His last day

By Published by The Editorial Board

Published: July 2, 2008

“The future will say, ‘Thank you’ for a long time.”

— Linwood Wright to Jerry Gwaltney

What a difference a few hours made for Jerry Gwaltney, Danville’s now retired city manager.

In the middle of his last day on the job Monday, Gwaltney sat quietly while eight members of Danville City Council debated just how many unused vacation days he should be paid for.

Three hours later, Gwaltney was shaking hands at the end of a receiving line of well wishers at a party thrown in his honor. His work on regional economic development and job creation was not only appreciated locally, it has attracted the attention of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, The Washington Post, Business Week and even Al Jazeera television.

The one question that didn’t come up at either event Monday was why Danville City Council didn’t do more to keep Gwaltney on as city manager.

At his age, retirement isn’t all that far off. But if City Council could have found a way to keep Gwaltney for a few more years, that would have saved the cost of hiring a new city manager, and it would have given the city the best chance to continue the economic development momentum Gwaltney worked so hard to start.

If Danville isn’t able to build on what Gwaltney started, history should judge City Council’s failure to keep him harshly.

Danville City Council was contractually obligated to pay Gwaltney for up to 60 days of unused vacation time, even though Gwaltney had about six months of time he never took. So council voted 5-3 to pay him another 30 days.

Councilman Adam Tomer, whose fought Gwaltney over utility rate relief and incentives for Coleman MarketPlace, gave him credit for rebuilding Danville’s economy over the past eight years.

“He chose to stay here and helped to build a future for our children and grandchildren,” Tomer said of the time Gwaltney put into the job. “You have to reward the time he didn’t take. He’s missed a lot and he’s given a lot.”

Ruby Archie, who was mayor when Gwaltney was hired, reminded City Council that it will soon be trying to hire a new city manager.

“That man or woman may wonder, ‘Will that council be fair with me?’ We’re not just dealing with today, we’re dealing with tomorrow,” Archie warned.

At the Institute for Advanced Learning & Research, one of the many local projects that Gwaltney helped to build, the mood was much more celebratory — and appropriate.

“We decided to change the history of Virginia,” Pittsylvania County Administrator Dan Sleeper said to Gwaltney. “We have shown that this partnership has done a lot for this community.”

Former state Sen. Charles Hawkins told Gwaltney, “You proved that an individual can make a difference in the destiny of an entire region. Our future will be built from the sacrifices you’ve made.”

Of all the gifts Gwaltney received Monday, perhaps none was more fitting than the framed copy of what has come to be called the “announcement chart” — the list of the job-making projects that have revolutionized the local economy over the past four-plus years. On Friday, the last of those announcements — the deal to save the local Goodyear plant — was made.

Gwaltney saved Danville from an economic depression — and the foolish notion that it could stay the same and survive. When he arrived here, there were still people who believed that Danville’s economy couldn’t grow. As he leaves, the worry is we won’t be able to continue the growth he started.