Coconino County Manager Andy Bertelsen announced the appointment of Eric Peterson as deputy county manager on Thursday, following the retirement announcement of Kim Musselman.
Musselman will retire from the position on Aug. 1 after nearly 30 years working for Coconino County, while Peterson will start on July 1.
鈥淚 am excited to introduce our new deputy county manager, Eric Peterson,鈥� Bertelsen said. 鈥淓ric is a professional, dedicated public servant. His skills and experience bring balance, breadth and depth to the leadership team, and I am confident he will strengthen the organization in this role. It is with great excitement that I announce his return to the Coconino County team.鈥�
Peterson, a former Coconino County employee, was the director of Public Affairs and Communications from July 2018 to May 2021. Most recently, Peterson was the assistant city manager/director of finance and administration for the City of Webster Groves, Missouri. In that role, he has been credited with improving the city鈥檚 fiscal health and was staff liaison to the city鈥檚 arts commission and business development commission. Previously, he worked for the State of Wisconsin and Milwaukee County.
鈥淚 am looking forward to coming back to Coconino County to serve the wonderful people of our county and develop a more robust, responsive government with the dedicated leaders in our county government,鈥� Peterson said. 鈥淭hanks to County Manager Bertelsen, the Board of Supervisors and my friends in northern Arizona for the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build upon work done over the past years. I look forward to seeing our county team grow in its capacity, innovation, resilience and successes as we live out our new mission statement with an eye toward a vision of the county we wish to become.鈥�
Peterson will join Bertelsen and Deputy County Manager Erika Philpot on the executive team, advancing strategic priorities and supporting daily operations across the county.