Waynesboro City Council names interim city manager

By Alicia Rimel
Published: June 2, 2008

The Waynesboro City Council named an interim city manager Monday in an effort to quell lingering angst over Doug Walker’s sudden resignation from the job.
Assistant City Manager Mike Hamp will fill the interim post, effective midnight July 1 — the same day the conservative bloc led by Councilman Frank Lucente assumes majority control of the panel. First on the council’s agenda that day will be a 9 a.m. organizational meeting to reconsider Hamp’s interim status.
Lucente and council ally Tim Williams said Hamp’s interim appointment likely will remain in effect after the July 1 meeting. Hamp was appointed by a unanimous vote.
“There’s no hidden agenda,” Lucente said. “He’s appointed the interim city manager with the idea that he can apply for a job on a permanent basis. It looks like we had a unanimous vote tonight. Everybody will be there July 1. I think that it would be a fair assumption to think that that would continue.”
Mayor Tom Reynolds said Hamp’s appointment will cause “the least amount of ripples in the water as council begins a new era.”
The news squelched rumors that former City Manager Jerry Gwaltney might return to the job. Gwaltney has announced his retirement as Danville city manager. Gwaltney, who took that job more than five years ago, said Monday that rumors of his return to Waynesboro are unfounded.
Walker last week announced his resignation, effective June 30. The move came after Williams approached Walker and told him that he could quit the position or be fired by the new majority.
Walker was staunchly supported by the council’s current majority of Reynolds, Vice Mayor Nancy Dowdy and Councilwoman Lorie Smith, who expressed worries that Walker’s legacy, established after his hiring in 2003, would soon be undone. His resignation similarly sparked shockwaves throughout the city.
Walker has called the situation part of the natural order of business for city managers, who serve at the will of the council and whose positions are political appointments.
Tensions between Walker and the minority faction had simmered for months over the perception that he was closely aligned with the majority.
Lucente and political ally Bruce Allen won landslide victories May 6, clearing the way for them to team with Williams, who ran unopposed, to take control of the council. The panel has been sharply divided over such issues as city funding for the Wayne Theatre renovation, stormwater improvements and the new fire station planned for the west end.