Manassas City Council Candidate Survey: City Management, Staff Retention

Editor’s note: We have corrected this post, as some responses were attributed to the wrong candidate.

As early voting for the fall 2024 election approaches, Potomac Local News is dedicated to informing the community about candidates vying for one of three open seats on the Manassas City Council and the mayor’s seat.

To help voters make an informed decision, we are continuing a new feature series, “One-Question Manassas City Council Candidate Survey.” This series will run throughout the campaign season, offering insights into each candidate’s stand on key issues affecting our city. Our second one, which ran on July 17, focused on the budget and taxes.

The candidates are given 10 days to respond to a Google Form, and their answers will be compiled into a single post on PotomacLocalNews.com. This format lets voters quickly compare the candidates’ views on critical issues, helping them make an informed choice come election day.

Today’s topic: City management and staff. The candidates were asked:

Given the recent resignations of key city officials, including the city manager and utilities director, what steps would you take to ensure stability and improve employee retention within the city government?

Mayoral candidates

Xiao-Yin “Tang” Byrom (R)

Anytime our city starts to lose key personnel and struggles to get qualified applicants for

critical positions a real self-evaluation is required. My time as Mayor will be marked by setting standards that attract and retain the “best qualified” individuals into our critical positions to ensure the most efficient and effective services to our citizens.

Hiring city staff is a lot like hiring for the private sector. We are both here to serve our customers which in this case are our citizens. I have been hiring for over 25 years and have found some important keys to attracting and retaining great staff.

1. Make sure your staff has core values that align with the mission statement of the organization.
2. Pay them well and develop pathways for them to grow.
3. Listen to your staff and make sure their opinions matter in the decisions made to improve efficiencies and serve the citizens.

I welcome the opportunity to bring top-notch talent to the city staff.

Byrom, the owner of Tang’s Bridal and Alterations in the Canterbury Village shopping center at 8675 Sudley Road, opened her Manassas store as an alteration shop in 1999. She eventually expanded her business to include bridal and formal wear. Her business employs 17 people.

Michelle Davis Younger (D-Incumbent)

NO RESPONSE

Davis-Younger is seeking a second term as mayor, after being elected in 2020. She owns and operates a Human Resources Consulting firm located in Historic Downtown Manassas called The1ForHR, LLC, which focuses on career coaching and resume writing.

City Council candidates

Lynn Forkell Greene (R)

Having served on the Manassas City Council, I deeply

understand the critical importance of maintaining stability and retaining employees within our city government. This will help with providing efficient and effective services to our residents. Below, I have outlined the steps that I would take to address these pressing issues:

Exit Interviews: Implement thorough exit interviews to identify the root causes of recent resignations and uncover any systemic issues needing attention.

Communication: Advocate for regular town hall meetings for employees to provide updates, ensure open, transparent communication and make staff feel valued and informed.

Compensation: Continue to support competitive salary and benefits reviews to attract and retain top talent, ensuring our compensation packages meet or exceed industry standards.

Professional Development: Continue to promote ongoing training, career advancement, and leadership development, while fostering and implementing mentorship and sponsorship programs.

Work Environment: Continue to endorse initiatives to enhance workplace culture, including recognition programs and wellness initiatives to improve employee satisfaction.

Leadership: Focus on recruiting experienced, visionary leaders and begin looking for a new city manager if the interim does not commit full-time.

Charter Alignment: Restore alignment with our city charter, ensuring the mayor and Council focus on vision and priorities while keeping politics out of daily operations. By implementing these steps, I am confident we can create a more stable and supportive environment for our city employees, ultimately enhancing services for our community.

Lynn Forkell Greene is seeking to regain a seat on City Council, where she served for 14 months, from fall 2021 to December 2022. Forkell Green served the remainder of Davis-Younger’s term, a seat vacated when Davis-Younger was elected mayor.

She is an administrative director for a nonprofit. Forkell Greene and her husband share four adult children and three grandchildren. Before announcing her re-election bid, Forkell Green was a freelance reporter covering city issues for Potomac Local News.

