Update 2 p.m. Dec. 3: This story has been updated to include information about Valmarie Turner’s annual salary.
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Affordable housing, the city’s budget, economic development and crime are among the top priorities cited by Roanoke’s new city manager, who said Monday that she expects to rely on “collaboration and partnership” to effect change.
Valmarie Turner, who’s currently the deputy city manager in Fairfax, was hired from among 40 applicants after a nationwide search. She will be the first Black city manager in Roanoke’s history. She succeeds Bob Cowell, who resigned from the position in June after seven years in the job.
She will start in Roanoke in January.
She said Monday that her goal is not to “come in and turn [the organization] up on its head” — rather, she said, she wants to “understand the rationale behind why the changes were made.”
“I absolutely believe in empowering and motivating those that I work with,” Turner said at a news conference held to introduce her to the city. “I believe in collaboration and partnership. I don’t think that we can be an island and be successful.”
Councilwoman Trish White-Boyd, chair of the city council’s personnel committee, said that the council was impressed by her demeanor and her experience with issues facing Roanoke.
“She has an excellent reputation as a leader, a team builder and someone who builds collaborative relationships with stakeholders in the community,” White-Boyd said in a news release announcing Turner’s appointment.
Turner has been deputy city manager in Fairfax for a year. Prior to that, she was assistant county administrator in nearby Loudoun County for about six years. According to her biography on the National Council of Counties website, she has worked in local governments in Georgia and Florida and overseen departments including family services, mental health, community corrections and housing.
Turner has a bachelor’s degree in business economics from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University and a master’s degree in public administration from Walden University.
Fairfax is about a quarter the size of Roanoke, with a population of 25,000 to Roanoke’s 97,000. Fairfax has a median household income of $128,000, compared to Roanoke’s $51,000, according to census data.
But Turner said Monday that she doesn’t believe the issues Roanoke is facing are all that different from those she’s managed in other Virginia localities. “I have had an opportunity to work with the whole spectrum,” she said.
Catherine Read, the mayor of Fairfax city, grew up in the Roanoke Valley and said she “can’t think of a better place for her [Turner] to land.” She called Turner an “empathetic listener.”
“Our loss is Roanoke’s gain,” Read said. “I would be more upset if this woman was not going to this other city I care very much about.”
Turner’s hopes for her new role
At the press conference, Turner cited Roanoke’s “charm” as a factor in her decision to make it her new home and workplace. She said she’s been looking for something new for about a year and that this was an “extremely good match.”
She comes to Roanoke on the heels of a controversial citywide rezoning, the election of three new city council members and a number of high-profile personnel issues at city hall.
The city has struggled with rising homelessness and high levels of violent crime, though that has improved since the arrival just over a year ago of a new police chief, Scott Booth.
“I look forward to working with city staff and city council to implement its vision for the city of Roanoke,” Turner said in the release. “My early priorities will be meeting with council members, engaging with city staff and building relationships with business and nonprofit partners in the city and region and with the other local governments in the Roanoke Valley.”
Angela Penn, president and CEO of Total Action for Progress in Roanoke, said in a statement that TAP is “pleased to hear of her involvement in social and human services programs.”
Mayor-elect Joe Cobb, who’s currently the vice mayor, said that in regard to housing, Turner is able to “engage the nonprofit sector and the business sector in creatively and collaboratively working on community challenges and opportunities for growth,” and she’s done it “place, after place, after place.”
Jordan Bell, a historian of Roanoke’s Gainsboro neighborhood, long a commercial and cultural hub for the city’s Black community, lauded the historic nature of Turner’s hiring.
“It’s about time that Roanoke city has a Black city manager,” he said. “Everything I see [about her] seems to be very forward-thinking and pushing the city forward.”
The hiring process
White-Boyd said at the press conference that the decision to hire Turner was “easy” — “She came to us with a plan,” White-Boyd said — and that it was supported by the recently elected council members.
There were 40 total applicants for the job, White-Boyd said, and the Berkley Group, which the city had contracted with to oversee the search, narrowed the list down to 18 names. The council further whittled this list down to make its decision.
Turner will be paid a salary of $255,000, according to a copy of her employment contract provided by the city.
Turner said she asked early on about working with a council with multiple new members.
“I wanted to make sure that if this council was going to make a decision, that it was something that would be supported by the incoming council members,” she said. “And I did get the opportunity to meet and talk to a couple of those council members.”
The three council members who were elected to serve in the next term were invited to attend Turner’s interview. Nick Hagen and Phazhon Nash both attended. Terry McGuire was unable to attend because of his teaching schedule.
“She is a great asset for our city,” Nash said. “She has extensive background and knowledge dealing with those issues and finding good solid practical solutions.” He said his vote would have been for Turner.
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Nash said he had expected to be a “fly on the wall” during these interviews but that he was able to engage with the council and was asked his opinion during the interview.
Hagen, who said during his campaign that he thought the new council should be making the decision, said he was there only to watch. He said Turner is “very well-qualified” and said he “looks forward to seeing how she does.”