Waltz Calls Decision to Leave Front Royal Town Manager’s Job One of ‘Toughest’ of His Professional Career

Royal Examiner sat down with Front Royal Town Manager Joe Waltz, Thursday afternoon, December 19, after he verified that he has given the Town notice of his planned departure effective January 12. Meeting in his Town Hall Administrative Department office we asked Waltz about his second pending departure from the job. He has served two terms, the first succeeding Steve Burke, initially as Interim Town Manager in November 2016, before being offered the vacancy, which he accepted moving over to Administration from heading the Town’s Energy Services Department in the spring of 2017. “I was doing both jobs there for a while,” he noted.

Waltz’s first tenure ended in October of 2019, when, perhaps coincidentally or not, he left prior to implementation of a slashing of Town staff initiated during the Interim tenures of mayor then town manager Matt Tederick. “I went to Ohio, was president and general manager of an electric co-op,” Waltz said of his between Front Royal Town Manager tenures.

Town Manager Joe Waltz in his office today explained his mixed emotions in returning to his first professional love, the Energy Industry. In fact, his first job here was as head of the Front Royal Energy Services Department. Royal Examiner Photo Roger Bianchini

What prompted his decision to leave this time, we asked.

“I kind of made a decision that I wanted to get back in the energy field. That’s always been my passion,” Waltz explained of one of two primary career paths he has pursued. He observed, “I have 37 years of experience, and of those 37 years, 32 have been in the electric industry. And I’ve been a town manager for five years. I do have a passion to lead people as well but I just decided that I wanted to get back in the energy field and that’s what I’m doing,” he said of his current plans.

However, pointing to some positive momentum the town council has achieved with its departmental staffs in the past several years, Waltz reflected some melancholy in his decision to reenter his first professional love, the energy industry.

“I’m just being honest, this was probably one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make. And mainly it’s because of the staff here. It’s a great staff. I’m impressed every day in how they do their job, day in, day out. And with all the criticism they receive they still do it with pride. And truly that is what I’m going to miss,” Waltz told us.

Waltz noted that he anticipates his new position will allow him to remain in the Front Royal community without relocating as he did when he left the first time. “It would be  my hope that once I get settled into my new job that I can contribute in some fashion back to the community,” he said.

Joe Waltz and Mayor Lori Cockrell shake hands in Royal Examiner File Photo. While this one was a welcome back shake, it will soon be a farewell one to the two-time Front Royal Town Manager. Mayor Cockrell expressed gratitude at her opportunities to work with such a positively proactive town manager and some distress at his leaving, while being sympathetic to his desire to return to his primary professional sector of energy production and distribution.

We asked what he takes from his town manager stints back into the energy field.

“Yea, it’s all about partnerships; it’s about being a professional in your field. I think that when you look at town government, we have professionals in so many different areas, be it law enforcement, planning and zoning, energy, water/sewer. They’re all the same in that regard of professionalism. And so I think that is where I have the ability and the niche to lead people. And we’ve gotten a lot done in just the two years I’ve been back,” Waltz said with a glance towards his desk.

“One of the biggest challenges when I got back is the culture here in town, inside. We had over 15% openings in town departments. I’m happy to say today that’s down to 5%. And the way we did that is improve the culture here, employee appreciation, we looked at pays, we were able to get a comp study and a pay adjustment done in that first year I was back and re-establishing a COLA (Cost Of Living Adjustment).

“So, we’ve come a long way. And I think that is what I’m really proud of, that I think we’ve focused on staff, we’ve stabilized that because now with less openings people don’t have to cover the amount of shifts,” Waltz observed, adding a cautionary alert, “We’re still not out of the woods. We’re like any other industry right now, finding labor is hard. But I’d say we’re in better shape today than when I first got here.”

Waltz then elaborated on the numbers, noting: “There are 176 employees that the Town employs full time. Then there’s probably a dozen or so part timers, and that’s not counting the 50 volunteers that are on council, the PC (Planning Commission), the BZA (Board of Zoning Appeals), the BAR (Board of Architectural Review).”

Retreat Forward

On this theme, Waltz grabbed some papers off his desk and observed, “We probably had one of the most productive Council retreats last year. And out of that retreat we created a Vision Statement, a Mission Statement, got council goals, our core values. We even created a tag line. What this tells me is one of the greater things about that retreat was we came together and we all agreed what our vision was, what our mission was. So, I really feel good about that, that we’re heading in the right direction, we’re working together, we’re getting things done,” Waltz said, noting that while primarily a town council retreat, there were also some department heads involved to pin down specific departmental variables.

‘We appreciate you’ too, from left Joe Waltz, Doug Stanley, and Tony Carter carried forward a wealth of institutional knowledge during their tenures in local municipal government. Here Waltz is pictured with the two County officials at a Liaison Committee meeting, likely duringn his first term as town manager, circa 2017 to 2019.

“By far it was probably our most successful retreat,” the departing town manager observed with enthusiasm at the memory. And while he won’t be here for the next one scheduled for February 2025, he believes the momentum achieved from the last one can carry forward into coming years.