ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, June 6, 1996 TAG: 9606060049
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: KENNETH SINGLETARY STAFF WRITER
Early Wednesday, Town Manager John Lemley said his telephone hadn't yet started to ring off the hook - he had talked to only a local television station and a Chamber of Commerce executive so far - but he said "I'm sure I'll be hearing from some old buddies."
As busy as Lemley can be sometimes, his time may be at even more of a premium after his retirement announcement at Tuesday's Town Council meeting.
Council members knew the announcement was on its way, but they still were quiet after the meeting. It takes a while for such news to sink in.
After all, Lemley, who will turn 67 next month, will have been town manager for 40 years to the day when he steps down Sept. 1, and is the longest-serving manager in the state. He was the town's first manager, and he has been credited with the town's growth and success as he guided Christiansburg's evolution from village to vibrant community.
Also at Tuesday's meeting, council was hit with two other torpedoes: Town Attorney W.R.L. Craft said he will step down after 20 years as Christiansburg's attorney and about five years as attorney for Cambria, which Christiansburg annexed in the 1960s. And clerk of council Imogene Brumfield said she will retire, too. She has held a variety of jobs for the town since 1965.
Between Lemley, Craft and Brumfield, Christiansburg will lose almost a century of combined experience within the next three months.
Council on Tuesday tapped William McGhee, Craft's law partner, to be the new town attorney. Council will have a recommendation for Brumfield's replacement at its next meeting in two weeks.
Replacing Lemley, though, might be another matter.
In 1956, when 27-year-old Lemley came on board, the town was all of 1 square mile and had about 3,000 residents. After a series of annexations, the town has grown to more than 14 square miles, and the most recent headcount, from 1994, showed 17,800 residents, up from about 16,000 in 1992 and about 15,000 in 1990.
Lemley said he will spend time fishing and at his beach house when he steps down, but will continue to live in Christiansburg.
He said he has been seriously thinking of retiring for about six to nine months. When he became president of the Virginia Municipal League in October 1993, he said he would finish that one-year term and work as town manager for another full year, and then take stock.
Lemley said he will miss "the people. This has been a second home, a second family."
The job has changed over the years, he said, moving away from an emphasis on engineering and toward public administration. Increasingly town managers must contend with more state and federal laws, and they spend much of their time with paperwork, and fielding questions.
Lemley also was town engineer, overseeing public works such as sewer, water and streets, during his early years.
"But one person can't do it all anymore," he said. "I used to do a lot more things personally than I do now."
One thing he still does is talk to people with complaints or questions.
"If they don't get satisfied somewhere else, they wind up here," he said, and that includes telephone calls at home.
Starting in September, however, he said:
"If someone calls me at home to gripe about something, I'll very politely tell them they got the wrong number."
LENGTH: Medium: 66 linesby CNB