THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, January 6, 1997 TAG: 9701060042
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN WEINTRAUB, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 202 lines
During most of his 12-hour work days, City Manager James K. Spore is the suit-and-tie, sensible-car type.
He sits through endless meetings and phone calls, answers to council members and sets direction for 5,400 city employees.
He's described as responsible, sincere and dedicated; the kind of guy you wouldn't have wanted to sit next to in high school except on the day of a big test.
But when he heads home, Spore, 52, pulls out in a white Corvette with polished red leather interior. He detours to the boardwalk to take advantage of warm winter days and still gets little-boy giddy over the city's construction projects.
It is his passion, and the perfectionism that accompanies it, that have helped Spore build a nationally recognized reputation for Virginia Beach and its city staff.
It also earned him a new five-year contract to lead the state's largest city, and a salary of more than $125,000.
Under his direction, the city completed improvements on Atlantic Avenue, an expansion to the Virginia Marine Science Museum, the GTE Virginia Beach Amphitheater, the purchase of 1,200 acres of land for recreation, a 30-year plan for outdoor activities, a unique farmland preservation program, and doggedly pursued the Lake Gaston pipeline and federally funded sand for Sandbridge.
During his five-year tenure at City Hall, Virginia Beach has won national awards for its innovative government, Police Department, financial management, economic development efforts, volunteer program and new Internet page. The city has pulled out of a recession and lured record-breaking numbers of new jobs.
Spore's vision of city government seems to have been lifted directly from an eighth-grade civics test.
Unlike many city managers who would secretly rather be mayor, or who are afraid to do anything without the council's OK, Spore believes that councils, managers and staff members have different roles to play. He works hard to see that no one crosses the invisible lines dividing those jobs.
Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf said Spore never tries to usurp her role, but he has strong opinions and the fire to fight for them.
``Sometimes, when you're dealing with Mr. Spore, he has a little bit of the redhead in him,'' she said. ``He will start to take color in the neck. It moves up to the ears and then consumes the face, which pretty well tells you he's digging in and that you're going to have to make a much stronger logical argument.''
Spore quit the city he worked in before Virginia Beach because the mayor wanted him to fire the city's police chief and replace him with a crony who lacked experience.
His wife, who suffered with him during several months of unemployment, stands by her husband's decision.
``It was a crummy deal, and he did exactly what he needed to do,'' Joan Spore said.
Spore had a funny initiation into public life.
One morning in 1963, Spore's mother heard the city manager of her small Illinois town on the radio, asking for student interns. She convinced her 18-year-old son, then an architecture major at the University of Chicago at Urbana, to apply.
At his first Elgin, Ill., council meeting, during a break in a heated debate over whether to build public housing, Spore slipped in back to get a Coke. He almost tripped over the mayor and a council member rolling on the floor throwing punches. Spore broke up the fight, convinced forever that city government could be exciting.
He changed his major to urban planning and embarked on a career as a planner, serving as the director of community development first for Elgin, and then for Lakewood, Colo., a booming Denver suburb.
``The more I did the planning thing, the more I realized that your ability to get things done within planning is limited,'' Spore said. ``The real power is with the city manager and council.''
So he went back to school, adding a master's in public administration to his bachelor's and master's in urban planning.
His first year of school was the roughest. Daughter Amy was barely a year old and the city of Lakewood relied on him more and more. By the time he left to become city manager of Burnsville, Minn., Spore was acting as Lakewood's budget officer, public works director, director of community development and assistant city manager.
Characteristically understated, Joan Spore describes that year as ``pretty chaotic.''
Jim Spore's passion for Virginia Beach seems as sincere as his belief in public service.
He and Joan - both raised in the Midwest - said they have to pinch themselves sometimes when the mercury tops 60 degrees in winter. They're both ecstatic to be living near the ocean and thrilled to be in the biggest city of Spore's career.
The two met in college in Illinois when she moved into the dorm room he had left the year before. She started dating his roommate first, then switched. The roommate was the best man at the Spores' wedding and is still a close friend.
After 29 years, Joan said she's used to her husband's perfectionism and late hours. By the time he gets home, Spore is done managing, she said, and ready to kick back and relax. He inherited his father's handiness around the house but not his mother's cooking ability, she said: Making a tuna fish sandwich stretches his skills.
The average evening at the Spore household includes ringing phones - mostly for teen-age son, David - and music blasting from Madonna's latest album when daughter Amy, 21, is home from college.
``At work, he's very much dedicated to what he's doing and very focused,'' Joan said. ``When he comes home, he manages to switch gears and be part of the house and part of the neighborhood.''
