More Resignations Hit Cloudcroft Village Office
More Resignations Hit Cloudcroft Village Office
The Moser Fire is not the only trouble spot in Cloudcroft. Four more Cloudcroft Village employees resigned this week for a total of nine departures
A police chief, a deputy, an officer, four clerks, and a library director walk into a bar and quit their jobs.
It makes for a bad joke, but it’s true, if you replace bar with village office.
Today, Mayor Craig Turner confirmed that in the past two weeks, nine village employees have jumped ship.
It’s been a stressful month for the Cloudcroft Village, to say the least. You can read about the Moser Fire, which at the time of this writing is 65% contained. You can read our coverage of the first round of resignations, which included 75% of Cloudcroft’s police force here.
As of today, Water Clerk Crystal Menezes, MVD Clerk Melissa Yates, Library Director Julie Johnson, and Deputy Clerk and Project Coordinator Vyanca Vega resigned.
In the last two weeks, the Chief of Police, Deputy Chief, an officer, the Village Clerk, and the Water Operator were the first to depart. Several of those resignations were over the new police schedule.
Currently, applications for Chief of Police, Village Clerk, Police Officer, Water Operator, and Maintenance Employee are listed on the Village website.
The question on our minds: how long until these vacancies are filled?
The mayor confirmed that the village had received a few applications for different positions, and that he and a hiring panel comprised of himself, Trustee Tabitha Foster, Fire Chief Erich Wuersching, Parks and Rec. Chairman Matt Willett and Committee member Adrienne West will interview a Chief of Police candidate this week.
After a Chief is hired, they will sit on the hiring panel for the vacant police officer positions. Mayor Turner also plans on recruiting a member from the Cloudcroft Municipal Schools administration for the selection process.
In our recent interview with Mayor Craig Turner, he addressed his modus operandi, saying, “…you have to have leadership. You have to be present. And I've been very present since I've been here. I'm here every day unless I'm out of town. If I'm in this village, I'm in this office.”
When asked today who will provide a stop-gap until hires are made, Turner says, “I can make it really easy for you: Mayor. [laughter] I’ll keep you on the phone and send you a picture. It’s funny this is the reason you called. Hold on two seconds.”
The mayor sent us a photo of a spreadsheet with the current Planning & Zoning and Court clerk, Laura Robertson (who will be filling in as Project Coordinator), and an open column for Clerk, Deputy Clerk/Accounting/Payroll, MVD, and Utility Billing Clerk.
Turner continues, “Quite honestly, what the immediate triage answer is: myself, Tabitha Foster, Gail McCoy, Jim Maynard, and Timothy King are all going to handle this as much as we can. Laura, of course, will be able to answer a lot of questions. There is going to be a time period when the motor vehicle department will be closed. That is the game plan.”
“Tomorrow morning at 10:30, I have a staff meeting with JJ, Judge, Laura, myself, and Tabitha Foster. We’re going to line out some more things like this—It’s gonna be triage, whatever’s most important we’ll take care of. It may not seem like it, but we do have a game plan. We’ll muddle through this and match that hierarchy of needs. If it’s something that can wait, it’s gonna have to wait.”
While the average pay for mayors in the State of New Mexico is $29 per hour, the Village of Cloudcroft Mayor position is an unpaid gig.
You can read Parts One, Two, and Three of our interview with Mayor Turner.
You can read our follow-up on the police resignations and most recent Council Meeting here.
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