Under Pressure: Police Chief's Departure Highlights Cloudcroft Village's Administrative Challenges
After the police department head's sudden resignation, the Reader breaks it down and hears from former Police Chief Roger Schoolcraft, new Mayor Tim King, and Trustees Foster, Maynard, and McCoy
[ ANALYSIS ]
Like a game of musical chairs, Cloudcroft's village administration continues to see rapid changes in leadership. The latest departure comes from Police Chief Roger Schoolcraft, who turned in his resignation last Friday afternoon, effective December 31st. This adds to a growing list of recent administrative exits.
New Mayor Tim King confirmed that Officer Chris Swanson is the acting Police Chief. King also said he had spoken to Sheriff Black of the Otero County Sheriff’s Office for help with stop-gap coverage.
Six months into his tenure with the village, Schoolcraft received council approval to hire new officer Mike Mackewich, filling all but one of the open police department jobs. (However, the village council must approve Mackewich’s pay at or before the January council meeting.)
In his short time, Schoolcraft initiated the mountain bike patrol, reintroduced the D.A.R.E. program at Cloudcroft Schools, organized five Neighborhood Watch block captains, and worked with Trustee King to bring monthly police reports online via the Village website. Schoolcraft was a regular, reassuring presence at community events.
Schoolcraft says he will not become a stranger. He starts work for the Otero County Sheriff’s Office to patrol the mountain as a Mountain Deputy.
A Year of Change and Challenges
Schoolcraft’s departure follows continued village administration turnover. Former Mayor Turner and former Clerk Julie Pinson resigned earlier this month, and another department head, Library Director Nina Fletcher, resigned early last week.
These resignations follow a year of turnover with village employees, beginning mainly in May when three out of four police officers quit the department.
This year, the Michael Nivison Public Library has seen three directors and several aides, with high-school student Ayla Yarbrough remaining the backbone and only constant employee within two years.
Cloudcroft has had three mayors in the last 13 months. The last two years have seen five different village clerks: Barbara Garcia, Shaela Hemphill, Laura Robertson—who briefly was the only employee in the village office this summer—Julie Pinson, and now interim clerk Suzanne Peralta.
That kind of turnover has consequences. Unsurprisingly, the village’s business management is currently under incredible stress.
The weaknesses in its processes have become painfully apparent in recent months. The administration suffers from:
Little adherence to hiring procedures in the Village handbook nor any obvious vetting process for new employees;
Poorly-defined job descriptions and training;
Outdated software;
Breakdowns in communication;
Antiquated and inadequate office procedures for gathering, reporting and archiving information, especially financial, and;
Few safeguards to ensure the integrity of the work.
What’s Being Said
We asked former Police Chief Schoolcraft this weekend why he resigned.
“I’m gonna keep it for personal reasons, more than anything.”
“When I ran the police department in Alamogordo, I was the deputy chief there. Things are just a lot different. With a small-town police department, there are different avenues that you have to go down. And my opinion doesn't necessarily mesh with their opinion on the way things should be run.”
Schoolcraft is proud of what he accomplished in his short time and has confidence in the new mayor, Tim King.
“I think [the village] will get their business sorted out. You know, I only wish all of them the best. I think Tim King is a wonderful man, and I think he's going to give it a hundred percent to try to get the ship upright again.”
“I think that the last six months, I really made a positive change for the good in the police department, getting the D.A.R.E. program started back in the schools, neighborhood watch, the mountain bike patrol, helping the business owners help them be more aware of the safeguards for the businesses, putting up cameras, knowing how to monitor them, and doing business checks almost on a daily basis with all the businesses I could get into, and then doing active patrol.”
“You know, community policing is the number one thing. Whoever my successor is, I hope they did not drop the ball. I think community policing is the key to keeping Cloudcroft safe, and I hope that that continues.”
“All the kids in the school should know who the officers are. The officers should know how every business is set up. They should know all the officers by their first name. And I just hope that that's what they're like, that they really focus on that because the people and the folks in Cloudcroft are wonderful, and they deserve to have a good police department.”
“I leave with a short sense of accomplishment. I wish I could have gotten a lot more done.”
Cloudcrofters will still catch Officer Schoolcraft in the area. Working for the Sheriff’s Office, he will “still be on the mountain as a Mountain Deputy, so you’ll still see my bright shining face.”
