Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, July 3, 1990 TAG: 9007030131
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARK LAYMAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The Washington Post reported Monday that Prince William County has picked James Mullen, the deputy city manager of Aurora, Colo., as its new county executive.
An assistant to Robert Cole, chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors, said there wouldn't be an official announcement until the supervisors' meeting today.
But Mullen told the Post over the weekend that he had been asked to start work in Prince William County in mid-August. He was to fly to Northern Virginia to meet with the supervisors one more time and to take a quick look at local schools before formally accepting the job offer.
Hodge, who was one of three finalists for the job, said Monday that he was told late last week "that was the way it was headed. They weren't sure if they could work it out, but apparently they did."
Told of the Post story, Roanoke County Board of Supervisors Chairman Dick Robers said, "I'm delighted to hear that. I hope [Hodge] stays here a long time. He's done a very good job, and I expect him to continue."
Supervisor Bob Johnson had a similar reaction. "That's great news. . . . This would have been an awful time for Elmer to leave. But Roanoke County would not have stopped - and that's a compliment to Elmer."
Hodge was asked to apply for the job this spring by a consultant hired by Prince William County.
"I was quite happy to be asked to talk to them and to be included in the top three," he said. "I'm still very happy here. I have no intention of looking" for other jobs.
According to the Post, Mullen will be paid close to $100,000 a year. Last week, the Roanoke County supervisors raised Hodge's salary from $82,500 to $92,000. And for the first time, the supervisors gave Hodge an additional benefit of $5,000 that he can use for deferred compensation, life insurance or retirement savings.
Johnson said the supervisors hadn't tried to outbid Prince William County. Hodge deserved the raise, Johnson said, because he oversees a county with a $150 million annual budget and - including schools and constitutional offices such as the Sheriff's Department - close to 3,000 employees. "If this were a private corporation, he'd be making $700,000 or $800,000 a year with the stock options and so on."
Mullen has been the deputy city manager in Aurora four years. Aurora, a suburb on the east side of Denver, has a population of 230,000 - about the same as Prince William County's and three times larger than Roanoke County's. It is a bedroom community for Denver, but has a growing military and high-tech employment base of its own.
In that, it's more like Prince William County than Roanoke County is. And that apparently was a big factor in the supervisors' decision to hire Mullen, Hodge said.
Still, Hodge said the supervisors saw Roanoke County, and the entire Roanoke Valley, "as a place where things are beginning to happen."
by CNB