Ramblings: New Roanoke City Manager Gets Quick Promotion; Equity Board Ideas Linger; Land Donated for New Fire Station

What are Ramblings? Ramblings are a collection of short items that have caught our attention for one reason or another. We’re on the lookout for tidbits related to money in politics, data, business, civic engagement or interesting events. Think you know of something that could be a Rambling? Drop us a line at editor@roanokerambler.com and we may well write about it. Happy reading! 

New city manager gets swfit promotion

Valmarie Turner, just chosen as Roanoke’s next city manager, was promoted last week to acting city manager of Fairfax in a leadership shake-up at the northern Virginia city hall.

Turner will still honor a $255,000-a-year contract she signed Dec. 2 to lead Roanoke next year, according to officials. But first, she was tapped to provide interim leadership to Fairfax after the firing of her boss by outgoing council members over the objection of incoming members.

Turner “is committed to making the move to Roanoke” after the first of the year, Fairfax Mayor Catherine Read said Monday by email. “We are grateful she is here until Jan 8th to help us in this transition.”

Turner will begin working for the city of Roanoke on Jan. 13, city spokeswoman Carol Corbin said Tuesday.

Turner has been the second-in-command of the affluent, Democrat-leaning Washington suburb, holding the title deputy Fairfax city manager. She entered the job slightly more than a year ago, brought aboard by former Fairfax city manager Rob Stalzer. Stalzer retired and, in April, the council unanimously voted to hire a successor.

In the November election, with three council members not seeking reelection, Fairfax residents elected five new council faces, returned one council incumbent and reelected Read for another term as mayor. A council majority dominated by those who didn’t run terminated Stalzer’s successor, former Manassas Park City Manager Laszlo Palko, five weeks later. Officials cited a “convenience” option in his labor agreement; such clauses let a party to a contract break it without any need to justify a reason.

Coming three weeks before the new council will take over and with Palko still in his first year, the move was controversial. Before the vote, one council member-elect argued against the council making major personnel changes before leaving office — all to no avail as Palko was then ousted 4-2.

Outgoing council member Kate Doyle Feingold, in a column that appeared in The Fairfax Independent, called the termination “a political attack” and decried “the complete absence of cause” for firing Palko. 

“This short-sighted action hurts our city and residents,” she said.

Palko in a statement urged the new council to commit to "more transparent" handling of public business related to crime, spending and a trail project and end control by a "political machine" that silences city staff. He added that he’d be ready to resume his duties "if I am reinstated in January."

Turner, who had acted as city manager between Stalzer’s departure and Palko’s arrival, resumed filling the top job with the ink barely dry on her Roanoke contract. After Turner departs, Fairfax has other senior officials to steer the ship while the new council picks new management, according to the mayor.

Equity board ideas await Council action

A Roanoke citizens panel focused on equity has sent city leaders a draft apology for urban renewal as well as three policy recommendations, one of which dates back to October 2023.

Angela Penn, who chairs the Equity and Empowerment Advisory Board, gave an annual update Monday to members of City Council. The board is tasked with implementing equity-focused aspects of the city’s comprehensive plan.

Penn said board members are awaiting word from Council members about three policy suggestions, which include:

• A proposal from January asked Council, the school board and community groups to host workshops in the summer to educate students and families about college tours, resume writing and student aid for higher education.
• A recommendation dated October 2023 asks city leaders to conduct a formal housing needs study that would establish what residents find to be affordable housing and where new housing should be built.
• A February policy idea asks the city to form a Human Rights Coalition made up of businesses and nonprofits to help the city with diversity, equity and inclusion matters.

Because of “membership erosion,” the seven-person executive board has scaled back its group of subcommittee volunteers and meeting schedule, Penn said. Next year, the board will need to replace three members who are leaving for separate reasons, including Phazhon Nash, who last month was elected to Council.

“We exhort Council to move as swiftly as possible in selecting our new members, given the large percentage of replacements needed,” the board’s report said.

At the board’s September meeting, some members expressed frustration with a lack of back-and-forth with Council, which created the board in 2020.

“City Council has been taking their sweet time getting back to us on these recommendations so, you know, the gasoline has gone out of everybody's [tank],” Debra Carter said. “It’s almost like EEAB is just for show.”

In response to a question from Vice Mayor Joe Cobb, Penn said Monday it “would be wonderful” to hear back from the Council about the board’s ideas by March.

“You all bring forward a lot of wonderful recommendations,” Councilwoman Trish White-Boyd told Penn.

Family donates land for fire station

Roanoke is forging ahead with a new fire station in Northeast thanks to a gift of land from the family that owns Berglund Automotive Group.

The city is planning a state-of-the-art fire station on Williamson Road to replace Fire Station #2 on Noble Avenue, which dates to 1949, according to city records.

The Farrell family on Monday donated property they own across from Northwest Ace Hardware to the city. The five properties together are worth $900,0000, according to a November appraisal.

“We're happy to be able to present this to the city, to go along with the other property that you purchased from the Budget motel a few years ago,” William Farrell said at a City Council meeting. “It's going to be a great thing to have that on Williamson Road.”

Roanoke has earmarked $10.2 million toward replacement of the old fire station. Last year, the city spent $975,000 to purchase and tear down a Budget Inn on Williamson Road.

“Over the course of the last couple years, we’ve been in conversation with the Farrell family about this very project,” Fire-EMS Chief David Hoback said. “After we purchased and secured the Budget Inn motel and took it down, they realized that by allowing us to have the land surrounding that piece of property, it would allow us to really design a state-of-the-art fire station, one that will allow us to serve that area of Williamson Road for the next 75 to 100 years.”

Hoback said the city has secured a design firm, and it will take about nine months until schematics are complete. He said the new facility is expected to incorporate sustainability-focused features and to improve fire response times in Northeast Roanoke.