Fire, Water, Council
Fire, Water, Council
INTERVIEW: Part Two, Cloudcroft Mayor Craig Turner
Since decisively winning the mayor race in November of 2023, Turner says he has been busy asking questions. In Part Two of our interview on April 5, the mayor worries about fire, is cautiously optimistic about water, and believes in timelines.
How would you describe Cloudcroft's current fire danger level?
I went to a meeting last week with the Forestry Department, and they said, ‘Cloudcroft, on a scale of 1 to 10 — with 10 being the very worst it could be in the county for a fire — we are now number 10. Our risk for fire right now is 10.
Finally, the Forest Service secured grant money, and they're going to start cleaning up around the village. The hope is to start by the end of July.
So they see much of the fire risk in the village, the commercial area, not necessarily out in the forest, but it's the commercial area?
The issue I see is what happens if the fire starts in the village and then goes to the forest. That's my concern because I feel like that's my responsibility. I feel like if the fire starts here in the village, that is on me.
Several areas in the village really need to be cleaned up. In fact, on April 16th at 10 o'clock, I'm going to be traveling the village with the chief, and we're going to identify areas that are a high fire hazard and begin the process of getting those cleaned up.
My immediate concern is abandoned homes. I'll say maybe a family from Texas that has had a home for 60, 70 years, and the grandparents passed away, whatever the case may be, and the kids have nothing to do with it, whatever.
We have so many of those very specific situations in the village where it would only take one match, and boom, it blows up.
Would the village consider purchasing properties to facilitate redevelopment, either independently or in partnership with others?
Absolutely, absolutely. I would not at all be opposed to taking to the council, Hey, lot ABC is up for sale.
Let's buy that, and let's invest in it from a village perspective, and we can turn around and sell it.
We can turn around and sell or make a parking lot. We have a problem within the village in the summertime is parking, right? That's a big issue, so I'm not at all against the village investing in some property if it becomes available.
If you recall from the Meet the Candidates session back when I was running for mayor, the question was, what's your biggest concern in this village, and for the most part, all the candidates said roads and water.
Well, that goes without saying, right? In my answer I said, ‘well, of course, roads and water are always a concern, but folks, my bigger concern, and it is my biggest concern, is fire.’
If this little village catches on fire, folks, you won't have to worry about roads or water anymore, and we won't be here. I want to start putting some meat behind our ordinances to get the village cleaned up.
How can you bridge the divide between locals and seasonal residents, engaging the latter's resources and expertise to support the community?
Great question. When I was running for mayor, I said one of the things I wanted to do was create a focal group of half a dozen people of people that don't necessarily live in the village but are here temporarily, come up here, you know, they're up here for the summertime.
Our biggest asset in this village is our Texans, and when they come up here for, 'cause I will tell you right now, and I will say this to anyone that'll listen, whether it upsets them or not if our Texans don't come, Cloudcroft is gone, we, I can speak with total transparency, I own a shop in this village, right?
Less than 5% of my business comes from locals. If the Texans don't come, my shop closes, and the Burro Street Exchange closes.
We have visitors from Colorado, Arizona, Oklahoma, and more; of course, we do. However, the biggest number of people who visit this village are Texans.
And they own property up here. In the summertime, our population is no longer 800. It rises to between five and 7,000 people.
So one of the things I said I wanted to do, and I haven't jumped into it yet, but you're motivating me to get started, is to create a focus group of half a dozen people who are up here all the time in the summertime.
I can name you a dozen people right now that I've become very good friends with 'cause I've either golfed with them or got to know them at my building.
But these people need to have a say in what we're doing in our village 'cause they have great ideas and resources.
I invite them to come to council meetings.
If somebody wants to go build in Cloudcroft, do they have water?
Absolutely. It’s one of the questions that has been asked to me several times and in the past, the concern in the past is if somebody wants to build a home or whatever, do they have water?
We have the water. Do we have a concern with water in this village? Absolutely, we do.
It wouldn't take one or two summers of dryness that we would be in a world of hurt and we would need to have these issues taken care of.
But if somebody wants to build a hotel or somebody wants to build a house or something like that, you know, do we have water for them? We do, absolutely, we do.
We are doing a super job right now, and I congratulate and commend Mayor Denny. They're really doing a good job and it started with him and we'll continue it. Find leaks, and let's get those leaks taken care of.
I would say that our water situation in the village is very delicate. With the drought or something like that, we could be in dire straits in no time. We really could.
We could be in a world of hurt if we had a drought.
(Editor’s note: at the April Village Council meeting that took place less than a week after this interview, Mayor Turner announced that after speaking with the Public Works Department, we were going to have to “take action” and enter water restrictions if we didn’t receive rain by summertime.)
So you'd go into rationing?
Have to, have to.
But on a day-to-day basis right now, if somebody wants to build a home and, of course, have water and electricity and everything like that, then yes, we are fine with that.
