Over the past 20 years, North Carolina has had its share of municipal scandal and controversy. Town and city managers have made news for everything from sleeping with co-workers to domestic disturbances. And even on a good day, it’s not unusual to see local governing boards get into heated arguments about one thing or another, usually involving the allocation of tax dollars. But in the midst of this turbulence, Forsyth County has enjoyed largely smooth sailing when it comes to governance and administration, and for that we have Dudley Watts to thank.
After a stint as manager of Granville County, Watts, a native of Durham, was tapped to manage Forsyth County, a position he’s held since 2006. Now after 18 years of service to the community, he is retiring. I first met Dudley three years ago when we launched Forsyth County Connections, a monthly television series that keeps residents informed about various public services and programs. I caught up with Dudley recently during a taping of our TV show and we talked about his life and career.
JL: Tell me about your childhood and what activities you were into.
DW: I kinda did everything, but nothing all that well. I was a pole vaulter in high school, but I never made it over the bar [laughs]. I played football for a while and played tuba in the band. I was active in the church youth group and was an Eagle Scout. My father passed away from cancer when I was in high school, so my mom and I had to run a small convenience store for a while. Those were tough times, but I learned a lot and it really shaped my life.
JL: You graduated from N.C. State and did graduate work at UNC before landing jobs in communications and government. What attracted you to the county manager job in Forsyth?
DW: It was a dream job in a dream place. Mom grew up in Lexington, so I had family in the area and Forsyth had a long history of good local government.
JL: You submitted your final budget earlier this month, and, as always, things went off pretty much without a hitch. How has that process worked so well?
DW: I’ve got a group of department managers who care very deeply about providing high-level service to residents, and they do so in a very fiscally responsible way. They scrutinize requests, and then my job has always been to provide the commissioners with recommendations, but to do it in a way that gives them an ability to change it and really make it theirs.
JL: Let’s talk about economic development and highlight some projects that have come to fruition during your tenure, starting with Innovation Quarter.
DW: When I started here back in 2006 and I’d drive down Liberty Street, all those buildings that are now the vibrant Innovation Quarter, they were all shuttered, and the amount of change since then has been tremendous. The county and the city played an integral role in making that happen by making incentives available to developers.
JL: Your thoughts on Whitaker Park?
DW: Whitaker Park was being discussed right when I arrived. It was a Reynolds facility that was underutilized, and the company worked with a non-profit development authority along with city and county support to revitalize that area which is now amazing. Purple Crow is in there and so is Second Harvest Food Bank, and some apartments are being developed. That was another area of the county that was shuttered which is now vibrant.
JL: What about Caterpillar?
DW: Caterpillar was recruited here and built a tremendous facility. They then converted to a subsidiary company and are doing some manufacturing of heavy mining equipment. It has been a real success.
JL: Smith Reynolds Airport is doing well too.
DW: Yes. That land has always been owned by the county, and it used to operate with a separate governmental authority, but several years ago we collapsed it into a county department. Mark Davidson worked through that transition as the leader there and he is now a department manager in the county. That gave Mark access to bond financing opportunities and the support of the county infrastructure, plus we got a lot of federal and state money there. We’ve expanded facilities and improved the maintenance overhaul operation. The terminal building is getting ready to be updated, and we’ve got two new hangars there which adds to the bottom line.
JL: You’ve always had a vision for developing downtown Winston-Salem. Talk about what we’ve come to know as the “Downtown Strategy.”
DW: Winston-Salem City Manager Lee Garrity came in about the same time that I did, as did Jason Thiel who was head of development, and there was clearly an effort to revitalize downtown. Back then the Mayor used to joke that if you shot a cannon down 4th Street at 5 o’clock, you wouldn’t have to worry about hitting anybody [laughs]. So, we got with Jason and with folks in the community and said, ‘Where’s the county’s footprint, and what do we need to do?”, and the results have been pretty remarkable.
JL: Let’s also mention that during your tenure as county manager, there has been an expansion of and addition to parks, and places for people to have fun, like Tanglewood and Festival of Lights.
DW: A lot of that was driven by the Board of Commissioners and what I observed that they were invested in. For example, one of the things I heard a lot about back then was getting the campground at Tanglewood back up and running, so we did, and it has been a remarkable success, producing a couple hundred thousand dollars in revenue for the county every year which supports county operations. It’s also great to develop new parks like Belews Lake Park which we’ll open up soon and the agricultural park near Tobaccoville. Preserving open space is part of maintaining quality of life for this community.
JL: Do you feel pretty good about how the County is doing these days?
DW: Yes. The facility and infrastructure side of it is good. There have been a lot of investments and not a lot of deferred maintenance through that. We are an organization that really focuses on providing a good quality level of service, but within the confines of not trying to buy any more government than we need.
JL: What will you miss about being County Manager?
DW: I’ll miss the people. I have been blessed in my career to work with wonderfully dedicated staff and elected officials. They all have this high level of expectation of the community and how we treat people. I’ll also miss the excitement of working on projects that will set the stage for something that you know will be good in the future.
JL: What will you not miss?
DW: Some of the stress of Thursday board meetings, but I’ve always enjoyed them after they were over [laughs]. But seriously there’s not too much that I won’t miss because this has been a remarkable opportunity for me.
All in all, it has been an amazing career for the pole-vaulting boy from Durham who never made it over the bar, then managed to raise it for the rest of us.
Dudley Watts Steps Down
Over the past 20 years, North Carolina has had its share of municipal scandal and controversy. Town and city managers have made news for everything from sleeping with co-workers to domestic disturbances. And even on a good day, it’s not unusual to see local governing boards get into heated arguments about one thing or another, usually involving the allocation of tax dollars. But in the midst of this turbulence, Forsyth County has enjoyed largely smooth sailing when it comes to governance and administration, and for that we have Dudley Watts to thank.
After a stint as manager of Granville County, Watts, a native of Durham, was tapped to manage Forsyth County, a position he’s held since 2006. Now after 18 years of service to the community, he is retiring. I first met Dudley three years ago when we launched Forsyth County Connections, a monthly television series that keeps residents informed about various public services and programs. I caught up with Dudley recently during a taping of our TV show and we talked about his life and career.
All in all, it has been an amazing career for the pole-vaulting boy from Durham who never made it over the bar, then managed to raise it for the rest of us.