City Election 2008 Candidate Profile Series: Camerino Lopez

As part of inmaricopa.com’s in-depth city election coverage we will be running candidate profiles periodically in no particular order between now and the primary election in March. This is the eleventh in a series.

Name: Camerino “Reno” Lopez III

Office Desired: City Council

Family: My wife, Stephanie, and I have been married for 13 years. We began having kids in 1998 with the birth of my oldest daughter, Azalea Rae, 9. Our second wonderful daughter, Camryn Skye, is 8. The girls are 12 months apart but often get asked if they are twins. Last, but certainly not least, is our very enthusiastic son, Camerino “Cal” Lopez IV, 6.

Why I moved to Maricopa: Stephanie and I are both natives of the Valley. She grew up in Chandler and I grew up in Mesa. We both had the opportunity to watch our respective cities grow and have fond memories of when the areas were much less populated. I drove through Maricopa several times a year in my youth with my family on our way to California and Mexico. There has always been an attraction of open spaces and knowing your community. This was something that becomes much less obtainable in the big cities.

Our family had been searching for a larger house. We looked for just the right house and location for the better part of 2 years. We have family that moved to Maricopa about three years ago. Then some of our other cousins bought in Cobblestone during 2005. It didn’t take much convincing to move to Maricopa. We found the floor plan we had been looking for and the location was the same distance from family as our previous residence. We bought our house in January of 2006. Once we signed up I told my cousin I was going to run for office, and here I am living my dream.

Neighborhood or subdivision: Our family lives in the Richmond section of Glennwilde, about four blocks from Pacana Park. At the time we purchased our home we did not know that the land designated for Pacana would be the only municipal park in Maricopa. We were also very fortunate to have such great neighbors; there are about 14 kids the same age as our own. Eight of them are rambunctious boys between the ages of 6 and 8.

How long in Maricopa: Stephanie and I have been official residents of Maricopa for 14 months. We have been living in the South East Valley our entire lives.

Prior Political Office: I do not have any prior political experience as it pertains to government office. I have sat on numerous boards, committees and panels. These have ranged from human resources, safety, environmental and planning.

Community service: I have had the wonderful opportunity to participate in many community functions. I have coached three different sports in the past eight months, twice as head coach and once as an assistant. I volunteer at Our Lady of Grace parish as a helping Usher. I also assist at events when needed and fix up the building. I also participate in community events with one of our locally owned businesses. I dance with the Dads of Desert Sun Performing Arts. We are getting ready to learn this year’s routine. Last year’s theme was 1970s disco. You might have seen us performing at Founder’s Day this past year.

Occupation: I am a Project Manager for FlipChip International, LLC. My responsibilities include industrial engineering (efficiencies), customer service and logistics. I have also worked in process and product engineering roles. I still deal a bit with process engineering. I began as a technician on the floor and worked my way up the ladder obtaining two degrees in the process. I have been working at the company for 7 ½ years.

Personal vision statement: My personal vision for Maricopa is a positive and friendly city for all to enjoy. The city will have a solid infrastructure, the resources necessary to succeed and a culture people will seek to be part of.

For a collection of our previous and continuing election coverage please visit our elections page.

Photo by RuthAnn Hogue