Two familiar faces are departing Roanoke City Hall as the local government grapples with stresses caused by employee turnover.

City Attorney Tim Spencer is retiring March 1 and Finance Director Margaret Lindsey’s last day was Monday.

Employee instability in the finance department played a role in Lindsey’s decision to resign after 15 months in the job, she said. She’s going to work for the Virginia Association of Counties/Virginia Municipal League accounting services group based in Richmond.

Lindsey, responding to questions about her departure last week from The Roanoke Rambler, wrote in an email that the personnel “roller coaster was the toughest portion for me and what I will not miss.”

Lindsey thought her prior experiences in public accounting working with different people laid a good foundation for coming into city hall with what she expected was an established process and mission, she wrote. Did she know what she was getting into when she took the job?

“That's an unanswered question for me right now,” Lindsey said.

Meanwhile, Spencer — one of five city council-appointed officers along with the city manager, municipal auditor, real estate valuation director and city clerk — will retire after 22 years with the city, including more than five years as council’s appointed attorney. He was city attorney in Danville before coming to Roanoke.

After talking to his wife, Spencer said it became clear to him that it’s time to retire. He said he’s “excited and scared,” concerned about “what am I going to do? How am I going to keep my mind active?” He said his wife is encouraging him to take 60 days and do nothing. He said he’s “promised her 30.”

Spencer, 65, said he believes the city’s turnover rate is attributable, at least in part, to a younger generation that does not stay committed to one job or one organization over their careers.

Hundreds of city positions are open at any given time, with the annual trend running between 15 and 20 percent, according to information presented at a city council budget retreat last month.

On Monday, during an afternoon council meeting, Deputy City Manager Angie O’Brien updated numerous initiatives asked for by its members. Three of them — requested zoning ordinance text changes related to new housing measures; a move to make it harder to open vape stores; and a revised description for the future of the undeveloped Evans Spring property — are being combined into an extended single timeline that would culminate in April. That’s because the city planning department, which needs to be involved with all of them, is down 10 positions and can’t handle the initiatives separately, she said.

“It’s been for some time that we’ve been trying to ensure that we have the appropriate number of staff that can move a lot of this [council initiatives] forward and still do the day-to-day,” said City Manager Valmarie Turner, who herself is in her first year.

That led Councilman Phazhon Nash to say: “So I want people at home and in the audience to understand that we want a city that operates appropriately and runs smoothly. You have to have people power to do that. We have to have employees to do that.”

Steve Fowler, a contractor, told council Monday that the city’s building department staffing issues are causing a backup in permit approvals. The department simply cannot process the permits to keep businesses like his “working efficiently and profitably,” he said. 

The average number of days it took for Roanoke to issue a building permit has increased from 11 days in 2019-20 to 49 days in 2023-24, according to a recent city report.

The finance department offers yet another example.

When Lindsey was recruited to return to the city from the private sector in late 2023, an entirely different set of team members were in place, she wrote. Before she started she was hired for a job she didn’t initially apply for due to additional turnover. Then two finance directors left their jobs in the midst of department upheaval just in the first few months Lindsey joined that staff.

The situation resulted in litigation over workplace issues involving former employees of the department.

Amelia Merchant, a former finance director, in October filed a civil lawsuit against the city in federal court, alleging interference and retaliation related to a medical leave. The city denies those claims.

“Working in this position was stressful for many reasons,” Merchant’s lawsuit says. “Not only was there a very high level of turnover throughout the Department of Finance, but the City of Roanoke also faced recruitment and retention challenges and was often unable to hire qualified applicants to make up for the high level of attrition.”

Yen Thuy Ha, a former senior budget analyst, is also suing Brent Robertson, a former assistant city manager and finance director, in state court, alleging she was paid less than her junior male coworkers. The lawsuit says Robertson rejected her pay request after an HR study, threatened her, and demoted her when Ha complained of mistreatment. Robertson has rejected the characterization.

A March 2024 incident between Ha and Robertson prompted Merchant to encourage council to fire Robertson and Cowell. Ha resigned and took a job with Roanoke County. Cowell demoted Robertson and resigned under council pressure in June 2024. Robertson retired five months later.

Asked if the finance department climate is more temperate as she leaves her job, Lindsey wrote that the amount of staff turnover and continuing vacancies — and a learning curve with a new Oracle software system — presents difficulties.   

“What so needs to be considered throughout the organization is the need to look at what the City does … and how can services be provided with better cost control,” she wrote, adding “I sincerely wish all the very best for whomever comes into the position.”

Turner, the city manager, introduced new interim Finance Director Edena Reese-Atmore during a council Audit Committee meeting Monday and said she believes that department is moving in the right direction. Reese-Atmore is a contracted employee who will work until a permanent hire is made, according to a city spokesman.

The city council’s search for Spencer’s successor is ongoing with numerous closed door meetings over the past few months. The council is scheduled to meet privately with candidates on Monday. Spencer’s current annual salary is $208,846. Lindsey’s annual pay was $169,950.