CHARLESTON, W.Va. — One of the final things on outgoing Charleston Mayor Danny Jones’ list has been checked off.
Jones held his final senior staff meeting inside Charleston City Hall on Thursday, after nearly 16 years in office. Jones took office in 2003.
“This is a city where my personal fiber is part of the concrete that you work on,” Jones said. “I am as much a part of this city as anybody. I always have been. I never really thought about working anywhere else or being anywhere else. I was born in the right place.”
Department heads sat around the table discussing the administration’s legacy, sharing stories and thanking Jones. Deputy mayor Rod Blackstone was among those who spoke out at the meeting.
“It’s mixed emotions,” he said. “You look back on a lot of fun times, a lot of good times and some issues we had to deal with clearly for over almost 16 years. A lot of folks in this room have been here for most of that time.”
“In this room, we have been able to compare notes on what issues we have been having and being able to say we have problems in this place and how does that affect somebody else. Things like what is the street department doing after a major weather event and how is sanitation collecting things.”
Through 16 years there are certainly going to be ups and downs. Jones mentioned Charleston police officer Jerry Alan Jones shot and killed by friendly fire in 2009 and the 2014 water crisis in the Kanawha Valley region as two moments where he felt completely helpless and still gets emotional about.
Jones discussed the ups as the continuity in the room and how it transformed into a tight-knit, family atmosphere. He mentioned the redoing the pensions, opening Appalachian Power Park and the rebirth of the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center as accomplishments by the administration that stood out to him.
“There are so many other things,” he said. “That is because of the great team of people and not being about us. We are not about ourselves. If you make it about other people, it will be about you. That has always been my motto, I have spent my life waiting on people. I grew up in the restaurant business, that is what I like to do. I was in the right job.
“Most of the city employees that aren’t police officers or in uniform call me Danny and I like that. I think it helped but I think it moved through the ranks. People are entitled to enjoy themselves, even when they are serving people and working hard.”
Blackstone said it is important for Mayor-elect Amy Goodwin to continue these meetings.
“Mayor-elect Goodwin has suggested that she has planned to continue the staff meetings,” he said. “Maybe changing them a little bit, who is in the room but that is an important development. This has certainly helped guide us through almost 16 years.”
Jones’ final day in office is Monday.