On Oct. 31, Deb Althouse, who had been serving on the Cottonwood City Council since 2016, stepped down from her position in the city government, since she knew she would soon be moving out of state. The council started an expedited search to find her replacement, with the hopes of having a new council member in place before the holidays and the new year.
On Thursday, the Cottonwood City Council inter- viewed three applicants for the position — Carol Conti, founder and CEO of Northern Arizona Thermal Imaging, former Cottonwood City Councilman Jesse Dowling, who had spent five years previously in the position he was applying to and Debbie Wilden, who had served as the president of the Cottonwood Chamber of Commerce from 2007 to 2009.
The council chose Wilden in a 4-2 vote, with council members Michael Mathews and Ruben Jauregui dissenting.
On Friday, Dec. 6, Wilden took the council’s oath of office, and she served on the council at this Tuesday’s work session.
“After seeing the opening for a City Council seat, I decided this is an opportunity for me to give
back to the city I love and believe in as my forever home,” Wilden wrote in her application to the council.
“I believe my executive experience for 18 plus years as CEO/President of the Northwest Valley [now Surprise Regional] and the Cottonwood Chamber of Commerce would be an asset for the City Council. In addition, my expertise and training in economic development [will] also be useful and bring an energetic voice to further diversify the council.”
“I think her resume kind of speaks for itself,” Cottonwood Mayor Tim Elinski said. “She has a lot of experience with economic development, which is one of our larger priorities as a council. So I think we were excited for someone who could help us achieve our goals in economic development through her role in the Chamber of Commerce and a lot of the various organizations that she’s volunteered for. I think it will allow her to hit the ground running as far as that goes. She is well connected in the community, which willbe an asset.”
Elinski praised Wilden’s presentation before the city council, while saying that all three candidates were very qualified and that the council had a difficult decision.
“I do think we’ll be more balanced with Ms. Wilden on council,” Elinski said.
“With my background in economic development and business management, my personal focus will be on dealing with our current and future traffic needs and workforce development,” Wilden said after her appointment. “Another goal of mine is working to curtail the impact of alcohol, drugs and vaping/smoking on our residents and students. I now have the time to give back and Cottonwood is my focus.”
