COLORADO SPRINGS – Longtime Southern Colorado political and civic leader Sallie Clark has been appointed to one of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s top positions in Colorado. The Trump administration appointed the Colorado Springs Republican as rural development director for the state.

Clark served on the City Council from 2001 to 2003, and then spent 12 years as an El Paso County commissioner until she hit her term limit this year.

The USDA announced the appointments of Clark and directors for 49 other states in a news release Friday.

State Rep. Clarice Navarro, R-Pueblo, was appointed executive director of the USDA’s Colorado Farm Service Agency. She plans to resign from her legislative seat next week, she said in a Facebook post Friday.

Clark’s first day in the new position will be Monday. She said she will continue to live in Colorado Springs and commute to the department’s office in Denver.

“It is an honor to be selected by the President to fill the extremely important role of State Director of Rural Development in Colorado,” Clark said in a statement. “I look forward to working with the President, Secretary of Agriculture, and the Assistant to the Secretary for Rural Development to increase rural prosperity and enhance customer service through innovation and partnerships in our state.”

Clark also has served as president of the National Association of Counties. She and her husband, Welling Clark, own the Holden House bed and breakfast in Old Colorado City.

USDA Rural Development programs offer loans and grants to spur economic development and support basic services – such as housing, health care, emergency response, utilities and communications – in rural areas, according to the department’s website.