Family, old roots drew town planning director away after less than a year on the job

Just eight months on the job in the Town of Front Royal, Planning Director Tim Wilson has announced his departure. Wilson began here on July 30, 2020, filling the spot vacated by Jeremy Camp’s departure as part of a downsizing/reorganization of town departments undertaken during Matt Tederick’s tenure as interim town manager. Wilson’s final day will be Wednesday, April 7.

Rather than any unhappiness here, Wilson said the opportunity to return to an area near where he was raised and currently has two daughters and three grandchildren in less than an hour’s proximity, was a driving force in his decision to take the job of county manager in Gates County, North Carolina. Born in Texas, Wilson was raised in Newport News, Virginia, and spent a lot of time in the Outer Banks area. He described Gates County as “below Suffolk, not far from the Virginia-North Carolina border”. His oldest daughter and three grandchildren, aged 12, 8, and 6, are in Chesapeake, Virginia, and his younger daughter resides in Sanford, North Carolina.

Tim Wilson reflects on his brief tenure here and ponders a return to familiar ground. Royal Examiner Photos by Roger Bianchini

And he noted his work background was a good fit for the Gates County job. “They were looking for a manager with a strong planning background” on a variety of levels and in a rural community setting, he said, adding, “It was a good match personally and professionally, and I decided to take advantage of it.”

Of his time in Front Royal’s municipal trenches at a time of flux, Wilson said, “It was a pleasure working with the staff here. They do good work and work long hours as needed, and it’s a good management team in place. The developers and landscape professionals were all cooperative and good to work with.”

And while again being director-less after a relatively short tenure of departmental leadership might rattle some staffs, probably not the Front Royal Planning Department staff, including Chris Brock, Alfredo Gutierrez Velasquez, and Connie Potter. Wilson came aboard about six months after his predecessor Jeremy Camp (now in Clarke County) was part of the loss of three department heads in early-February 2020. Those losses were part of former Interim Town Manager Tederick’s controversial expenditure-slashing FY-2021 town budget proposal. That proposal’s departmental cutbacks, termed “right-sizing” by Tederick, reduced municipal functions and positions as part of a plan to enable a tax reduction in the FY-21 budget despite revenue shortfalls to support the existing municipal structure. So, the town planning staff has some experience of self-directing.