THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 2, 1995 TAG: 9507010121
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 09 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY TONI WHITT, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 95 lines
Mayor Gloria O. Webb was ready for an easier year.
City Manager V. Wayne Orton had finally finished cutting the budget and cutting the staff. He had finished with the tough work of getting the city back on a sound financial track.
``He's just gotten us to the point where we might have a little extra money,'' Webb said last week after Orton announced his retirement. ``He's gotten us to the point where we can sit back and relax - but that's not to be.''
Orton asked the council to make some tough decisions in setting their goals. He wrote those goals into the city budgets and then he allocated money based on council goals.
``I do feel like he understands the vision,'' Webb said. ``We came up with goals at his insistence - he wanted us to write our goals and measure them on a quarterly basis. He was very aware of what the council expected.''
Webb is looking for someone who will adopt the same philosophy and begin to build on the vision.
``We need someone who will shepherd our economic development plan,'' Webb said. ``If we can work that, our future looks bright.''
Orton said Portsmouth's challenges are not unlike those of other urban cores - which Portsmouth has joined in a partnership.
``We don't have an abundance of acreage like Chesapeake does,'' Orton said. ``The next boom town will be Suffolk.''
Portsmouth will have to continue to bring in new economic development, rebuild its decaying shopping centers and work with residents to clean-up existing neighborhoods. By following the economic development plan, Orton hopes the city will be able to bolster its tax base.
Portsmouth is still struggling over a tax base that hasn't grown, while its challenges - increased decay and rising populations of older and poorer residents - have gotten tougher. When Orton took the helm in 1990, those problems were exacerbated by a reserve fund that had fallen far below recommended levels. The city was borrowing money to meet day to day expenses.
``The economic challenge is not mastered,'' Orton said during a recent interview. ``But the city is in a position to move forward.''
Orton spent his five years focusing on fiscal management and bringing the city's financial reserves back to a safer level.
He has laid off employees and revamped the pay system in a move toward pay-for-performance - through those measures the city has been able to cut most department budgets. But those moves made him an unpopular manager among many city employees.
``We've had a lot of negative things in the last five years,'' Orton said. ``We started with an antiquated employment system. We were economically challenged and fiscally stressed. All of this had to change financially and organizationally. I could have been more popular, but I wouldn't have been a good executive.''
Councilman Cameron C. Pitts agreed last week saying that a good manager has to be willing to do what's best for the city, please the majority of the council and be willing to take the blame for tough decisions.
``He got hit by the press and he got hit by people,'' Pitts said. ``And he took the blame even when it wasn't his fault.''
Orton decided to enter the public sector 15 years ago. After spending years in the mental health field as a counselor and administrator he decided he would enter the realm of government as director of Social Services. He didn't realize where it would take him. Orton had a meteoric rise, 10 years later he became the area's first black city manager.
This time some council members and former council members are hoping the city will look outside of the ranks for a new manager. Two former councilmen, Lee E. King and John H. Epperson, said they hope the council will go out on a national search for a new manager. They believe bringing someone in from the outside will foster fresh ideas.
Orton said nationally the average job span for a city manager in one city is about five to seven years and he doesn't think that's a bad thing.
``It allows new ideas and fresh approaches,'' he said. ``It's in the best interest of the city. Unfortunately the pattern in America is that city managers are forced out or thrown out.''
Orton, who decided to retire last spring, said often managers are criticized because citizens who are satisfied don't speak up.
``Naysayers get all the air time,'' he said. ``If you listen to it, you'll think all is wrong with America.''
He said his critics never ``bothered'' him.
``I always listened to them, because sometimes they had wise things to say,'' Orton said. ``Sometimes they say foolish things too, but if you're not listening, you'll miss the important things.'' MEMO: Main story on page 8
ILLUSTRATION: Drawing
This cartoon greeted Wayne Orton in 1990 when he took over the post
of Portsmouth city manager.
KEYWORDS: PORTSMOUTH CITY MANAGER ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT by CNB