SALISBURY — Come Tuesday morning, Salisbury will enter a new era.
One without David Treme at the helm.
Treme has been the city’s manager, advocate and visionary for so long — more than 25 years — it’s hard to imagine Salisbury without him. Through three mayors and 22 City Council members, Treme has been the only constant face of city government since 1986.
Beloved by some, criticized by others and emulated by colleagues across the state, the 64-year-old who revitalized downtown, guaranteed a future water supply and launched Fibrant will retire Monday.
Buoyed for most of his career by a strong economy and elected officials willing to take risks, Treme’s quarter-century of leadership marks a period of growth and development for a city that refused to act its size.
“Dave always wanted Salisbury to swim with the big fish,” said Warren Miller, a longtime consultant for the city.
Small city, big goals
With about 33,000 residents, Salisbury is among the smallest of North Carolina’s cities. But Treme insisted Salisbury would be as professional as any large metropolitan area, Miller said, and he worked to attract employees talented enough to meet that goal.
Using his innovative management style, Treme taught Salisbury leaders to think strategically and partner with people who had the money government lacked to accomplish a number of ambitious projects, including redevelopment of The Plaza, Flowers Bakery and Towne Mall.
“He helped Salisbury, with our limited resources as a small city, act like a much bigger city,” former Mayor Margaret Kluttz said.
Treme introduced “public-private partnerships” into the local lexicon.
“That’s definitely an important part of his legacy,” former Assistant City Manager Foster Owen said. “He has the patience of Job to sit down and hammer out details and listen to others, and it just has made an incredible amount of difference with these big projects.”
City government dabbling in land deals and business development raised hackles, but Treme struck a good balance, Owen said. He and Treme, who worked together for 20 years, identified five projects crucial to the revitalization of downtown — The Plaza, Salisbury Depot, the Meroney Theater, the Empire Hotel and the Rowan County Administration Building.
All but the hotel have been redeveloped with Treme’s help, either directly or indirectly.
Because of the continuity and stability he provided in city government, Treme could encourage politicians, philanthropists and business leaders to collaborate on projects that might not pay off for a decade. Or longer, as may be the case for the Empire Hotel, a still-empty downtown landmark the city bought in 2007 just before the Great Recession hit.
Planned ahead
Despite major improvements to Jake Alexander Boulevard and the Innes Street and I-85 corridors, Treme’s greatest legacy is not a road, say those who worked most closely with him.
It’s not Salisbury Community Park, a 300-acre recreation and athletic complex.
It’s not Salisbury-Rowan Utilities and Salisbury’s enviable supply of water, which Treme battled Alcoa for years to protect.
Treme’s most important contribution to Salisbury is an strategic planning process called the Future Directions and Goal-Setting Conference. Sounds dull, but the two-day annual City Council retreat, introduced by Treme in 1986, determines the city’s course for years to come and has been the key to Salisbury’s growth and development.
“At my first retreat, I realized that they had established goals two and three years out,” said Councilman William “Pete” Kennedy, who has served for 18 years. “To me, that showed the city didn’t do anything in a haphazard way.”
The retreat forces City Council to focus and city staff to produce results.
But the first retreat in 1986 didn’t bode well for its creator.
Dr. John Wear was a no-nonsense mayor. When the retreat facilitator asked council members to list three things they would take to the moon, the physician grew impatient with the seemingly pointless exercise.
“My father looked at him and Dave thought, I better convince them this will be good, or I won’t be here very long,” said current Mayor Susan Kluttz, Wear’s daughter.
Rather than costing Treme his job, the goal-setting tradition has given him more job security than many city managers. This year marked the 25th annual retreat.
“It’s probably (responsible for) 90 percent of the success he’s had,” former Councilman Bill Burgin said.
Focused efforts
A sense of community began to evolve from Treme’s strategic planning process, because it embraced the whole city and brought different groups to the table, Margaret Kluttz said.
“When everyone started playing together, a vision for the direction of the city began to crystalize,” she said.
It wasn’t easy. People had to learn to trust, and the city had to hit a few home runs to prove the process worked.
Downtown began to blossom. The hospital, Rowan Museum and Historic Salisbury Foundation and other organizations flourished. The city helped make things happen.
“There wasn’t a group in this town that wasn’t doing pretty amazing things,” Margaret Kluttz said. “There was a reverse domino effect all across the community.”
When he was hired, Treme insisted on the annual retreats as an objective way for City Council members to evaluate his performance. They set goals, then determined if he accomplished them.
For all of Susan Kluttz’s 14 years as mayor, Treme has received flawless evaluations, she said.
‘Calm presence’
Asking people about Treme elicits comments like, “model of integrity,” “highly ethical” and “servant-leader.”
