Sandy Wanner is stepping down
By Cortney Langley
The Virginia Gazette
December 10, 2008
“For over 50 years I have led a life of service,” James City administrator Sandy Wanner told his Board of Supervisors late Tuesday night. “It is now time for me to leave this service to pursue other interests.”
At 72, he will retire next July 1 after 13 years running the county machinery.
He had planned to retire last December after Jamestown’s 400th. But in the summer of 2006 he promised the supervisors he would continue through this year.
“It’s time,” he said in an interview. July will take him to the wrap-up of the Comprehensive Plan update and through the second year of a tough budget cycle.
Wanner spent 21 years in the Marine Corps as an infantry officer, retiring as lieutenant colonel. In 1979 he was hired by Frederick County Schools as business affairs manager. Two years later he arrived here as finance manager for WJC Schools.
He shifted to the municipal side in 1985 as business manager for the James City Service Authority.
Five years later Wanner was promoted to assistant county administrator under David Norman, and was appointed acting county administrator when Norman left in 1996. That summer the supervisors made Wanner county administrator.
He still remembers a Gazette headline from a meeting he held with staff shortly after: “Wanner issues shape-up order.”
In that meeting he listed his expectations. At the top of the list was to communicate between departments and openly with the public.
“We’re in a fishbowl,” he told county staffers, emphasizing accountability.
In some ways, that August 1996 meeting set the tenor for Wanner’s 13 years as county administrator. While he hopes for consensus, his military background taught him to consider input and then make a firm decision.
He has been fiercely loyal to his directors, outwitting various political efforts to remove them by reassigning them instead.
His staff has grown to 775 full-time employees as services grew to meet the needs of a demanding population.
Wanner said he’s proud of many of the ways the county has grown, especially in how Emergency Services and capabilities have expanded. Similarly, JCSA’s infrastructure has developed, as has that of WJC Schools.
At the same time, the county’s greenspace referendum and Purchase of Development Rights programs have allowed the county to protect sensitive areas. Others have been preserved or expanded into services for residents, including Freedom Park and the James City County Stadium at Warhill District Park.
The 400th and subsequent Legacy projects were other points of pride.
Wanner listed economic growth as well, especially with diversification with the addition of distribution centers, two industrial parks and scattered office parks.
As for shortcomings, Wanner felt he inadequately conveyed the need for better roads, and he blames the glut of retail as a consequence.
“It’s a disappointment that I’ve never been able to articulate to our citizens the importance of this,” he said.
He noted the Anheuser-Busch brewery and Wal-Mart Distribution Center as good examples. Both rely on a strong transportation system to move product, as do many other businesses that might have found James City attractive.
Instead, retail followed the affluence of greater Williamsburg. While the county was able to diversify economically in the past 12 years, he said, especially avoiding the pitfall of becoming entirely dependent on tourism, a weak regional transportation system prevented further diversification. Retail filled the vacuum, most notably at New Town.
Still, Wanner earned the support of the Greater Williamsburg Chamber & Tourism Alliance, which presented its “Roll of the Drum” award to him this fall.
Alliance president Richard Schreiber said Tuesday that Wanner has been helpful in conveying priorities in James City, procuring funding for the Alliance and being candid in his feedback.
“He’s been a terrific supporter of the Alliance,” Schreiber said. “He’s very supportive of business. He wants to create a climate where businesses can and do succeed.”
Wanner plans to return in some capacity to education, either as a substitute teacher or adjunct professor. He will continue to be active in a number of civic organizations. Through the years he has served with a bevy of them, including Childhood Development Resources, 4-H, Boy Scouts, Williamsburg Community Health, and United Way.
He also plans to spend more time with his seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild and to pursue hobbies he’s not had time to.
“I have a fishing pole, a bowling ball and golf clubs,” he said. “I haven’t been golfing in three years.”
