Gerald "Gerry" Spates is the kind of man who seems ready-made for a position such as town manager. Spates displays the smooth and calming demeanor required for a position of leadership.
The sense of calm Spates displays can most likely be attributed to the long road he has taken to get to where he is today. Spates arrived in the town of Farmville in 1973 and found himself in the position of Farmville town manager three years later. Initially, one of the town council members asked Spates to apply for the position of assistant town manager. He said, "At the time, [town] council just voted to appoint me as assistant town manager ... I do not know if they looked at other people or not."
Tom Bloomfield was still the town manager when Spates was voted on to the council. Spates said, "He wasn't getting along too well with council and they got rid of him." Following Bloomfield's exit, Spates officially took on the title of town manager in January of 1978. The position seemed tailormade for Spates.
Spates relates working as town manager to the time he spent as an officer in the United States Army. When the Vietnam War was raging, Spates was still a high school student. Instead of going to college after graduation, Spates went to work for a Ford dealership in 1966. One year later, Spates was drafted into the army as an infantryman. Spates comes from a family of servicemen. Each of his brothers served in the armed forces. Spates followed in the footsteps of the eldest brother who was killed fighting in Vietnam in 1965. "It wasn't a real surprise that, once you finished high school, you got drafted," Spates said.
Spates began his training at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. After completing both basic and advanced training, Spates found himself bouncing around the country. He was assigned to places like Fort Dix, Fort Knox and Ford Richardson in Alaska. After three weeks in Alaska, the army transferred Spates to Fort Belvoir in Northern Virginia. There, Spates spent 26 weeks going through Officer Candidate School (OCS).
Upon completing OCS, Spates spent thirteen months in Vietnam. While serving overseas, Spates was an adviser to a Vietnamese public works department and worked with military outposts. Spates said, "We had seven different outposts that we had to service with basic engineering- type work." This work included water, sewer and road projects in various places located in South Vietnam. According to Spates, becoming town manager was not a big adjustment from this work. He said there are similarities in the jobs, but "instead of dealing with military people, you deal with civilians." Spates certainly has a great deal of appreciation for the citizens of Farmville.
He said, "People have been nice to work with here." Town Council members Sally B. Thompson and Donald L. Hunter have both enjoyed a strong working relationship with Spates. Hunter has worked with Spates since July 2004 and believes he is "the glue that holds everything together."
When it comes to dealing with different entities such as Longwood or the Farmville Police Department, Hunter said Spates tries to "keep everything together and promote a positive attitude."
Thompson, who has worked with Spates since 2007, holds Spates in a similarly high regard. "He is able to represent us in many different venues be it in county government or legislature." Thompson cites Spates' knowledge as one reason why he has been so successful in the town. "He knows the rules and regulations, and if he does not, he doesn't hesitate to find out."
During his 38 years as town manager, Spates has seen Farmville slowly grow and expand. "When I came here in 1975, there was not much here," he said. When discussing the kind of growth seen in the town, Spates points to the Farmville Town Council as a whole.
The town does all of its own construction on projects. Town council, along with Spates, has completed a good number of infrastructure improvements within the town. "We never had water and sewer on the south end of town where Walmart is."
In addition, Farmville has grown economically. In his 38 years, Spates has seen the retail sales of the town grow from an estimated $50 million to over $500 million today. Spates attributes a lot of the economic growth to the expansion of Longwood University.
Spates has enjoyed seeing the school expand from 1,480 undergraduates to its present size of just over 4,800.
He added, "Longwood encourages other businesses to come in." One company that is getting ready to open for business in Farmville is the regional fast-food restaurant Cook Out.
With all of his years of serving the Farmville community, Spates has a hard time pointing to one thing as his biggest accomplishment.
To him, the most rewarding part is not something individual. "The biggest reward is when people come up to you and thank you for the jobs that you do." Spates, who will be 65 in August, said he would like to keep working as town manager for at least a few more years. According to him, the council is getting ready to offer him a five-year contract. Spates said this five-year contract "will probably be my last go at it."
Given that his time in this line of duty will one day come to an end, Spates expresses great pride in what he has seen the town achieve. "I'm proud of everything that we have done; it is not one key thing." Spates prefers to look at things from a big picture perspective. It makes sense given the time he has served in the military and now as Farmville's town manager.