“He’s a calm presence,” Councilman Paul Woodson said. “In 14 years of working with him, I’ve only ever seen him upset when we are doing the budgets.”
Treme is known as one of the most effective city managers in North Carolina.
“I certainly think he ranks in the top tier,” said Ellis Hankins, executive director for the N.C. League of Municipalities.
After working with more than 100 city managers, consultant Glenn Harbeck ranks Treme as the best.
“He’s never content to rest on his laurels,” said Harbeck, longtime facilitator for the city. “He’s always looking for a better way to approach a problem, and usually it’s through human interaction.”
Treme has a knack for determining which initiatives need to bubble up, grassroots-style, and which have a better chance of succeeding top-down, as goals from City Council. He worked well in either direction, Margaret Kluttz said.
“He was constantly searching and reaching for community input about something, while being responsive to what’s handed to him from City Council,” Harbeck said.
In 1988, City Council handed him a doozie: End cruising.
Cruising problem ends
Treme had encountered the spectacle when he drove into town the night before his first day at work and thought Salisbury had won the state football championship. Hundreds of cars packed Main Street every weekend, leading to gridlock and vandalism.
Salisbury’s cruising problem became a crisis when one cruiser shot another. The physician who treated the victim was none other than Dr. John Wear, the mayor.
“He looked at Dave and said, ‘Enough is enough. Find a solution to this,’ ” Susan Kluttz said.
Treme did, with a host of national media covering the story.
Without the cruising ban, the rebirth of downtown could not have occurred, Susan Kluttz said.
The next year, the city partnered with Ralph and Anne Ketner to redevelop the Wallace Building (now The Plaza), sparking a flurry of downtown redevelopment that drew businesses and residents back to the heart of the city.
Downtown revitalization eventually spread east on Innes Street to Towne Mall, an abandoned shopping center the city purchased in 1994 to avoid paying for a sewer easement.
The city later sold the mall to developers for a small profit.
Today, the former eyesore boasts numerous restaurants and offices.
“There are people who are big-picture people, and then there are those who are detail-oriented,” Margaret Kluttz said. “We were truly blessed to have a city manager … who was a strategic thinker, and also he could find the fatal flaw in a little piece of minutiae that would cause a huge problem down the road.”
Controversial choices
Treme’s career hasn’t been without controversy, and carrying out City Council directives often made him a lightning rod. The sign ordinance, liquor-by-the-drink and forced annexation drew vocal opponents and made the city some lasting enemies.
Treme’s pick for police chief resigned in 2002 amid allegations of sexual harassment, and three firefighters lost their jobs this year in a sex scandal.
Some taxpayers have accused Treme of a lack of transparency regarding Fibrant, the city’s new broadband utility that put Salisbury $33 million in debt.
Like so many of the “big and important and worthwhile things this city has done,” Fibrant will prove to be a valuable and wise decision, Susan Kluttz said.
Treme’s vision for Salisbury often sparked controversy because he looks 20 years down the road, she said.
“This will be one of those decisions that is very controversial to live through,” she said.
But a decade from now, people will praise Salisbury as one of the few cities with the foresight to launch a public broadband system while cities still could, she said.
No firm plans
Though City Council offered him roughly $70,000 to stay through 2012, Treme will step down Monday. He will receive a retirement bonus of about $35,000 in recognition of all he’s done for Salisbury in the past 25 years.
Treme hasn’t made firm plans for retirement yet but said he may try teaching.
Margaret Kluttz said her friend has been doing that in Salisbury since 1986.
“Dave has been teaching us for a long time,” she said. “I think it would be wonderful if he found another way to continue.”
Contact reporter Emily Ford at 704-797-4264.
City purchases
During David Treme’s career, the city purchased several buildings and entered land deals for redevelopment. It was a controversial practice, but Treme says it paid off. Here’s an example of how:
Flowers Bakery
• City purchased for $503,000 in 1996.
• Community task force led by Paul Fisher of F&M Bank came up with development plan.
• City created an Economic and Community Development Project Area.
• City took competitive bids and sold the property based on price, job creation and adherence to the development plan.
• Proceeds of sale repaid the original investment, and then some.
• Federal and local funds paid for streetscape improvements.
• City improved parking
Since 1996, investment worth roughly $18 million (public and private) has flowed back to the area: F&M Financial Center, Waterworks Visual Arts Center, Police Station, Justice Center, art studios, Gateway Building, Council Street Place, law offices and more
Source: City of Salisbury
Tremeisms
• “There is wisdom in a multitude of counsel.”
• “Where there is no vision, the people will perish.”
• “From the heart to the head to the hands to the habits.”
•“There is power in prayer.”
Published Saturday, July 30, 2011 11:00 PM
By Emily Ford
eford@salisburypost.com
