THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 10, 1996 TAG: 9601090088
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY LINDA McNATT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SMITHFIELD LENGTH: Long : 136 lines
IT WOULD HAVE BEEN hard not to notice. It was around the first of November. A bright, red Jeep with a video camera sticking out the driver's window was tooling around the streets of Smithfield.
If you saw that, then you have made casual acquaintance with Peter M. Stephenson, Smithfield's new town manager.
Stephenson, who officially took over his new post Monday, laughs when he recalls how he toured the town and recorded it all to take back to Leesburg for his wife and two young daughters to see.
But it wasn't the neatly bearded young man's first close encounter with this historic town on the Pagan River.
``When I was working in Williamsburg, we did the tourist thing - took the ferry across and drove around,'' he said in a recent interview. ``We thought then what a neat place Smithfield was. I made a mental note to myself - if ever . . . ''
That time came in mid-November. Stephenson, 32, saw an ad in the Virginia Municipal League's newsletter for a new town manager in Smithfield.
Safely settled in the town of Leesburg in Northern Virginia, at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Stephenson recalled that he scratched his head and thought about it. Then he saw the notice again, advertised in the International City Management Association's newsletter.
That's when he took action.
The Smithfield Town Council committee appointed to find a new town manager after Kenneth McLawhon resigned liked what they saw when Stephenson submitted his resume.
He was born in Galesburg, Ill. - birthplace of poet Carl Sandburg, population about 35,000 - and attended public schools there, going on to Iowa State University.
He was interested, he said, in some kind of public service. His father was a teacher; his grandfather worked for the U.S. Post Office. At Galesburg Senior High, he was active in the state's youth government program and on the student council.
``I was interested in architecture, landscape architecture - all facets of community development,'' he said.
Stephenson earned his bachelor's degree in community and regional planning at Iowa State in 1985. That same year he won the AICP Outstanding Student Achievement Award and participated the year before in the University of Illinois' summer planning program in Greece. And he decided to go on to graduate school, but he was ready for a different climate.
``We had relatives who had lived in Virginia way back. I know that because my grandmother researched the family tree. I had considered the University of Virginia as an undergraduate, but I didn't want to be that far away from home.''
However, he said ``four winters in Iowa'' provided the wanderlust, and Stephenson enrolled at U.Va., graduating in 1987 with a master of planning degree.
``I fell in love with the area.''
While in grad school, he worked for the city of Charlottesville's Department of Community Development. As a planning intern, he assisted the director, comprehensive planner and grants analyst with special projects.
Among his accomplishments in Charlottesville, he notes preparing a transportation database update for the city, conducting a public/private housing partnership case study, assisting with federal grant applications, reviewing expenditure proposals and assisting with preparing a study of under-utilized land.
Stephenson also snagged a job in Williamsburg as a planner with James City County. He stayed in that position about a year, then moved on to Leesburg, first as a senior planner.
``When I went to Leesburg in 1988, the town had 15,000 people. In 1980, there were only 8,000. When I left there, the town now has a population of about 22,000. Leesburg has exploded - about a thousand people a year.''
When he left Leesburg, Stephenson had risen to deputy town manager.
And when he recalls his more than seven years there, he sees many similarities with Smithfield.
``The history, and the proximity to a metropolitan area. In both cases, there is beautiful topography, a nice environment to live in.''
Smithfield Mayor James Chapman says the search committee took a serious look at Stephenson's progressive moves in Leesburg.
After just two years there, he moved into the principal planner's position, where he managed the town's comprehensive-planning division, supervised all applications, including concept plans and proffers, acted as transportation project planner for the Dulles Toll Road Extension, prepared community development block grant applications, prepared the department's budget and worked directly with the Leesburg Town Council.
After two years in that slot, he moved into the assistant town manager's position. In 1993, Stephenson was appointed deputy town manager, where he also directed the town's 200-acre airport.
In a career summary on his resume, Stephenson noted: ``Nine years of progressively responsible and diverse local government management, administration and planning experience. I am a self-motivated, goal- and accomplishment-oriented, energetic leader and team player. I possess excellent organizational, financial management, analytical and communication skills.''
In short, he gets the job done, even if it means sticking a video camera out the Jeep window to provide a quick glance at the town his family is thinking about making its home.
``The time was right. My wife and I agreed. It seemed fitting. Our youngest daughter was born in Leesburg on Dec. 22, 1994. We'd gotten the baby through the first year. Things had settled down. For me, it was a good opportunity. Smithfield had left a positive impression on my wife when we were in Williamsburg.''
And Stephenson positively impressed the council committee, Chapman says. He was selected from a field of more than 80 applicants. Chapman says he was most impressed with Stephenson's easy-going, friendly personality. Chapman calls Stephenson a ``people person - easy to talk to.''
And Stephenson was equally impressed with the mayor and the council.
``As soon as I had the first interview, I was hoping it would work out. Everything was very relaxed. All very positive. I had a good feeling.''
The new town manager was called back for a second interview and hired shortly thereafter.
Last week, soon after settling into temporary housing, was ``hectic,'' he said. And now the new Stephensons in town are looking forward to becoming better settled.
Barbara Stephenson is an artist who works out of her home, specializing in print-making, etching and calligraphy. She's had several private shows in Loudoun County.
Their older daughter, Melissa, is 13 and already has started school at Nansemond-Suffolk Academy.
And the youngest member of the family seems satisfied, too.
Her name? Virginia.
Stephenson says with a grin: ``That was a mutual agreement, too.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Cover, Color photo]
TAKING CHARGE
Staff photo by MICHAEL KESTNER
Stephenson took over his new post Monday, after serving as deputy
town manager in Leesburg. He said he had been impressed with
Smithfield during a visit when he worked in Willliamsburg.
KEYWORDS: PROFILE INTERVIEW by CNB