His family was amazed when he came home from shopping for a sport utility vehicle two years ago with a brand new white Corvette.
Spore saw his first Corvette when he was 10. Forty years later, as a belated 50th birthday present (it took him a few months to get up the courage), Spore bought himself the car of his memories.
David told his dad he was proud of him for thinking of himself for a change. ``Our son, of course thinks it's wonderful - as if he'll drive it,'' Joan said.
After the council renewed Spore's employment contract late last year, the city's department heads threw Spore a surprise party.
It was the first time Spore, who has lived in a dozen cities in seven states, had stayed anywhere long enough to be vested in a retirement system. To symbolize his accomplishment, department heads wore colorful and tacky vests and gave Spore a turtle-shell vest to protect himself against council onslaughts.
In many ways, Spore is the ideal boss, the people who report to him say. He shows respect for staff members, talking sincerely about how much they contribute to the city. But he also is willing to go to bat for them, stepping in to defend a department head when council questioning gets a little too aggressive.
``The council is paying its professional staff a lot of money for their advice, and that doesn't do them any good if they don't hear it,'' Spore said.
``You're more than free to totally reject our opinions,'' after you've heard them, he added.
But like anyone in charge of a large organization, Spore has alienated some employees.
Master Police Officer Robert W. Mathieson, also president of the Virginia Beach Police Benevolent Association, is one of the few city workers willing to say negative things about Spore.
``I've seen good sides of him and I've seen his angry side,'' Mathieson said. ``I think he's a very sharp administrator. I question some of his management styles.''
The police organization butts heads with Spore every budget season when officers ask for more money and benefits than the manager is willing to support.
Spore has changed the system of awarding raises twice in the last two years. He says it's made the system fairer, but some of the officers think it's added confusion and not solved some fundamental problems in the pay system.
Mathieson said Spore didn't live up to promises he made while changing the system - and that cost him the trust of a number of police officers.
City Council members said they trust and respect Spore for being a hands-on, get-things-done manager.
Linwood O. Branch III said he realized Spore was ``my kind of city manager'' almost from his first month on the council 4 1/2 years ago.
``When I became a member of council and was still learning the ins and outs of our city government, I called Jim . . . to tell him about an illegal sign someone had put out in front of a hotel, a hand-painted sign that just looked so cheap and so tacky it was beyond description,'' Branch said. ``The next day, I came to work and the sign was leaning against the door to my office with a note from Jim, who had pulled it up himself, saying: `Let me know if there's anything else I can do.' ''
Council member Reba S. McClanan, the only member to vote against renewing Spore's five-year contract, said she was impressed with him when he first interviewed for his job - although she preferred another candidate at first.
Spore had come to Virginia Beach a few days before his interview, so he could attend a council meeting.
``That impressed me,'' McClanan said, ``that he was interested enough to kind of sleuth us out and be prepared for who we were and what we were all about. I don't recall that ever happening before.''
McClanan said she voted against renewing Spore's contract because she didn't want to bind future councils to a city manager hired by someone else.
``I think Jim has turned out to be good for the city,'' she said.
By not picking favorites among the council members, Spore has helped the 11 members work better together, she said.
``I think that's very important because the city is maturing and we need to get past some of the rather juvenile or adolescent behavior,'' she said. ``I think as the city matures, the council should reflect that maturity too, and I think he's helped to bring that about.''
Council member John A. Baum said he respects Spore for keeping a straight face during council meetings.
``I think he really is a real pro,'' Baum said. ``I know he must think to himself, with some of the stuff we do - `Good Lord, what are they up to now' - but you never see any evidence of it.''
Mayor Oberndorf said in the five years she's worked with Spore, he's become a close friend in addition to a trusted city leader.
``I think,'' she said, ``that caring people with a strong intellect would admire our city manager.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
VICKI CRONIS
The Virginian-Pilot
Virginia Beach City Manager James K. Spore has made a career of
managing cities. In this, his biggest city, he has drawn rave
reviews from co-workers - and another five-year contract.
What Virginia Beach has done under Spore's direction:
Atlantic Avenue improvements.
Virginia Marine Science Museum expansion.
GTE Virginia Beach Amphitheater.
The purchase of 1,200 acres of land for recreation.
A 30-year plan for outdoor activities.
A unique farmland preservation program.
Dogged pursuit of the Lake Gaston pipeline and federally funded
sand for Sandbridge.
KEYWORDS: PROFILE BIOGRAPHY INTERVIEW