
DATE: Thursday, November 13, 1997           TAG: 9711120185
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN             PAGE: 06   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: COVER STORY 

SOURCE: BY MELANIE STOKES, CORRESPONDENT 

DATELINE: WINDSOR                           LENGTH:  167 lines

SETTLING DOWN WINDSOR'S NEW TOWN MANAGER HAS BEEN AROUND THE WORLD, BUT HE'S READY TO CALL THIS PLACE HOME.

KURT FALKENSTEIN wants to become a genuine member of the Windsor community. He became the town's first full-time manager on Sept. 10, and he plans to be more than a figurehead.

After traveling the world as an Air Force officer, earning three college degrees, and serving as a public administrator in Georgia, Falkenstein retired to Hampton in 1993.

Or rather, he settled in Hampton. He never retired.

Falkenstein has spent a lifetime adapting to change, reinventing himself at every station.

Though he's originally form Milwaukee, Wis., Falkenstein moved around with his family as a child. One move took him to a farm community where he attended a one-room school.

``It was a little country school,'' Falkenstein said. ``One room, one teacher, eight grades, and a little potbelly stove in the back. It was one of the most enjoyable times of my life.''

Soon, small town life began closing in around the young and curious Falkenstein. At 17, he dropped out of high school and joined the Air Force.

``I was experiencing growing pains,'' he said. ``I just wanted to get out and see the world.'' And see the world he did. From basic training, Falkenstein's first assignment was in France. He later served in Vietnam from 1967 to 1968.

Upon returning to the United States, Falkenstein sought the education he once forfeited in search of new worlds. After having completed a GED program, he attended Sacramento State University and earned a bachelor's degree in criminal justice and a master's degree in guidance and counseling.

In 1988, Falkenstein earned a master's degree in public administration from the University of Georgia. At the age of 43, as a graduate student in Georgia, Falkenstein served an internship with the city of Athens. During his internship, he rewrote the city's solid waste management code. Three months later, Athens offered him a job.

Falkenstein served as a management and budget analyst for two years, and worked his way up to assistant chief administrative officer. During that time, Falkenstein established the city's first computer billing system, and he worked on an annexation. He left Athens in 1990, to become town manager of Cedar Town, Ga.

He moved to Hampton in 1993, and has earned a Virginia teaching certification. Falkenstein enjoyed substitute teaching in area schools and teaching continuing education courses at Hampton University.

He responded to a newspaper ad for the town manager's job in Windsor and was among 82 applicants for the job.

On Sept. 9 the town's elected officials appointed him town manager, and he reported to work the next day.

Falkenstein says he's ready to call a rural town ``home'' once again.

``I spent most of my youth in small communities. I like knowing who my neighbor is. I want to be part of a community, not lost in it,'' Falkenstein said.

In his quiet office on route 460, Falkenstein works with a staff of three and an annual budget of $400,000 for a town of 1,000 folks.

In Cedar Town he managed a community of 8,000 citizens, a $5.2 million annual budget, and a staff of 125 employees.

Falkenstein is enjoying the pace in Windsor for now, but he is ready to step it up.

Though he hasn't lost the spirit of the 17-year-old who set out to see the world, Falkenstein no longer experiences growing pains. In fact, growing is his pleasure, and his sights are set on Windsor.

``A town needs to grow,'' Falkenstein said. ``First, it needs to be given the ability to grow.''

Windsor's boundaries were set for the first and only time during the town's incorporation in 1902. Redefining those boundaries is Falkenstein's most challenging project. Windsor is planning an annexation, expanding the town's limits and doubling the population.

Adjusting the town limits will increase Windsor's tax base and in turn expand the town's services, Falkenstein said.

``People have extended outside the boundaries of the town. They are enjoying some of the services of being close to the town, yet they are not really part of the town,'' Falkenstein said.

``They are not included in the tax base and they are not represented. Decisions that are made by the town of Windsor have an impact on everybody living around Windsor, and people outside the boundaries are restricted from having a voice in what goes on with the town government,'' he said.

``We want to create a win-win situation. Though people who are going to be annexed in may have their taxes increased, the taxes will be offset with services.''

