The Shadow
Kim L. Warlitner has announced her candidacy for the District 2 seat on Covington City Council in the May 4 election.
The four-year term on council will begin July 1.
Warlitner is a lifelong resident of this area. She was educated in the Covington City School System and a 1975 graduate of Covington High School, magna cum laude, and a June 1977 graduate of Dabney S. Lancaster Community College, magna cum laude, with an AAS degree in secretarial science with an emphasis in the executive secretarial field.
She received a second AAS degree in information systems from DSLCC in May 2004.
Warlitner is the mother of Charity T. Hale of Hot Springs and the grandmother of Mason Nathaniel Hale. She is the daughter of Frank and Robbie C. Warlitner of Covington.
Kim’s previous work experience includes 28 1/2 years experience in local government working for the city of Covington. While employed with the city, she was the executive secretary to the city manager for 20 years. She then served as the information technology coordinator/director for the city for the remaining eight and one-half years.
In addition, she has also worked in industry and retail as well as medical, non-profit and legal offices.
She served as a member of the CHS Advisory Council, Jackson River Technical Center Craft Committee and eight years on the DSLCC Board, the last two serving as chairman.
While employed with the city, Warlitner handled all aspects of daily duties in the office of the city manager, including customer service, insurance, personnel, budgets, benefits, records for Cedar Hill Cemetery, purchase orders and assistance with the Redevelopment Housing Authority.
Once the city implemented the move to the new administration building, city council wanted a network established, and Warlitner returned to DSLCC full-time while continuing to work full-time to pursue a degree in information systems so she could effectively manage the network (LAN, hardware/software, Web site, e-mail and GIS) for all city operations.
“It was at this point that I realized how dependent our society had become on technology,” she said. “Prior to the move to the new city hall in October 2000, we were working with stand-alone systems.”
Once promoted to IT coordinator/director, Warlitner was considered a department head and started serving on various committees such as the regional Broadband committee, the regional E-911 communications committee and the Virginia Cooperative Extension Agency Area Leadership Council.
She also worked with the Economic Development Authority and numerous local business leaders to provide assistance with Web sites and IT-related issues.
In addition, when the new touch-screen technology was implemented in Virginia, Warlitner was trained by the vendor and worked to provide election hardware/software assistance to not only Covington but also Bath County and Alleghany County registrars.
Warlitner has volunteered for the cancer, diabetes, heart and leukemia societies. She is a member of Granbery Memorial United Methodist Church.
While working for the city of Covington, Warlitner had the opportunity to work for at least 12 city managers. She was hired by Bob Herbert in 1978, and others include the late Carolyn Nettleton, the late Betty R. Carpenter, George Nester, John Spita, Mike Mahaney, Richard Flora, Dave Dew, John Holpe, Allen Dressler, Claire Collins and others.
“I feel that I have a wealth of knowledge of the management of the city of Covington because of the business leaders I have been afforded the opportunity to work for over the years and the thorough understanding of local government,” she said. “In addition, I will make the effort to make informed decisions on issues that arise once I am elected.
“Although the seat I am seeking is to represent District 2 registered voters, I feel that being elected to city council means that I am being elected to serve all the citizens of Covington,” Warlitner added.
It is apparent that with the declining population in Covington, the tax base is being adversely affected, Warlitner said. The 1980 census figure for Covington was 9,063. In 1990, it was 6,991, and in 2000, it was 6,303.
Along with the declining population, 10.6 percent of Covington’s housing units are vacant, exceeding the state average of 9 percent.
“With this rate of decline, I have to wonder what the 2010 figure will be and what we can do to stop this spiraling effect,” she said. “It is important to note that one of the definitions for a city of the first class in the commonwealth of Virginia requires that it have at least 5,000 citizens.
“I truly believe I am one of the fortunate ones in this area in that my daughter, Charity, and her husband, Nathan, were able to return to this area to live, work and raise their family following graduation from college,” Warlitner continued. “However, there are a considerable number of our youth that have either wanted to remain here but were forced to leave or wanted to return here and could not because they could not secure gainful employment.
“Our area is certainly lucky to have MeadWestvaco located here, but we must strive to provide jobs in our community that are not heavily dependent upon manufacturing,” she added. “Finding ways to expand upon and complement our existing industries and businesses will afford us the opportunity to secure new jobs for our residents.”
According to the 2000 census figures, 28.2 percent of Covington’s employed civilians 16 years and older were working in production-related positions. Based on the 2000 census figures, Covington once again exceeded the average for Virginia, which was only 10.4 percent.
Warlitner said it is important to note that the 2000 census figures also show that the residents of Covington age 65 and over is in excess of 20 percent. Those 18 and under are also in excess of 20 percent.
“The remaining 60 percent of the residents that fall between the ages 18 and 65 are generating the local tax dollars for the city budget annually,” she noted.
According to the Commission on Local Government’s Composite Fiscal Stress Index Score, Covington ranked No. 2 in the state among all other localities with a high stress ranking of 189.57, Warlitner added.
“I feel that the survival of our community will be based upon the goals we define and work to achieve in the immediate future,” she said. “We must do our best to see that services are not being duplicated by the four localities here and maximize tax dollars, expenditures and revenues.”
Warlitner also addressed the Covington School System.
“As for our school system, I feel that with the highly educated and trained personnel in place, together with our infrastructure, we certainly have something to be proud of,” she said. “I certainly appreciate the efforts of our previous community leaders that worked to secure the funding for the new schools at Edgemont and Jeter-Watson Intermediate and for seeing the project through to fruition.
“It was indeed an investment that needed to be made, and hopefully the new facility with all of the enhanced IT-related opportunities will prove that the return on investment is much greater because of the educational opportunities our students have been afforded,” Warlitner said. “The educational process does not end at graduation from high school or college, it is a lifelong process, therefore, I feel that we must continue to invest in education.”
Warlitner also addressed recreation in the area.
“I feel that the recreational needs are being met very well in the Highlands,” she said. “In an effort to capitalize on the revenue generated from tourism, I feel we must continue to market our area by use of the Internet with the city Web site and embrace modern technology.
“We must have leaders that are cognizant of the changes the Internet provides and support technological changes,” Warlitner added. “An attractively designed and maintained Web site generates considerable Internet traffic resulting in both retail and commercial business opportunities, information to those wishing to relocate, increases in tourism, state and national recognition and a way to provide on-line services to those unable to conduct business inside city facilities.”
Warlitner recognized the importance of The Alleghany Foundation.
“I feel it is important to mention how fortunate we have been that The Alleghany Foundation assisted the city with a considerable number of projects in the past, including the municipal pool and bath house, the Jackson River Sport Complex and the amphitheatre.”
Warlitner concluded, “We have a community here that stands to capitalize on our assets if we effectively look at our needs and address them in a proactive manner. We have got to do whatever it takes to secure jobs for our citizens and work to restore our community to a thriving, vibrant place to live and work.
“With all of the above, I considered seeking the District 2 city council position only after I was told that the present councilman was not seeking re-election for another four-year term and was actively recruiting people in District 2 to consider seeking the post,” Warlitner said. “I look forward to speaking with citizens in the coming weeks prior to the election, and if elected, I will make informed decisions to best represent you.
“Please exercise your right to vote,” Warlitner said. “Thank you for your consideration and support.”
