Camp Verde’s search for a new Community Development Director has ended with the hire of Clarkdale resident Carmen Ogden, who will begin her tenure Oct. 17.
“She will be coming from the town of Prescott Valley, where she has served as the planner for the past three years,” Town Manager Russ Martin stated. “Before that, [Ogden] spent time as the town of Jerome’s zoning administrator and historic preservation officer …. She will be a great fit in this community, continuing the transformation of the Community Development Department’s customer service improvements.”
Ogden attended Northern Arizona University achieving a bachelor’s degree in public planning, graduating summa cum laude, and a master’s degree in applied geospatial sciences, graduating honors with distinction.
Of particular interest, according to Martin, is that Ogden spent a semester in Italy focusing on small town and rural development.
“I was drawn to the community development director’s position for many reasons,” Ogden said. “First and foremost, I have lived in Verde Valley off and on since 1995 and have a love and appreciation for the Verde River and the culture of the area. When I saw the notice for the open position, I began to look into the town and was impressed with the amount of work the town and community had accomplished with the recently adopted General Plan, Strategic Plan and the Verde River Recreation Plan.
“I realized as I read through the documents how aligned my values are with the community and I felt that my experience and skills were such that I could further the progress that has already been made and fit in well with the culture.”
Ogden added that she still has some acclimating to do. “Establishing relationships and garnering trust with the staff, town government and community” will be her top priority as she begins the process of updating processes and technology to better serve the community.
“I’m a goal-oriented person, I do not procrastinate and I enjoy getting to know and interact with people,” Ogden said. “I’m old school in some respects, with a preference for meeting with people face to face …. I’m adaptable, diligent and solution oriented. These qualities and skills will benefit the community, as I believe they are key components to achieving success in furthering the development vision of the town.”
“This is an exciting time to be in Camp Verde, and Ms. Ogden will have an opportunity to build on what Camp Verde has to offer its businesses, as well as its residents, and apply her acquired skills learned in private business as well as in local government in the area,” Martin stated.
As to that experience in Italy — despite the different landscape and culture, Ogden said that the lessons learned there are highly transferable to Camp Verde.
“I participated in a study abroad program with Tom Paradis and a group of six other students from NAU,” Ogden said. “I called Viterbo, Italy, a small medieval town 40 miles north of Rome, home for the next six months and traipsed around the Italian countryside studying how small towns developed, their struggles to survive and how they could be successful including the role architecture, culture and politics play. Place branding, the slow food movement and agri-tourism are strategies and concepts which I studied in Italy.
“I believe these concepts can be applied to the town in its pursuit to maintain its cultural heritage and natural environment while pursuing economic opportunities which support its unique agricultural identity.”
