It's a Wrap for Wanner

By Desiree Parker Monday, August 02, 2010

 

This morning when he wakes up and gets out of bed, Sandy Wanner will no longer have to put on his invisible “county administrator” hat and hustle out the door to work. Instead, he’ll have some time to enjoy his coffee and eat a bagel. Or two.

It was the end of an era last week in James City County as Sandy Wanner, who served as county administrator for 14 years and in several other positions in the county for about 11 years previous, retired. WYDaily had a chance to talk to him about his years of service, the most recent of which was served under a contentious board, the majority of whom might have wanted him out the door sooner. Wanner’s focus, he said, has always been serving the county, supervisors and citizens to the best of his ability and trying to keep lines of communication open.

A November 2007, story in the Daily Press titled “Is JCC Head’s Job in Doubt?” suggested the then-newly elected Republican majority on the board might have wanted Wanner gone. While the three Republican supervisors each offered quotes implying they expected staff to toe the line or else, none said specifically they were looking to fire Wanner.

Current Chairman Jim Kennedy, who had just won his Stonehouse district seat by 90 votes, was asked about the possibility of Wanner being fired. In the story he’s quoted as saying, “Let me put it this way: I ran on a platform of change. I’ll let you fill in the blanks.”

Just about a year into the new board majority - in December 2008 - Wanner announced he was going to retire in the summer of 2009.

Supervisor Bruce Goodson told WYDaily that rumors about Wanner's retirement were fueled by a typical, post-election "rancor." Despite that, he said "the board has always supported [Wanner] and begged him to stay [after his first retirement announcement].”

Goodson said emphatically that suggestions Republicans wanted to get rid of Wanner “misrepresented board opinion… there was talk in the community but there was never any basis for it, not with me.” The rumors, he said, “were coming from outside the board.”

Supervisor John McGlennon recalled that period differently: “It was clear to me that a majority on the board were intent on replacing the administrator.” The county administrator serves at the pleasure of the board, but McGlennon pointed out, “if three members want that to happen, it will happen.” He says he didn’t support asking Wanner to leave.

By early 2009, though, it became evident that the county’s economy (like the nation’s) was facing serious challenges. At that point, the board publicly and unanimously asked Wanner to postpone his retirement and help guide the county through tough times.

Wanner declined to comment on the speculation that he may have been asked to leave, either in the Daily Press article or now. He also declined to comment on whether his first retirement announcement related to that speculation.

He said he decided to stay on one more year for the good of the county. “I stayed to serve the county and citizens and help staff…. My goal then was to try not to reduce staff willy-nilly, and I promised I would get them through it the best I could.”

Though the county budget had seen a few years of declining revenues, Wanner managed to create a budget that cut about 35 full-time jobs almost completely through attrition. There were cuts to employee benefits and outside agency contributions as well as increases in county fees, but the administrator held a series of public meetings to let citizens know the county’s grim revenue situation. In crafting the budget Wanner considered their input, as well as that of staff and the current board.

“I look at the budget process as a way to move the county forward,” Wanner said. “The budget allows the administrator to recommend to the board the things that need to be invested in.”

Over the years, those things have changed – sometimes the focus is infrastructure and general services, sometimes schools or civic engagement. This last year the focus has been maintaining services while cutting spending, he said.

Wanner has worked hard to ensure that “the budget reductions have not been harmful to moving the county forward,” and points out the budget is flexible and administrators can adjust spending over the year to account for changes.

His job wasn’t just about the budget. He was a facilitator of dialog for the board, and part of his job has been to get them to work together. “The best boards to work with have individuals who are willing to learn and don’t come in with a predisposed attitude,” he said.

In general, Wanner said, “all the boards have been receptive to the ideas and thoughts of staff and citizens ... and all the boards have been supportive of moving the county forward and promoting its mission.”

The challenges he’s faced, however, have changed over time.

When he first took the job, Wanner said he was faced with the expectations of new citizens who moved here from other states where more services were provided by the county, at a time when James City County hadn’t yet grown their own services. The expectation of a reasonable tax rate during such a growth period was also a challenge, as was financing the growing school system, he said.

One of the achievements he’s most proud of is the Warhill complex acquisition. Though that land is now home to the Warhill Sports Complex, Thomas Nelson Community College, Warhill High School, the newly rechristened Sanford B. Wanner Stadium (formerly James City Stadium) and the future home of the Public Safety Building, when it was first purchased that wasn’t the intention.

“We didn’t buy it for all that,” he said. “The county wanted to land-bank the area and keep 900-plus homes out of there.” The sports complex was originally intended to be at Freedom Park, but was later moved to the Warhill area.

Wanner also prides himself on his dialog with citizens – though he’s had his share of bizarre encounters.

One woman, a Kingsmill resident, called him asking why she had received a tax bill from the county when her mailing address was Williamsburg. Wanner explained to her that she was in fact a county resident, but she didn’t believe him. “She called me a liar,” he said, recalling that he wasn’t sure what to say after that.

Another resident (also in Kingsmill) didn’t want to pay the county water bill any longer, and decided to disconnect the home’s water line and attach it to the air conditioning unit runoff.

How did the resident manage to get enough water for daily household needs from that little trickle before the county remedied the problem?

“I have no idea,” Wanner said, laughing.

It wasn’t always irate citizens who called Wanner. Once, a man called, worried about why he no longer saw squirrels in his backyard. The resident was really concerned something bad was happening to them, Wanner said.

Wanner called the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and asked what happened to the squirrels – apparently that year had seen a bumper crop of acorns in an area deep in the woods, and the squirrels didn’t need to venture far to get food.

“So I called him back and told him. He was glad nothing bad happened to them,” Wanner said.

The former administrator also wasn’t afraid to flex his muscle on occasion to get things done.

When the time came for the board to decide on purchasing the Chickahominy Park area, one member said he wouldn’t vote for it.

“I asked him, ‘Do you want to be the only one to vote against the county plan, with an election coming up?’ I got a 5-0 nod on that vote,” he said.

Wanner said he’s looking forward to the future. He will continue to be the head of the Historic Triangle Collaborative, and hints that he might have other plans, too. Over the next year or more the new administrator will have to navigate political divisiveness, redistricting, the still-poor economic climate, tough land use cases and the ordinance update, which already looks like it will be rife with debate. “It’s a good time to leave,” Wanner joked.