Charles W. Penny, previously city manager in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, where he retired in 2017 but continued to do work for the city in a consulting role, is the only finalist to be Statesboro’s next city manager.
Now 61, he has more than 35 years of experience in city management.
Penny was the “Candidate B” whom District 2 Councilman Sam Lee Jones made the motion to designate sole finalist at Tuesday evening’s Statesboro City Council meeting. District 1 Councilman Phil Boyum seconded the motion, which passed 5-0.
This occurred after a lengthy closed-door session. Council members did not mention Penny’s name, but City Attorney Cain Smith identified him as the finalist Wednesday morning after calling him for consent. Penny and the city are in contract negotiations, but the mayor and council hope to take final hiring action May 7.
Phoned by the Statesboro Herald, Penny said he plans to take the job.
“I was contacted by the recruitment firm to consider it, came down and visited the community, enjoyed it, liked what we saw,” he said. “We liked the idea of having the college town – I mean, you’ve got a big university there – and lots of activities going on, and so we hope we can help in some way.”
Penny and his wife Edith visited Statesboro a couple of times during the city’s recruitment process. They have been married almost 37 years. She retired last July from a career in social services and education, recently as a middle grades Communities in Schools coordinator. They have two adult children and two grandchildren.
Career so far
Born in Fayetteville, Penny has spent his entire career until now in North Carolina. He has a bachelor’s degree in political science from North Carolina Central University and a Master of Public Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Earlier in his career Penny worked in assistant city manager positions with the cities of Morganton, Kinston and Asheville. After serving briefly as Rocky Mount’s planning and development director, he was an assistant city manager there 16 years, from January 1995 through 2010.
Promoted to Rocky Mount city manager Jan. 1, 2011, he remained in that role more than six years, until his March 31, 2017 retirement.
“Rocky Mount’s a full-service city,” Penny said. “We operate the electric, natural gas, water and sewer, storm water; 950 employees, about 43 square miles in northeastern North Carolina. We’re the midway point between Miami and New York on I-95 and U.S. 64.”
Incidentally, Rocky Mount, population about 54,500 in a 2017 estimate, is also on U.S. Highway 301. But it is larger than Statesboro, population about 31,400, which has around 311 city employees, as he had been informed. The city of Statesboro does not maintain an electric power grid but operates a natural gas system and provides the other services he mentioned.
Since his spring 2017 retirement, Penny worked for the city of Rocky Mount as a contracted consultant during construction of the Rocky Mount Event Center, a downtown facility whose concept he said he introduced to Rocky Mount’s council.
The event center, opened last October, encloses 165,000 square feet of event space, including eight basketball courts reconfigurable as 16 volleyball courts and banquet rooms. Seating more than 4,000 people, it is a venue for Amateur Athletic Union basketball.
“And it’s in the downtown area, because you have to put something in the downtown to help bring people into downtown and to incentivize redevelopment in the downtown area,” Penny said.
From retirement
So, why come out of retirement for a job in Georgia? His goal in North Carolina had been to retire with 30 years in, and he made 35 years in a retirement system for local-government employees. But he recognized that he probably had another eight or nine years to contribute, he said, and was prohibited from working for another local government in North Carolina without coming out of retirement.
“So this provides that opportunity to use those skills, and Statesboro is an interesting location,” Penny said.
In Statesboro, he would succeed City Manager Randy Wetmore, who started in the role Sept. 1, 2016. Now in his mid-60s, Wetmore is set to retire May 31 after 40 years working for local governments in six states.
With assistance from Developmental Associates LLC, which is based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Statesboro City Council and Mayor Jonathan McCollar made a search that drew 45 applicants from multiple states. After city officials narrowed the list to six candidates, just four participated in an “assessment center” event March 28-29.
A 14-member team, which included managers from other cities, human resources managers and finance people as well as two local residents, scored the candidates on responses to various questions and scenarios. Penny was one of the four candidates who returned for interviews with the council.
Council comments
“We had a lot of great candidates from all over the United States,” Councilman Jones said Wednesday. “After doing our research and talking with the top four, even though it was a tough decision, I’m excited that Mr. Penny is our finalist and hoping he’ll be coming on board soon and helping Statesboro go to the next level.”
He and Councilman Boyum both noted Penny’s role in economic development projects.
“When everything got reviewed, there was one candidate that checked all our boxes,” Boyum said. “We were looking for somebody with, certainly, management experience, with a real focus on economic development and the ability to create a culture moving forward.”
Penny was the leading candidate through all steps in the process, according to Mayor McCollar.
“And I’m really excited about the response that we’re getting from our department heads,” McCollar said. “You know, they’re excited about Mr. Penny coming in with the wealth of knowledge that he has and more than that, I think it kind of stabilizes our organization as well by bringing in someone who can also help our department heads develop to the next level.”
Georgia law requires local governments to release documents on “as many as three” finalists for an agency head position at least 14 days before a final hiring decision. City Hall responded to the Herald’s standing request with Penny’s application and resume Wednesday afternoon, 20 days before the May 7 council meeting.
Herald reporter Al Hackle may be reached at (912) 489-9458.