Marty Gordon
NRVsports@mainstreetnewspapers.com
Randy Wingfield is stepping down after 28 years with the Town of Christiansburg and retiring from his manager role, which he has held since 2017.
Wingfield said it was just right time to retire.
“I felt we had accomplished most of the goals that were desired by town council when I was hired,” he said.
Wingfield is a graduate of Virginia Tech with a Bachelor of Science in Business Management as well as a master’s in Urban and Regional Planning with a concentration in Economic and Community Development. He also has a Graduate Certificate in Local Government Management from Virginia Tech. He worked at West Piedmont Planning District Commission as a Regional Planner and Transportation Planner before joining the Town of Christiansburg in 1998. Mr.
He served as Planning Director and Assistant Town Manager with the Town prior to being appointed as Town Manager in 2017 and served on the Board of Directors for New River Valley Metropolitan Planning Organization, Onward NRV, NRV Emergency Communications Regional Authority, NRV Passenger Rail Station Authority, and the Blacksburg – Christiansburg – Montgomery Tourism Office.
Looking back at his time as town manager, Wingfield pointed to several accomplishments including, but not limited, to the new Huckleberry Park.
“Obviously, Christiansburg Huckleberry Park is a big accomplishment for the town,” he said. “It won 2023 Best New Facility (Parks, Playgrounds, Blueways, Greenways or Trails) (Population under 25,000) at the Virginia Recreation and Park Society (VRPS) Awards. Christiansburg Huckleberry Park is as nice as a park as I have ever seen, and it is used by a tremendous amount of people of all ages and abilities.”
“It will probably be used as a park in some form or another 50 or 100 years from now, and I think everyone that was involved with it is rightfully extremely proud of it,” he continued. “I think if we were to try to build the park today, it would cost us much more, so our timing was right, and we have a very low-interest loan on the limited borrowing that we did.”
Wingfield also cited the Market Place Performance Agreement, which facilitated the redevelopment of the Market Place Shopping Plaza with the town contributing to the relocation of the North Franklin Street entrance and other public improvements – the previously largely vacant plaza has provided excellent additions to dining, retail and other options in town and the tax generation covered the town contribution after a couple of years of full operation.
“I believe negotiating this deal as Interim Town Manager seriously helped in my being named town manager, as the Market Place redevelopment had been a large Town desire for many years,” he said.
He also pointed to numerous major highway projects including Smart Scale Projects, which are almost entirely VDOT funding.
“The Town is lucky to have received so much in the way of grant funding through the years. Christiansburg received 2020, 2021 and 2023 VDOT Salem District Locally Administered Projects (LAP) Locality of the Year because of our ability to deliver projects on time and on budget,” he said.
The outgoing manager also pointed to the large number of stormwater projects, upgrades to the wastewater treatment plant, the establishment of the Farmers Market in 2015, and expanded special events since then.
“We began curbside recycling in 2018, the bear resistant cart program in 2023 and have recently installed solar at the Aquatic Center and Recreation Center.”
One of the biggest accomplishments, according to Wingfield, is the return of Passenger Rail to Christiansburg.
“This amenity will shape the town’s future,” he said.
Of course, Wingfield and the town had to go through one the most trying times for local governments in the form of COVID.
“I think we were better prepared that most areas for COVID as we had proactively ordered test kits and set up the testing locations on a regional basis,” according to Wingfield.
“Much of the credit for that goes to the New River Health District, New River Valley Regional Commission and our emergency responders – they acted quickly and were a model for the rest of the state. It obviously deeply impacted local businesses, particularly things like hotels and restaurants,” he said.
During this time, the town provided over a million in grants to the affected businesses.
“I heard many hoteliers say that they would not have survived with the grants. We had to make serious adjustments in our 2020 budget preparation as we realized we would not receive our typical meals and lodging revenue. We delayed some capital projects over the next year as well as we weren’t sure we were going to be in terms of business operations and accompanying revenue. I do think the town moved on well, as the country and world did, but it should still be in our thoughts and planning as you never know when something similar could occur in the future,” he said.
As he leaves, Wingfield believes one of the biggest challenges for the locality in the future deals with keeping up its infrastructure.
“We have a lot in the way of water and sewer lines, pump stations, tanks, streets, sidewalks, stormwater facilities, and buildings that we must continue to maintain, and the costs associated with those improvement and maintenance projects continues to increase every year. I also think it is important that we keep a small-town feel, and that is a challenge with the growth demands that we are experiencing,” he concluded.
In retirement, he has a few odd jobs around the house that he had been putting off that he wants to take care of and will probably travel a little.
“I would like to go out west in the next couple of years and see the Grand Canyon and other sights. I will probably wind up working part-time in the future as well, but I don’t have any real plan of where at this point,” he said.
Wingfield’s resignation was official this past week, and the town has named his replacement.
