak-detection services in hopes of narrowing down the problem. Carrizal said the contractor was delayed due to Winter Storm Fern, which covered the village and surrounding areas with over a foot of snow.
In a recent interview, Carrizal told the Reader, “We’re spending $10,000. They will locate leaks. We dig it up, fix it. It’s cheaper than $36,000 for all the water hauling. All the overhead we spend on transferring water on the weekend. There’s overtime for setting up hoses, pumps, and fixing leaks. It’s adding up.”
Confronting Budget Reality
The village's financial situation is more complex than a simple balance sheet would reveal—and the village doesn't even have one.
The New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration (DFA) recently released over $2.4 million in previously frozen capital outlay projects. The council approved grant agreement resolutions at a special Jan. 9 meeting.
“We won’t be able to do all of it at once because it’s [2.4 million]. We only have approximately $4 million in the total budget,” he said. “There are certain monies that have to be set aside, that you can never spend. There’s also money that can’t be spent because it goes to the lodgers’ tax or whatever. So we have to take them one step at a time in each of those grants.”
At a July 2024 meeting, the village disclosed several troubling discoveries, including a laundry list of missed filings for village taxes and fees, defaulted loans, and unreconciled bank accounts: www.cloudcroftreader.com/p/cloudcrofts-murky-accounting
The eve before the November 2025 election at a special village meeting, Dahlia Garcia of Beasley, Mitchell & Co. accounting presented the fiscal year 2024 independent auditor’s report and audit findings, which include: a late audit submission; “significant deficiency” in bank reconciliations, accounts payable, segregation of duties, and more; a missing capital asset list; material weakness in accounting records; and other non-compliance issues with board meeting minutes and more.
Wiley confirmed the village is still working with private contractor Judi Starkovich and Karen Gutierrez of High Water Mark to get a handle on the budget.
“Right now, we still haven’t got our finalized budget adjustment completed yet,” Wiley said. “Once that’s done, then we’ll be able to start going into some of those grants.”
“From this day forward, Jini’s making sure everything’s current, catching things up as we can,” Wiley said. He acknowledged the dual challenge: “Remember, we’re still working on stuff that hasn’t been done in the past. We’re still trying to catch up on that, as well as move forward.”
Asked when he expects to fully understand the budget, Wiley said, “June. July.”
“For the past 15 to 20 years, there haven’t been very many increases in any of the programs. No matter what it is, whether it be your gross sales tax,” he said. “You can’t survive that way.”
“We’re below what the village could be charging, you know, compared to Alamogordo or Ruidoso or any other village around us. They’re all maxed out to a certain point without going to the vote of the people. Same thing with property taxes,” Wiley said.
Staffing as Foundation
Wiley’s first action has been making hires.
“It’s the department heads you have surrounding you that make the mayor,” he said.
At the Jan. 20 council meeting, the village brought back Clerk Jini Turri, who served in the position from 2010 to 2019. “She’s gonna do wonders for this village,” Wiley said.
The council also hired Police Chief Roger Schoolcraft, who briefly served as Cloudcroft’s Chief in 2024, stepping down amid administrative turnovers.
“With those two in place, it’s gonna make my job a lot easier for sure,” Wiley said.
“Current staff members, Finance Director Sylvia Hall and Utility Clerk Ashley White, are new; they’ve only been here since July,” Wiley said. “Now they have somebody here to train them. And that’s going to be wonderful.”
For the police department, Wiley said, “I think it should have between two and a half to three and a half police officers max.”
Why “a half?” Schoolcraft has proposed a plan that includes a School Resource Office, half-funded by the village, half by the school.
Balancing Tourism and Villager Needs
“Without tourism, you don't have the tax base and everything else to do. Everything that the village needs to, you know, have done, you know, within the village, whether it be maintaining the water lines, the sewer lines, on and on and on. So you do need the tourists. Without the tourists, the town would die.”
“Before you go with development, though, you need to get your water and your wastewater situation corrected.”
“I think I have a good working relationship with the Chamber. I know the people at the Chamber. I try to get along with everybody to begin with. It doesn't matter whether it's the Chamber or any other location.”
“Everybody has to work together in the village to make it work. All aspects.”
“The (Lodger’s Tax Advisory Board) is going to be on our agenda. So coming up here next month. They have some items they want to present to the trustees for a vote, so they'll go forward with that.”
“With the Planning and Zoning committee. I've been working with them. There are things that have been backed up since last March that have not been done yet. It's been backed up, thinking most of those will come up in our next trustee meeting. So we may have a large agenda at the February meeting.”
Longterm Solutions
Wiley’s near-term goal: “All the leaks fixed, done, completed, and start working on the next project, which is going to be more water sources.”
“So first of all, the village has to be able to purchase the land. And then once you have the land, then you can get grants that drill wells or somehow contain that water and move it to the location you need it to be used.”
The Wastewater Treatment Plant's repairs and the securing of the federal land upon which it sits are a top priority.
“Talking to JJ Carrizal and Scott Powell, they would have the details of what they want first to be completed. We have grants for some of those things. They'll let me know which order to go in.”
“We’re trying to make appointments to meet with the Forest Service about starting that,” Wiley said. “They’ve already started the process of getting some new appraisals on the property, that type of thing.”
When asked about his relationship with the Forest Service, Wiley grinned, “I want to have a great relationship with them because we want to be buying some property from here shortly.”
Community and a Transparency Platform
Wiley’s election campaign focused on transparency and public accountability.
“When our Facebook Live didn’t work (at the Jan. 20 meeting), the next day, we got it fixed, had volunteers come back in with me, worked on it, and we did a test. You can go on Facebook and see it worked great. The sound sounded perfect on it,” Wiley said.
“There will be minutes posted here shortly, which were approved at the last meeting. So they’ll be going online,” Wiley said, adding they’ll appear “on Facebook and on village website as well.”
“I feel like I have an open-door policy. You can call me at any point in time. You know, I have a village phone, and I think my personal cell phone’s out there enough on the web that anytime anybody wants to call, you know, call me about concerns, talk, they can talk to me.”
“I’ll get back with them and answer their questions as best I can.”
“I think we’re on a good track now. I think within the next two years you’re going to see a big turnaround within the village, and I think you’re going to see a lot of positive.”
“Within the next two years, I’d like to see the wastewater plant on its way to being fixed, whatever it may be. It may not be fixed by that date, but it’s on its way to being there. Same thing with our water.”
When asked if he’d run for office again, Wiley said, “We’re just gonna take the next two years one day at a time and see where we are at as a family at that time.”
This interview with Mayor Dusty Wiley is compiled from a sit-down interview at the Mountain Talk podcast studio with Jonny Coker and Hannah Dean, plus several follow-up conversations with Wiley.
A shortened version of this article appears in the February Mountain Monthly newspaper.
Worth the Watch: Mountain Talk with Jonny Coker
Meet Jonny Coker and his latest project: the Mountain Talk podcast, filmed here in his village studio.
Jonny’s a Cloudcroft native who, after years of reporting in Las Cruces and breaking national stories, is returning to his roots with a new podcast celebrating the village, the people, and the stories that shape the Sacramento Mountains.
See for yourself in his first episode with Mayor Dusty Wiley:
Find Mountain Talk on YouTube, Substack, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.
Mountain Talk is sponsored by the Reader and the Mountain Monthly. Interested in supporting Jonny’s work? Let us know at mountaintalk@cloudcroftreader.com
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