That’s a question Assistant City Manager Roger Campbell has been reflecting on in recent weeks with the arrival of the 50-year milestone in his career.
“It feels like it went by in the blink of an eye,” he said this week, “but it’s been a very good journey.”
Roger came to Maryville in 1983, after serving as the Assistant to the Chief Operating Officer for the City of Knoxville in the years surrounding the 1982 World’s Fair.
As a young man, Roger didn’t aspire to work in local government. Instead, he set his sights on law school because “that was the thing to do at the time,” but his plans shifted when he was drafted into the military in 1971, just a few classes short of his graduation.
Active duty in the Air Force brought Staff Sergeant Campbell to corners of the world he never imagined he’d see, and when he returned, a new path to serving the people of the United States opened up for him.
During graduate school at East Tennessee State University, Roger served as an intern with the Tennessee Municipal League. It was an era when a lot of young people were entering local government with high hopes for what the last decades of the 20th century would bring.
“It appealed to me because the real, true level of public service is at the local level - you have constant contact with the public, there’s nothing that stands between you and the people you serve,” he said.
He spent five years in Kingsport, working as a Special Projects Manager and as Assistant City Manager, and then did a stint in budget research for the city of Bryan, Texas before returning home to Appalachia.
When he joined the team in Maryville, he knew it would be for the long haul.
“There is a certain harmony to this community — to the people in this place — there’s nothing that has ever truly divided our community, everyone here works really well together and our staff is a reflection of that, all working together while moving forward,” he said.
Over the years, Roger has lent his expertise to countless projects and intergovernmental partnerships that have shaped the city for the better. Moreover, he’s fostered a culture of trust and open communication among city staff and community stakeholders, one that values the ideas and perspectives of everyone involved in a decision.
It’s not easy to summarize in words a legacy as thorough as his, but evidence of Roger’s leadership exists all around us here in Maryville, and his name is often said with a smile far beyond Blount County.
Roger was recently featured in Public Management Magazine (an international publication dedicated to the profession) alongside three other accomplished officials, each with a half-century of service to their names this year.
Out of the four of them, three have worked in service to Maryville in their careers, including Alcoa City Manager Mark Johnson and Gary O’Connell, Executive Director of the Albemarle County Service Authority.
While their names aren’t the ones you often see in the headlines, this extraordinary cohort of public servants continues to create a positive impact on the region.
What does it mean to spend 50 years in public service? It means dedicating one’s time and talents to one small part in the long timeline of the place we call home.
And for that, we extend our heartfelt thanks to Assistant City Manager Roger Campbell for his many remarkable years in service to Maryville.
“It feels like it went by in the blink of an eye,” he said this week, “but it’s been a very good journey.”
Roger came to Maryville in 1983, after serving as the Assistant to the Chief Operating Officer for the City of Knoxville in the years surrounding the 1982 World’s Fair.
As a young man, Roger didn’t aspire to work in local government. Instead, he set his sights on law school because “that was the thing to do at the time,” but his plans shifted when he was drafted into the military in 1971, just a few classes short of his graduation.
Active duty in the Air Force brought Staff Sergeant Campbell to corners of the world he never imagined he’d see, and when he returned, a new path to serving the people of the United States opened up for him.
During graduate school at East Tennessee State University, Roger served as an intern with the Tennessee Municipal League. It was an era when a lot of young people were entering local government with high hopes for what the last decades of the 20th century would bring.
“It appealed to me because the real, true level of public service is at the local level - you have constant contact with the public, there’s nothing that stands between you and the people you serve,” he said.
He spent five years in Kingsport, working as a Special Projects Manager and as Assistant City Manager, and then did a stint in budget research for the city of Bryan, Texas before returning home to Appalachia.
When he joined the team in Maryville, he knew it would be for the long haul.
“There is a certain harmony to this community — to the people in this place — there’s nothing that has ever truly divided our community, everyone here works really well together and our staff is a reflection of that, all working together while moving forward,” he said.
Over the years, Roger has lent his expertise to countless projects and intergovernmental partnerships that have shaped the city for the better. Moreover, he’s fostered a culture of trust and open communication among city staff and community stakeholders, one that values the ideas and perspectives of everyone involved in a decision.
It’s not easy to summarize in words a legacy as thorough as his, but evidence of Roger’s leadership exists all around us here in Maryville, and his name is often said with a smile far beyond Blount County.
Roger was recently featured in Public Management Magazine (an international publication dedicated to the profession) alongside three other accomplished officials, each with a half-century of service to their names this year.
Out of the four of them, three have worked in service to Maryville in their careers, including Alcoa City Manager Mark Johnson and Gary O’Connell, Executive Director of the Albemarle County Service Authority.
While their names aren’t the ones you often see in the headlines, this extraordinary cohort of public servants continues to create a positive impact on the region.
What does it mean to spend 50 years in public service? It means dedicating one’s time and talents to one small part in the long timeline of the place we call home.
And for that, we extend our heartfelt thanks to Assistant City Manager Roger Campbell for his many remarkable years in service to Maryville.
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