Falkenstein says that those services will include street lighting, garbage collection, and fire and police protection.

After little more than two months on the job, Falkenstein is not only planning the future Windsor, he's planning to improve upon the town he manages today. His goals include upgrading the water system, thus increasing the town's water system capacity. He is also studying ways to improve emergency communications between Windsor and surrounding areas.

``I'd like to improve communications between our maintenance and administrative personnel, and I'm looking into possibly linking-up with the county for emergency management. We don't have that capability right now to communicate with the rest of the county in the case of a natural disaster or severe weather event,'' Falkenstein said.

Falkenstein wants to improve the town's services and its appearance. ``I don't know if this is politically correct of me to say, but I'd like to see our quarter of route 460 become more appealing to the eye,'' Falkenstein said. ``There are some things that look kind of shabby, and I'd like to enhance our appearance, not only to give the residents a better feel about it, but also for those people who are passing through, improving their impression of the town,'' he said.

Falkenstein likes to make things happen. ``I enjoy the intrinsic rewards of local management,'' he said. ``That's seeing things happen and building a better community. Even something as small as filling a pothole in the road gives me a sense of accomplishment,'' he said. ``I like giving a town something it didn't have before.''

Most importantly to Falkenstein, he wants to know the people of Windsor. He doesn't want to carry out his plans for Windsor without close contact with the citizenry.

``I have visited more than a few local business,'' he said. ``It's a very friendly town, and people say they are glad I'm here.'' Falkenstein joined the Smithfield Kiwanis Club recently, and he hopes to join the Windsor Ruritan.

``I'd like to join if I'm invited, as a way of getting to know the people who are most active in the community,'' Falkenstein said. ``I want to be an active member of this town.''

Falkenstein embraces the town, though his orientation presented a challenge.

Complications crept into Falkenstein's first week on the job when the Windsor school board received a $5,377 water bill from the town. Accustomed to $300 a month water bills, the school board asked the town to reduce the bill that was dramatically higher because of a leak.

``We sell water,'' Falkenstein said referring to the town management. ``We are like a business. The elementary school had a leak in the water line over a long, extended period of time. We have to think of our services like Virginia Power. If you had a lightbulb burning and using energy, and you knew it was burning and you didn't turn it off, you couldn't go back to Virginia Power and ask them to refund you the money it costs to generate that power,'' he said. ``It still costs us money even though the water was wasted and not used.''

That same week Windsor's elected officials declined to waive the school board's water bill, saying that doing so would be unfair to the city and to the city's other water customers who would endure the cost. Falkenstein said that the town discovered the leak when officials noticed low levels in the town's water tanks and launched an investigation into the cause.

Falkenstein feels suited for a position that requires such versatility of tasks. Since he is the town's first full-time manager, he says the job description the elected officials provided him serves as a road map. He will use it as a guide, but is eager to explore.

On the wall in his office hang diplomas representing his adaptability. Law, counseling, economics, management, and educating. Falkenstein knows many disciplines, and his diverse studies and practices taught him flexibility.

Though he is a life-long learner always pursuing higher education, Falkenstein's toughest challenge was not presented in a classroom. As a single parent raising two adolescent girls, Falkenstein earned his adaptability.

In 1980, Falkenstein was stationed in Germany. His wife and daughters lived in Hampton. Falkenstein was due to return home in May of 1980 to serve an assignment at Langley Air Force Base. In March, two months before the planned reunion, a heart attack killed his 33-year old wife. The shock overwhelmed him.

Falkenstein learned how to shop for groceries, run a household, pay bills, and parent - all the while grieving his loss. The stress level he endured during his four years as a single parent is unprecedented by any challenges the working world could present.

He knows he's lived through the worst.

In 1984 Falkenstein married his wife Janet.

He now looks forward to the best of his life in a town he can call home. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos including color cover by MICHAEL KESTNER

Windsor Town Manager Kurt Falkenstein says he wants to polish the

appearance of Windsor Boulevard - Route 460 - the main road through

the town of 1,000.

Charles E. Hanna, left, a local government account executive with

Gately Communications Co., works with Town Manager Kurt Falkenstein.