Council Approves Water Rate COL Hike, Dormant Solar Panels Begin Paying Off
Highway closed during meeting due to vehicle fire. Village increases water rates 3.3% across the board, eyes tiered rate structure, finds electric savings with solar power at the water plant
The Tuesday, June 9, council meeting drew a crowd to witness water rate approvals, infrastructure updates, a push for Sunspot, and real-time updates on a fire on the highway.
Mayor Dusty Wiley announced mid-session that Highway 82 between Cloudcroft and High Rolls was closed after a semitruck’s transmission caught fire near Osha Trail.
Wiley was relaying a text update from Fire/EMS Chief Erich Wuersching, who was on site at the fire.
Police Chief Roger Schoolcraft, who stepped out of the meeting to respond, returned around 7 p.m. to report the highway remained closed for cleanup but that traffic was being diverted through the Osha Trail parking lot.
No injuries were reported. The highway has since reopened.
Water Rates, Water Loss, and a Solar Dividend
The board unanimously approved a 3.3 percent water rate increase effective July 1, tied by existing ordinance to the annual CPI-U figure published by UNM’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research, according to Village Clerk Jini Turri.
Trustee Matt Willett, a lodger who co-owns Cloudcroft Brewing Company and has a direct stake in water pricing, voted in favor of the increase.
Willett views the CPI bump as a floor. He pushed for a workshop with Public Works Supervisor JJ Carrizal to build a tiered rate structure that would charge high-volume and commercial users more per thousand gallons.
“Right now you get your first 4,000 gallons for a set amount and then every thousand above that it’s $6.27,” Willett said. “To me, that’s pretty cheap. A stepped approach would be reasonable, for sure.”
Willett noted the CPI adjustment hadn’t been made in several years, and Turri said she couldn’t say if it had ever been adjusted.
Trustee Danny Hardwick said, ”I also think commercial should be a higher rate, because you can make money off your water, and I can’t make money off my water.”
A water rate workshop with Carrizal is expected before the next billing cycle.
Carrizal’s infrastructure report covered several fronts. A 36 percent gap between water produced and water billed is under investigation; Carrizal believes it’s a metering or billing error rather than actual loss, but the cause hasn’t been confirmed.
At the wastewater plant, the clarigestor has been converted to a solids holding tank, and an inspector is scheduled for June 16 to assess the trickling filter before parts are ordered.
The meeting’s brightest infrastructure news: solar panels installed years ago for a water reuse project that never launched had been sitting idle, save for the plant workshop’s lights, feeding power back to the grid unused.
Carrizal’s team redirected that generation to the high-service pump building. The cost per kilowatt dropped from $60.09 to $38.73.
“With all those numbers, it’s about at least $10,000 a year in savings,” Mayor Wiley said.
“That system just sat there for years and years,” Carrizal said. The panels are about 15 years old and in serviceable condition; dust removal is the main maintenance requirement.
Pothole repairs are underway. Swallow Street is scheduled to be paved from Fox Squirrel to Fox next week, weather allowing. The new pickleball courts are nearing completion and will be worked on further this week, rain permitting.
Finance Report
Finance Director Sylvia Hall presented the village’s May bank balance: approximately $4.81 million across main accounts, $5.29 million across all funds.
There was no presentation on what funds out of the $5 million were already owed.
Several line items, including the recreation improvements fund at $304,000 and the EMS fund, which shows a negative balance, were flagged as inaccurate pending reconciliation of misallocated expenditures. The finance team is working through the corrections.
Village Finance Administrative Assistant Barbara Garcia described the process to the Reader after the meeting, which involves sorting through “thousands and thousands” of checks to reconcile allocations.
Catch up on the village’s budget here: https://www.cloudcroftreader.com/p/cloudcroft-clears-state-filing-backlog
Friends of Sunspot Ask for a Proclamation
Sunspot Solar Observatory education and public engagement employee Heidi Sanchez, speaking in her own capacity, and Dave Dooling of Friends of Sunspot presented to the council, asking the village to issue a “proclamation of support” that they can carry to state and federal representatives and to the National Science Foundation (NSF).
The issue: a January 5 mercury leak at the observatory’s main solar telescope prompted the NSF to order not just remediation of the affected dome but also the demolition of the entire campus, including excavation to four feet and backfill, according to Dooling.
Read Jonny Coker’s previous reporting on Sunspot, here: https://www.cloudcroftreader.com/p/plans-to-demolish-sunspot-observatory
“It is not just the telescope that’s coming down — it is all the infrastructure,” Sanchez said. “This place is fully established with water systems, internet, and electricity. Why are we going to completely tear all that down when there’s still decades of potential ahead of it?”
According to the pair’s presentation, the campus draws more than $150,000 revenue annually, including 12,000 visitors from 42 states and 18 countries, and serves more than 2,000 students regionally. The visitor center houses what they described as the third-largest scaled solar system model in the United States, sixth in the world. Proposed alternative uses include a STEM education park, a dark-sky tourism destination, a planetarium, university residencies, and an RV park on the former prefab housing lot, where utilities and driveways remain intact.
Sanchez said she has not received a response from NSF and that the public comment period’s end date still needs to be confirmed. Mayor Wiley said a representative from Senator Ben Ray Luján’s office was said to be monitoring the meeting.
Finance Director Raise Tabled
Hall requested a $6-per-hour increase that would move her to Level 3 under the village’s compensation plan.
Trustees declined to act. The board passed a motion to revisit at a future date, with a supervisor recommendation required.
Giving Their Flowers
The meeting opened with a key to the village presented to Dave Venable, who served as trustee and mayor from 1994 to 2003.
“It was my privilege to work with some of the finest, most wonderful people I’ve ever been associated with,” Venable said over the phone. “They made Cloudcroft the great place that it is today. So I want to say thank you to all the folks for what they did and what they are continuing to do.”
Appreciation plaques were also presented to Grover Sterling and Michael Martin, who have volunteered video and audio services, including YouTube livestreams of council meetings, to the village.
Trustee Keith Hamilton credited the late Debbi McCurdy with funding the emergency helipad at Elevation Park. “I will say this out loud: Debbi McCurdy, she is the one who made this happen,” Hamilton said. “And we miss her dearly.”
A dedication is planned for July.
Other Business
The board approved several items:
A resolution establishing a $45 returned-check fee, a 25-cent-per-page copy fee, and a $1-per-page fax fee;
A resolution formally declaring extreme drought conditions and banning the sale and use of fireworks in alignment with the governor’s executive order (the village already has a fireworks ban in place);
and EMS Records Destruction Certificate 2026-02, covering EMS medical records from January 2011 through December 31, 2015.
License agreements with Sacramento Mountain Senior Services and High Canyon Weavers and Spinners were approved with minor amendments. The Cloudcroft Life Opera Company’s agreement was postponed to a future meeting pending board review and insurance documentation.
P+Z Ordinance Workshop, Coming Up
Planning and Zoning Chair Rick Donnelly reminded the public that an ordinance workshop is scheduled for June 16, noon to 6 p.m., at the Village Chambers.
The session is open to the public; attendees are encouraged to bring discussion items. Donnelly said he hopes to have sample ordinances from comparable communities available for review and that what’s not addressed that day will be carried to a future meeting.
The next regular council meeting is scheduled for the second Tuesday in July. See you there.
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Doesn’t the brewery use rain water?