Trustee Jim Maynard said:
“Roger’s resignation caught me by surprise. I think Roger maybe had some expectations from previous administrations that couldn't be fulfilled. Roger came from a larger force that had more stable budgets and more predictable expectations; our little town couldn't afford to have an open-ended law enforcement budget.
Roger, I think the world of him. I would welcome him back if you ever changed his mind, but they got to tough it out long enough that the governing body gets some time under their belt. We need stability more than we need anything else.”
Trustee Gail McCoy weighed in:
“Roger did many things he said he would do, such as the neighborhood watch. He's getting things done for the crosswalks at the school. He wanted to be a part of the community he was in. I think that was very important for him and for all of us to see.”
“I called him, and he mentioned that working six days a week was just too tough for him and his family. He lives in Alamogordo and couldn't find a place to live.”
“The good news is that he's going to be a deputy sheriff, which means he will be on the mountain, so we will get to see him.”
New Mayor Tim King said:
“I thank Chief Schoolcraft for his service during the past 6 months, especially his implementation of the Neighborhood Watch and DARE program. I enjoyed working with him on putting the monthly police reports online, and I wish him the best of luck in the future.”
Trustee Tabitha Foster said:
“Thank you to Chief Schoolcraft for his service to the Village. Best wishes to him and Annie.”
Foster also acknowledged the challenges set forth before the council.
“I would just ask the village residents to be patient. I just would hope that they would see that the work that has been put in, like doing the audits, having more meetings, having more things accessible online, that we are trying to be more transparent than any other council or administration has ever been before.”
“It's not like we're hiding things. We're bringing it to the people and saying, okay, we found discrepancies with the payroll and the clerk. We're sending it to Santa Fe. We brought it out into the public, which is exactly what this public asked for at the last election, was for people to be transparent and for people to speak their mind.”
“I 100% believe that Tim is a good person for the job. I mean, he is data-driven. His heart is in the village. I think that Tim will be a great leader. But, you have people that have been under different leadership and it takes time for everything.”
“And we just have had people who don't want to give time. I mean, I'm still sad that the mayor quit. I don't feel like he had to quit. I feel like he made it a personal thing. None of us asked Craig to step down. Hiring a financial clerk was not anything personal against him. And that was the first that I had ever heard of it come up on our agenda, even after the contract with Julie Spear had ended. And so I am sad that he quit because now it's made a personal event. It's like a personal fight against him and the trustees.”
Making Sense of What’s Happening
The turnover and revelations that have rocked the Village administration this year are unsettling. The news that federal and state tax reports had not been filed or paid for many quarters, the lack of reliable financial information, and the staffing instability are all signs of an organization needing attention.
Making the situation even more difficult, former Mayor Turner, who was elected into office promising to bring new light and energy to the village, quit in a surprise announcement for reasons that aren’t exactly clear. Many don’t understand why Turner felt his quitting would help the Village with its problems. He cited being upset that his recommendation for a fifth clerk was not approved, though observers noted that at the time of his request and resignation, he still had an open fourth clerk position that needed to be filled first.
To make matters more awkward, the former mayor's wife Phyllis Turner continues to contest decisions publicly, challenging trustees during council meetings and in social media posts. The resulting Facebook discussions have created an at-least-online divide between village officials and residents — a split that may not reflect the community's actual dynamics.
One trustee told the Reader they hoped former mayor Turner would speak up and ask people to lower the volume. It would also be extremely helpful to the new mayor—and the Village’s health—if Turner sat down and debriefed the new mayor King on the issues that were on his desk the day he left and helped make the transition as smooth and productive as possible. As mayor, Turner represented the village in nearly a year’s-worth of meetings, and it would be a shame to squander the momentum he created.
There may be more changes still to come. However, the present moment gives the newly-minted village administration a chance to examine how it manages its affairs and consider whether, for example, some jobs done internally in years past might be better performed by contracting with third parties with specialized experience and stability, an idea Trustee Foster raised at a recent meeting.
Like an old mountain cabin needing renovation, Cloudcroft's administrative structure requires careful attention and creative solutions rather than quick fixes.
The village's challenges didn't develop overnight and won't be solved overnight either. What's needed now is patience from residents, fresh thinking from leadership, and a willingness to explore new approaches to self-governance.
The times, they are a-changin’.
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Another well written article. Keep up the great reporting! Hopefully Cloudcroft administration will get things worked out. I know it won’t be quick, but slow and steady wins the race!