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By Diana McFarland and Stephen Faleski

SMITHFIELD

Michael Stallings has been appointed the new town manager for Smithfield. The Smithfield Town Council cast the deciding votes at Tuesday’s meeting.

Stallings is currently the town manager for Windsor and is a lifelong Isle of Wight County resident.

His begins his new position on Monday, April 20.

“We are thrilled to have Mr. Stallings serve as the town manager of Smithfield. He brings not only his professional capabilities, but as a lifelong resident of Isle of Wight County, he brings his love of the community,” said Smithfield Mayor Carter Williams.

“We look forward to great things to come under Michael’s leadership,” he said.

Stallings replaces former Town Manager Brian Thrower, who left last year. The job has been filled in the meantime by interim Town Manager Sanford “Sandy” Wanner.

Stallings has served as Windsor town manager for the past 10 years. He has also served as assistant town manager, planning and zoning administrator, assistant planning and zoning administrator and zoning official for Windsor.

“We’re saddened to see him leave; he’s been a great asset to the town,” said Windsor Mayor Glyn Willis. “But we recognize this is an opportunity for him and wish him well.”

Willis added that Windsor’s Town Council plans to immediately begin looking for an interim manager. When that person is in place, the town will then begin the recruiting process for a new, permanent town manager.

“I was ready for a new challenge,” Stallings said, when asked why he decided to apply for and ultimately accept the Smithfield town manager position.

According to Windsor’s budget calendar, the plan had originally been for Stallings to present his draft fiscal year 2020-2021 budget to the Town Council in May, with a final vote scheduled for June 9, but Willis isn’t anticipating any difficulties from Stallings’ departure as far as getting the budget completed in a timely manner.

“Michael has got the budget pretty much done,” Willis said. “The anticipation is we will pretty much have the budget done by his departure in April.”

The town also plans to have its ongoing property tax bill issues resolved by April, though, “We’re still in an interesting quagmire,” the mayor said.

As previously reported, property tax bills were supposed to have been mailed in early November but to-date still haven’t gone out due to an issue with the town’s new financial software package, Munis.

Stallings received his  undergraduate degree in geography with a concentration in planning from Radford University and his master of public administration from Old Dominion University.

He is also actively involved in the International City/County Management Association, the Virginia Municipal League, as well as the Virginia Local Government Association where he sits on the Civic Engagement Committee. In addition, he currently serves on the Board of the Isle of Wight Chamber of Commerce.

Stallings and his wife, Dana, have two daughters, ages 11 and nine. The family enjoys running, hiking, camping and family time.

 

DIANA MCFARLAND is the editor of The Smithfield Times. She can be contacted at news@smithfieldtimes.com.