Ashley Hutson (D)

Manassas, a locality with a far smaller population than our neighboring localities, has budgetary challenges different than our neighbors so we must seek strategic solutions to retain the best people working for our city. Through attending Council meetings over the past year and the Council retreat in February, I have been learning a lot about the city’s budget priorities and processes. To ensure the staff of the city are receiving competitive wages, our Council adopted a policy aiming to offer salaries within 95% of the regional average, which is important as Manassas is situated in the middle of one of the highest per-household income areas in the country.

Hutson is seeking her first term on City Council. She is the director of Member Engagement of the Heavy Construction Contractors Association in Manassas. Hutson has served on the Manassas Board of Building Code Appeals, Washington Council of Governments Transportation Planning Board and Community Advisory Committee. She graduated from Osbourn Park High School and Christopher Newport University.

Stephen Kent (R)

What I’ve learned throughout a decade of working in large nonprofits, lean startups and private sector businesses is that everything involving staff retention and morale flows downstream from Vision (or lack thereof). My role as a city councilman would be to help set the vision for the city and its staff. After that, it’s all about having the right people in the right roles and establishing clear Decision Rights for them to fulfill the responsibilities of their jobs. We have some incredibly bright folks working for Manassas City around the clock, and City Council members can make a big difference in knowing when to step back and let these professionals fulfill the city’s Comprehensive Plan. You get mass exoduses from organizations when staff feel micromanaged, pressured by politics or distrusted to execute. I plan to be a partner to city staff wherever I can by empowering them to act, holding them accountable when needed and making sure Manassas City government is an attractive place to work.

Kent is seeking his first term on City Council. He is an author and public relations professional. He and his wife, Melony “Mel” Kent, share a child. Mel Kent ran for the city school board in 2022.

Mark Wolfe (D-Incumbent)

This strikes me as a question in search of an issue. To my recollection, the City has two senior-level positions open. One is due to a retirement tied to a health issue and the other is our city manager who received an opportunity to return to his home area, for a larger jurisdiction, at more pay. This is hardly an exodus of staff.

The Council has been very deliberate in the search for a new city manager, wanting to find a candidate that is the best fit for Manassas. To me, that is the prudent choice. This choice is buttressed by the fact that Manassas is fortunate to have a cadre of experienced and talented senior leaders who have continued moving forward with our vision for the community. We haven’t lost a step while looking for a long-term answer at city manager.

Like any organization, much less one with 500+ employees, the city experiences staff turnover. This is monitored in detail by our HR team and reported to the Council. Our turnover rate hovers around 10%, the national norm for organizations of our size.

To keep turnover at a normal level, the city has been aggressive in having an ongoing review of compensation packages (pay AND benefits) to ensure that Manassas is competitive in the extremely aggressive NoVa marketplace. Our ability to keep the police department fully staffed and to increase staffing levels at the Fire/Rescue Department in the face of continual attempts to poach our people by other jurisdictions points to the success of our efforts.

I will close with this observation. Some candidates promise to lower our taxes. At the same time, they promise to increase pay for teachers, police and other staff. That combination may be good politics but it is disingenuous. People costs make up the vast bulk of the city budget, probably over 80% of the total. You simply can not balance the budget while paying people more and at the same time cutting revenues. But some politicians are not honest enough (or know enough) at say this simple truth about governance.

Wolfe is seeking a fourth term on City Council. He has lived in the City of Manassas since 1990. Wolfe has executive leadership experience in the corporate and nonprofit sectors and is currently the chief operating officer of MovieComm. Amy, his wife of 36 years, is the artistic director and CEO of Manassas Ballet Theatre. They have two children, both of whom graduated from Osbourn High School.

Tom Osina (D-Incumbent)

In Manassas City Government, City Council has a keen interest in hiring and keeping good employees and engages the City Manager to actually implement and oversee those efforts. I have supported requests by the City Manager to increase pay and expand benefits to retain our workforce over the last 4 years. The Director of Human Resources, with Council input, has tailored outreach which plays to the City’s strengths.

