Victoria Officials Hire Newton as Interim Town Manager

By Brian Nowlin, Staff Writer

VICTORIA – Following the retirement of Ken Patterson from the position of Victoria Town Manager last year, the town has been searching for the next person to step into that role.

Former Victoria Police Chief Jay Dayton stepped into the Interim Town Manager role as Victoria Town Council Members continued a search for a permanent replacement during the fall of last year.

After interviewing numerous candidates, the search committee appears to have gotten the man they wanted and he should be familiar to local residents. Rodney Newton has been hired as Interim Town Manager for a period of six months starting February 1, 2016 and the hope is that this will move to a permanent title once this period of time ends.

Mr. Newton has been heavily involved in many town events through the years and has been at the forefront of the many great upgrades at Victoria Fire and Rescue. His pursuit of grants for the department has led to leading the department in a terrific direction that includes holding some of the top mobile radio communication equipment for the entire state here in Victoria.

His work also led him to be placed in charge of Kenbridge Emergency Squad by Kenbridge officials recently. He noted that his duties at KES will continue with delegation of some duties to other staff at that facility and this will be evaluated to see what will be the best for all involved as he moves forward in his new role with the Town of Victoria.

As for his role as Fire Chief at Victoria Fire and Rescue, the group holds their annual elections on Thursday, January 14th. He stated, “I serve at the pleasure of the membership of our department and will serve in whatever capacity the department sees fit.”

Victoria Mayor Carol Watson stated, “I could not be more pleased with this hire and look forward to working with Rodney.”

She continued, “While I know this process took some time, I think we have someone that will be a great fit for this position and for the citizens of Victoria.”

Mayor Watson said that she had hoped the town could find someone local who would know the town and people.

Mr. Newton is a 1984 graduate of Central High School and has been a member of Victoria Fire and Rescue since 1981. He holds an Associate of Science Degree in Paramedicine from J. Sergeant Reynolds Community College along with studies in business management and emergency management. He has been integral in using his emergency management knowledge in helping Lunenburg County officials with writing their emergency management plan as well.

He is retired after almost 26 years service with Department of Defense Fire and Emergency Services having worked at Fort Story, Fort Lee, Fort Pickett, and Defense Logistics Agency Richmond (formerly DGSC or Bellwood) during that time.

Mr. Newton also spent the last 15 years of his DOD career at DLA Richmond where he retired as a Supervisory Captain.

In addition to that, he is the program manager for one of five communication caches for the Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Emergency Management. He stated, “In this role I manage the local cache and work with the program managers from Chesapeake-Hampton, Fairfax, Harrisonburg-Rockingham, and Montgomery.”

He and his wife of nearly 25 years, Stacey, have three children. Their oldest daughter, Erica, is following in her father’s footsteps with a career as an emergency services provider. She is currently employed as a Basic Life Support provider with Brunswick EMS as well as part time with LifeStar Transport agency

Taylor recently graduated from Central High School and is currently studying criminal justice and homeland security at Longwood University and working part time as a telecommunicator with Farmville 911.

Their youngest daughter, Emma, is currently a 5th grade student at Kenbridge Elementary School.

With his extensive knowledge of the town and county as well as working knowledge of grant writing and administrative duties, Mr. Newton was found to be the best choice for the town in this leadership position. He also has many connections outside of the county that will aid him with parts of this position involving projects as well.

Current Interim Town Manager Jay Dayton said that he would be available to help out and bring Mr. Newton up to speed as they work together initially. He stated, “I was pleased to hear that the Victoria Town Council had come to this decision and made this hire. I think that he was an excellent choice.”  He continued on to say that he will work to make this a smooth transition for Mr. Newton and provide assistance into the future.