Hometown girl excited about improving Azle

After her stint at those places, she moved to the Possum Kingdom area and worked in some different jobs, including at the Lake Country Sun, a newspaper. After her time there, she decided to get involved in something different for marketing and found a job in economic development in Weatherford. She was the economic development coordinator for the city of Weatherford for about 5½ years.

“I loved it,” she said about her job there. “That was the first time I had ever gotten into economic development and I didn’t know what to expect. The job description, of course, didn’t require any kind of extensive background in that field, but I did have marketing experience and that was one of the suggested major disciplines or area of study (desired). So I kind of just jumped in (and) learned very quickly that there was a whole lot more to it than marketing.”

In Weatherford, she was involved in marketing, business retention – which is what a big part of her job will be here – trade shows, chamber of commerce functions and business attraction. Azle and Weatherford have one difference: While Azle is landlocked, Weatherford isn’t. A lot of what will happen here in Azle will be centered on redevelopment and “putting some bigger pieces in place,” Pegues said.

Pegues said she is excited about working on the comprehensive master plan for the city and help shape the direction that the council wants to go.

Part of why she wanted to come to Azle is that she has lived here for the last five years. Her parents still live here, in the house where Kristen grew up.

“Living in the town where you work in this field is very, very beneficial,” she said. “I came to find that out in Weatherford. There were so many times that people would be talking about things that were going in the evening hours or the weekends, and I’m not there, I’m here. … So I’m excited to be back home officially.”

She will start a new marketing program to develop the retail component around here.

“I know a lot of people are excited to see what’s happening across from Walmart, as are we,” she said.

She said business retention will be important, and she is eager to meet business owners in town. She hopes to stimulate interest from businesses in the façade grant and gain traction there. She also wants to see what will happen with downtown, which will be addressed in the comp plan. Among her duties will be overseeing that social media are up to date.

Away from work, she likes to hike, attend church – she teaches a Bible study class at her church, North Side Baptist Church in Weatherford, on Wednesdays – and walk her dog, Cooper, a former resident of the Weatherford Animal Shelter and a Jack Russell Terrier mix.