Right now, I think we have water. We need to continue fixing the leaks.
We have to continue replacing old pipes that have been in this village for 100 years since it was built.
Does the village look for other water sources?
People have asked me already, can we drill?
Well, I've done my research and talked to several people who are in the know, including some of our maintenance guys, Tony and Scott.
The thing is wherever we drill, we're going into the same aquifer.
Really, all you're doing is drilling right here. If we have a well right here and we drill right here, yeah, we're gonna get water out of that, but it's the same aquifer, which means this well down here just isn't going to have as much water in it.
But there are a couple of things I think we need to look into as a village.
And I don't think we've done a good job of that. There may be reasons why we haven’t. I don't know; it may be land. It may be a cost issue.
One thing I will let the village know, and I'm very adamant about this, is the engineering company that's been doing all of our wastewater and all of our PURe water for what, the last 22 years — I am asking questions. (PURe Project & WWTP Project Update Presentation – CDM Smith)
Whenever I get a statement or a purchase order for them, I'm just not signing checks right now and just lining them up and signing them.
I'm calling; I'm asking questions. Why is this village sending you $30,000 right now? I don't think that's ever been done. I'm holding their feet to the fire. I'm asking them, why are you doing this? And what's the end game?
When are we going to be finished? They've been working on this project for over 20 years.
I went to one of the meetings and I asked them straight up, ‘When are you gonna be done with this project?’ I said, I want a date.
And I was told then eight years still. That's ridiculous.
And so their feet have to be held to the fire.
We've been chasing the rabbit with this project for the last 22 years, and it seems like we're never getting anywhere.
I would like to accomplish in the next four years that if I can't get it completed, at least get it to a point where whoever I turn this position over to can say to the village, this will be done in 18 months.
When they finish this project, we'll use cleaned wastewater to clean potable water, saving us approximately one and a half million gallons of water a year.
As a mayor without a vote, how do you effectively lead and build consensus among the trustees, especially with the mix of new and experienced members?
First of all, I'd like to commend my trustees. They've worked with me very well.
There's been several things that we haven't agreed about and have actually had to have executive sessions about and stuff like that. All four of them have been totally willing to listen to anything I have to say and work with me.
It's neat, I have two trustees that are brand new, like myself, and so I would go so far as to say they don't know what they don't know, just like myself, and then I have two that are experienced that have done it and been there and have done it, and each bring something to the table.
The two who have never been trustees before bring something to the table in terms of change, good change, and ideas that maybe, like I said a moment ago, do we really need this line item in our budget?
They're bringing ideas like, let's do this.
For example, Trustee Timothy King has had some great ideas about GPS for ways to communicate through the village with a simple app.
So he's bringing fresh and new ideas that the village has never even considered before, but also the experience of the other two. They've been there, done it, and so they can also prep me as far as this is something you might anticipate if you go that route or something like that.
I feel like my job is if we have something that's coming up that might be a vote that might be controversial or might even create some ways or something like that, not ask them how they would vote or not ask them how they feel, but let them know how I feel.
That I'm totally within my bounds to do, and hopefully be persuasive enough to say, based on what I think would be best, and here's what the research I've done. I try never to talk about anything if I haven't researched it first.
And so, I share with them persuasively what I would like to do, and then it's up to them when they vote and how they vote at the end of the day.
As a council composed of business owners and real estate professionals, how do you plan to ensure that decisions are made and perceived as in the community's best interest and not for personal gain?
Will not happen under my administration. It will not happen.
When I ran, I said that I did not have an agenda, and I was very sincere. I have absolutely no desire to do anything to help my Burro Street Exchange.
In fact, I will tell you right now that if someone were to bring something up and I thought it was going to help my building, I'd shut it down because I will not give any sight or idea that I'm prospering from being mayor.
Not at all. I will not, in any form or fashion, allow myself to benefit from this position, and the same with the trustees. We are going to do what's best for the village.
You said I don't have a vote, which I don't, but one of the luxuries I do have is creating the agenda every month for our council meeting. And if it's not on the agenda, it can't be voted for.
My point is, the way I would control that is, if there's something that might benefit somebody, and I think it could be a conflict of interest, or I think it could be unethical, or something that, even if it's not a conflict of interest, and even if it's not unethical, but the perception could be that it is, it's not even going to go on the agenda.
Because I did not run to help myself. I ran because I love this little village. I've been coming up here for 33 years, and the very first time I came up here, I said, "I will live here one day.” And sure enough, here we are.
Did you say you would be mayor too?
No, never said I'd be mayor.
In fact, I've never had a desire to go into politics at all.
You can quote me, there will never be anything that'll go on the agenda if I think it will prosper one of the five of us.
That's not my mission.
We will hold you to that. (laughs)
You can, you can.
Interview: Mayor Craig Turner
Tuesday, April 16, 2024
Part One: Getting the House in Order
Wednesday April 23, 2024:
