Meet Fort Oglethorpe’s new city manager: Jennifer Payne-Simpkins
When she’s not running the city of Fort Oglethorpe, Jennifer PayneSimpkins is running more literally – on a treadmill at the gym. Or you might find her riding motorcycles with her husband, Scott, a retired Savannah police officer and Hall County sheriff’s deputy. Or playing with her miniature long-haired Dachshund, Charlie. Or reading a book like “The Orphan’s Tale” by Pam Jenoff.
But managing the city consumes most of Simpkins’ time and she loves it. “I’ve been really impressed with everyone who works for the city,” she says. “I was at the gym one evening recently and a city employee was there with his son. He got a call that a citizen was having a water problem and he left immediately to see about it. That’s the kind of employees I see in Fort Oglethorpe.”
Although she’s only been on the job for a month, Simpkins has already found herself out in the community with public works employees investigating issues and looking for answers. In one case, where water run-off was a problem and no conclusions could be reached without witnessing a heavy rainfall, a simulation of rain was created using a fire hydrant and fire hose. “I like going out to personally explore problems and look at all possible solutions,” she says.
Simpkins’ background makes her well-prepared to dig deep, find solutions and make things happen. “My motto is ‘Never settle,’” she says.
In high school, Simpkins didn’t give up until she found a sport that suited her. That wasn’t volley ball and it wasn’t soccer. It turned out to be running cross country and track. But, she says, she wasn’t an instant natural and didn’t love it at first. “It took about a year and a half of practice and perseverance before I got good and actually enjoyed the sport.”
Simpkins says that running also helps develop good interpersonal skills. “Teammates talk a lot while they run distances and they forge close relationships.” Her high school team won a state championship in North Carolina, where she grew up.
After a year at North Carolina State University studying biological sciences and running competitively, Simpkins was looking for a change. “I wanted a school that was NCAA Division I with growth opportunities,” she says. She chose Stony Brook University in New York, which granted her a full cross-country scholarship. She got to the point where she was running 70 miles a week and qualified as an individual (and not just as part of a team) to go to NCAA Division I Nationals, where she made AllAmerican in 2002.
“After that,” Simpkins says, “I never ran competitively again. I was content with that achievement and ready to move on to other things.”
Originally, when Simpkins entered college, she was thinking toward becoming a doctor. She was taking the MCAT test one day to qualify for medical school when she realized it wasn’t what she wanted to do. “There was a lunch break during the test, and I just left and didn’t finish it.”
Simpkins had done some volunteer work with non-profits and learned that she loved public service. She asked some of her mentors about their education background, which led her to pursuing the public administration master’s degree she holds from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.
After graduation, Simpkins began her career in government with an internship with the town of Burgaw, N.C. From there, she moved to a management fellowship in Savannah designed to recruit people fresh out of grad school. The recruitment was successful in her case, and she became the management service coordinator for Savannah.
“Up till now, that was one of my best job experiences,” says Simpkins. “It involved a lot of research and working with the public, a lot of problem solving.” Two of the many projects she spearheaded were exploring potential budget processes for the city and establishing the right one and helping a group of Veterans realize their dream of placing a World War II memorial in the city.”
“The Veterans came to us for help,” says Simpkins. “We had to explore everything from what the city’s role should be to where a monument might be erected in a city rich in monuments. We gathered public input to make sure it was something people wanted. In the end, we helped the veterans hire a design firm and found a location on River Street. It took 18 months, but we made it happen.”
The monument that resulted is called “A World Apart.” It’s a giant globe split in two, as the world was during that war. Inside, the names of those who served from Chatham County are engraved.
Another satisfying role Simpkins filled in Savannah was in the citizen liaison office. “Savannah is an old city with old infrastructure,” she says, “so there’s always a lot of work going on with storm water pipes. It’s very disruptive to businesses in the historic district in particular. My job was to keep everyone on the same page and informed about critical projects, so the flow of business would suffer minimal disruption.”
Yet another job involved citizens’ requests for help with traffic that travelled at dangerous speeds near their homes. “People always wanted speed humps,” says Simpkins, “but my research showed that wasn’t always the best solution. There are many “traffic calming” devices we could consider.” Simpkins says she learned that, among other things, creating visual changes, like adding trees, could slow traffic down. Roundabouts also slow traffic, she says.
While working and living in Savannah, Simpkins made two trips to other countries, one on behalf of the city and one personal. “The Jaingxi Province of China contacted the city of Savannah asking us to become a sister city to them. Both are port cities. I was given the opportunity to travel to Jaingxi to make that relationship official.”
Simpkins also spent a month in Brazil. “I learned that the Rotary Club was sponsoring an exchange program between Americans and Brazilians, and I really wanted to do that.” Simpkins said she made a major mistake in assuming that her Spanish language skills would serve her in Portuguese-speaking Brazil.
“When we got off the plane in Acre, Brazil, and my host family came running up to greet me, I realized I couldn’t understand what they were saying.” Simpkins compensated by listening to language CDs during her runs in the “I wanted to work someplace where I feel I can add real value in new ways and live in a close-knit community. Fort Oglethorpe has already proved to be everything I could have hoped for.” South American country. When her host family came to stay with her in Savannah later on, she was better able to communicate with them.
A change of administration in Savannah spurred Simpkins’ decision to move on, this time to Gwinnett County as a program analyst in the finance department where she helped develop a property tax calculator that showed people not only how much they would pay on a particular house but exactly where that money went and how they would benefit from it.
A year later, Simpkins became manager of the county’s solid waste management, a department with a $42 million budget. When she became the fiscal management division director, the county merged solid waste into that department. “We were in charge of not only solid waste management but also financial administration for the department of support services for the county’s 6,000 vehicles and rolling stock equipment. We were also in charge of building libraries and police and fire stations, and of building maintenance for over 100 county facilities.”
And now Fort Oglethorpe. “I feel everything has been building toward city administration,” says Simpkins. “I wanted to work someplace where I feel I can add real value in new ways and live in a close-knit community. Fort Oglethorpe has already proved to be everything I could have hoped for.”
Simpkins says that when she and her husband put their Flowery Branch home on the market, it unexpectedly sold within 24 hours, putting them in a housing bind. “Fort Oglethorpe city employees went out of their way to find a place we could rent until we could find a house to buy.”
Simpkins was chosen by the city council out of over 40 applicants for the job of city manager. “My husband and I were already a little familiar with the area from motorcycle trips we’d made,” she says. “I read everything I could find about the city, including the city charter, and watched council meetings online before my interview.”
The interview process, Simpkins says, lasted a little over an hour. “The council was very welcoming and encouraging. The atmosphere was natural and conversational. They asked me questions and gave me the opportunity to ask them questions.”
While Simpkins’ list of ideas for the city grows longer with each conversation she has, she says, “My main job is to manage the city’s finances faithfully and implement the vision of the elected body. I look forward to doing that in my new home town.”
And just in case you’re wondering, Simpkins’ favorite food is chocolate chip cookies.