New City Manager Begins Next Week

Rashad Young is gearing up to take on his on Dec. 12.

He will have to hit the ground running. Young, 35, will face a growing city with a projected .

Young sees two significant issues that will “drive a lot of the decision making and drive a lot of the perspective about individual projects and issues and issues around growth and development,” he said.

He is leaving a similar role in Greensboro, N.C., for his new gig, and he said he’s eager to examine “what is unique and special about Alexandria” in terms of protecting and preserving the historic community while balancing the drive for growth "in terms of population and land use.”

“One thing that is obviously most pronounced is what will happen with the waterfront project,” he told Old Town Alexandria Patch last month. “How that project will unfold vis a vis that challenge for balance among what is unique and special. That’s the first sort of issue.”

The second is economic reality. Young says Alexandria has “been blessed better than most cities in terms of unemployment but there are still challenges,” citing the area’s dependence on government contracts as well as the continuing demand for services while the city’s revenue base remains stagnant.

He characterizes his management style as “situational and contextual.”

“I’m not coming in to move the boxes around just for the sake of moving them around,” he said. “Fundamentally my job is to figure out how to best use the assets that I’m given."

Last month, City Council passed its fiscal year 2013 budget guidance for the government and school system. In the ordinance, Young is requested to evaluate and propose reforms to the city's departments, including consolidations, reorganizations or other program changes that would allow Alexandria to maintain the quality of "core city services" like policing.

It's an issue that comes up often. The Waterfront Plan Work Group at a Nov. 30 meeting discussed asking the city manager for a possible reorganization and consolidation of how the city manages its waterfront so that there would be a more holistic approach to maintenance and programming there.

The city's first African-American city manager will earn $245,000 for his annual salary in the position. He has 17 years of experience working in city government, the last two as city manager in Greensboro. Prior to that, he was city manager in Dayton, Ohio, and an assistant city manager in Cincinnati.

Del Ray Patch Editor Drew Hansen contributed to this report.