Jerry Gwaltney

By Published by The Editorial Board

Published: May 29, 2008

Danvillians will one day take certain things for granted.

Help wanted ads will still seek local people to fill manufacturing jobs, but more technology, management and service sector jobs will be available here. When Danvillians go out to eat and shop, they will have more choices. The city government will work closely with Pittsylvania County to create even more economic opportunities.

Those things will one day become so routine that people won’t give them a second thought, but it wasn’t always like that in Danville.

Less than 10 years ago, local leaders were hoping Dan River Inc. and tobacco processing would continue to carry the community. Cooperation with Pittsylvania County meant an occasional joint meeting. Many of the same problems we have today — unemployment, poverty, crime and education — existed, but we had no good plan or prospect for fixing them.

Things began to change after Jerry Gwaltney was hired away from Dothan, Ala., to be Danville’s new city manger.  His job was to focus on economic development.

On Wednesday, the community learned that Gwaltney was stepping down.

“I believe that God meant for me to come to Danville and to experience the great nine years I have had here as city manager,” Gwaltney wrote in his resignation letter. “These years have been some of my hardest, but yet the most rewarding of my career. Now is the time to move on to a new chapter in my life. I can look back with pride and with a great deal of accomplishment.”

The economic development partnership with Pittsylvania County that Gwaltney helped to create has garnered state and national recognition. The Dan River Region has been able to recruit new companies from Mexico, Sweden, Poland and India, while helping existing employers expand. We know of no four-year period in Danville’s history with as many new jobs in as many diverse sectors — more than 7,000 new jobs announced since March 2004.

Gwaltney started in a difficult political environment. The City Council election held just three months after his arrival brought with it two new council members. The economic development plan required local, state and national leaders to sign on. It was hard to convince local people that the economy had to be diversified when local auction warehouses were still filled with the thick smell of tobacco and Dan River’s looms still roared.

But the bad times were coming — and Gwaltney got the city ready by making economic development a city department and then personally becoming involved in the projects that have transformed this community.

His first economic development project, a natural gas-fired electric power plant, fell through after the company lost interest. Gwaltney attracted more than his share of snickers for his “Danville Can” campaign to boost civic pride.

During his tenure, City Council was criticized for not taking a bigger role in the sale of Danville Regional Medical Center, one of Danville’s largest private employers, until after complaints about care under the new owners surfaced.

Historic preservationists complained bitterly that Gwaltney didn’t do enough to save old and historic properties — especially former Dan River Inc. buildings.

After a long-term electric power contract expired, the city passed on rate increases to its customers. The shuttering of Dan River Inc. left the city with a too-large sewage treatment plant that led to more rate increases.

While Gwaltney liked to brag that each city budget was bare-bones and the only tax rate increase followed the November 2000 school bond, the city government did continue to grow during his years as city manager.

But today, Danville’s finances are so strong the city’s bond rating may be upgraded.

In addition to helping recruit a record number of new jobs, Gwaltney nurtured projects as diverse as the replacement of rotting natural gas pipelines, planting “interchange gardens,” upgrading the fire department, construction of a fiber optic network and a plan to pay down the city’s debt while keeping a substantial fund balance in reserve.

Among Virginia’s 39 cities, just nine have lower real estate taxes than Danville, just six have lower personal property taxes, five have lower lodging taxes and none has a lower machinery and tools tax.

That doesn’t happen by accident.

Even Gwaltney’s critics will concede that he has done a superb job. But that only scratches the surface.

Gwaltney set the standard for what a city manager in Danville could accomplish, and along the way, changed the community forever. He not only redefined the position, he left a legacy that will continue to enrich the lives of local people long after he’s gone.