Thanks for the reply. However, in looking at the CPAN install output I see the following which, to me, implies that libevent is present:
...

  CPAN.pm: Going to build V/VP/VPARSEVAL/Event-Lib-1.03.tar.gz

Checking existance of libevent...yes
Checking capabilities...
  event_set_log_callback...yes
  event_priority_init...yes
Additional defines:  -DHAVE_LOG_CALLBACKS -DHAVE_PRIORITIES 

Checking if your kit is complete...
Looks good
[download]

...
Any suggestions are welcome.