In the Great Recession that started in 2007, falling tax revenues in the town of Camp Verde led to a town government unable to pay to run many of the public events throughout the year. In 2008, Camp Verde Promotions was founded with the intention of taking up the mantle for events like Corn Fest, Fort Verde Days and this past weekend’s Pecan & Wine Festival.
But, after a decade of running those events, Camp Verde Promotions is seeking to transition away from being lead organizers, giving responsibility for the big three to the Camp Verde Parks and Recreation department. “Camp Verde Promotions currently consists of six women,” the group’s former president Nikki Miller said. “The youngest of us is in her mid-60s. It’s a lot of work for us to do.”
Miller spoke of having spent four days straight working nearly dawn to dusk to put on the Pecan and Wine Festival this past weekend and pointed to all the members of the group being volunteers, meaning they had other responsibilities in addition to the work of organizing and running events. She hopes that CVP can continue to plan smaller events throughout the year, such as concerts or outdoor events for children, but allow the flagship festivals to be handled by the town government instead.
“I’m sad because we’ve worked so hard for 10 years to build this to what it’s been built into,” Miller said. “It will change drastically.”
At a work session on Wednesday, March 13, Camp Verde Parks and Recreation Director Mike Marshall discussed with the Camp Verde Town Council its plans for how to take over the event planning with full- time Parks and Rec staff. During the time that town events were led by CVP, the parks department still cooperated closely with the organization on things like logistical support and electrical and water facilities. The department hopes to take on a larger role.
Marshall proposed hiring a new staff member in the parks department, allowing for a total of three full-time employees in the department and one working 2/3 time. Though this new hire would not be assigned as the parks leader, an additional worker on the department’s payroll would allow all its employees to spend more time on event planning in addition to ongoing duties.
“What we’re hoping to do is have the town take on the unglamorous and time consuming planning and logistical things,” Marshall said. “No one enjoys going to planning meetings or trying to coordinate the work in addition to their normal life, trying to squeeze it in after work or the weekend or whatever. We can do that work and make it a success and enjoyable for the volunteers to actually come to the event.”
At the work session, Marshall presented the town council with two potential budget estimates for the town taking over event planning and hiring a new employee — one where the town takes over all the major activities of running the events and one where the town outsources certain activities that allow for money-making to private vendors. The former would be cheaper for the town, while the latter allows the town to focus more time and resources on other parts of the events. According to Marshall’s estimates, the total cost to the town of taking over event planning under the first option, including the money that the town gets back from event revenues, would be $32,034 per year, compared to $36,784 for the second.
Marshall noted that the proposed costs are a high estimate, expecting things to come in cheaper but allocating enough to allow for potential cost overruns.
Even with the town taking over, Marshall hopes that CVP and other local volunteers could work closely with the town and be active in helping out with events, something that CVP members also expect.
“We want to step back,” Miller said. “But it would be very hard to keep my mouth shut if things are going wrong.”