However, departures do occur, just as they do in the private sector. I first learned that the City of Winston Salem, NC had made a job offer to our City Manager in July 2023. He gave notice last August saying he wanted to be closer to family in North Carolina after working in Manassas for 10 years. The position was a step up in pay and he would be working for a city 2 ½ times the population size of Manassas so his desire for advancement was understandable.

The city’s police chief has been appointed as Interim City Manager while City Council conducts its search for a permanent City Manager. At public works sessions this year, City Council and the Interim City Manager discussed a reorganization of senior managers to which Council agreed. Three city department heads have been appointed assistant city managers to build a bench, ensure stability and increase employee retention at the highest level of city government. Meanwhile, City Council is continuing the search for a City Manager as we want the right fit for this position.

Starting last summer, I, along with several members of City Council, requested the quarterly reporting of job vacancies to us. This way, I could see what positions were open, their status and for how long each had been vacant. This information led to efforts to increase pay to attract qualified applicants particularly in the Department of Public Utilities. A new Director of Public Works was hired this past winter due to retirement and the position of Electric Utilities Director was filled.

Overall, City Council has recognized that salaries and benefits have to remain competitive with our neighboring jurisdictions if Manassas is to recruit and retain good employees. That is why we have increased overall compensation from $59M in FY 2023 to $75M in FY 2025.

In an ideal environment, good employees never leave. In the real world, employees leave for lots of reasons: job advancement, family changes, moving out of the area, retirement to name a few. I am very cognizant that any kind of employee turnover can be challenging. I am pleased to be part of a City Council that is committed to retaining good employees while staying within our financial situation. We have and are well served by our city workforce and I am thankful to have them.

At any time, residents may visit https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/manassas and see the current list of vacancies in city government. That way they can determine for themselves what actually is taking place regarding job openings. In fact, they may want to apply for a position!

Osina is seeking his second term on City Council. He and his husband have lived in the Georgetown South community for more than 20 years. He is the father of two grown children.

Robyn Williams (R)

The recent resignations of key officials, including the city manager, have undeniably led to a sense of instability within our city government. As a candidate for City Council, I am dedicated to implementing immediate and strategic measures to restore stability and enhance employee retention.

The prolonged interim appointment of the chief of police as the city manager has created a leadership void. I will prioritize conducting a swift yet thorough search for a qualified and experienced city manager who will develop a skilled workforce and invest in employee development, fostering a positive work environment for all Manassas City employees.

Moreover, I intend to cultivate a culture of respect, collaboration, and inclusivity within the city government. I will implement policies that encourage work-life balance, recognize and reward employee achievements, and provide support for mental health and well-being.

My experience on the school board has been invaluable in our efforts to attract and retain top teachers and staff. I am pleased to report that employee retention at MCPS has been stable for several years. This success is attributed to two pillars of our comprehensive plan: a Quality Workforce and a Culture of Caring.

Williams is seeking her first term on City Council. She has served two terms on the Manassas City School Board. Williams holds a bachelor’s of science in economics from George Mason University. He found her background in finance and economics valuable on the MCPS School Board, in addition to her more than 10 years as a broker/owner of Redstone Realty, specializing in residential real estate.

Williams’ public service in Manassas began with the Beautification Committee, where she served as a member and eventually chairperson. She also volunteered as a teacher assistant at Haydon Elementary for several years and taught modules in schools through the Prince William Soil and Water Conservation Department.

Stay tuned as we continue this series with topics such as power outages, parking issues, city management and staff retention, budget and taxes, public school performance, and data centers. We aim to provide a comprehensive look at each candidate’s platform, ensuring voters have all the information they need to make a thoughtful decision.

We hope this series will engage the community and foster a more informed electorate. Check back for new insights and updates from your Manassas City Council candidates. Early voting starts  Sept. 21, and Election Day is Nov. 5.

Be sure to subscribe to our FREE news email. Each week, we will pose a single question to all candidates running for the Manassas City Council.