Josh Meltzer | The Roanoke Times

Sam Dean | The Roanoke Times

City Manager Darlene Burcham (center) leads a meeting of the steering committee of the Promise of Roanoke, a group seeking to boost city students' academic performance. At right is Superintendent of Schools Rita Bishop (pointing).

Josh Meltzer | The Roanoke Times

Miss Virginia 2007 Hannah Kiefer, a Hollins University student, speaks to Roanoke City Manager Darlene Burcham (right). Listening in are Angie Lewis (second from right) and her son Drake. Burcham attended a welcoming barbecue ceremony for the 2008 contestants last month.

Eric Brady | The Roanoke Times

Roanoke Mayor David Bowers pledged in 2004 that he would remove Burcham from her position as city manager. "The votes are not there to fire Darlene Burcham," he said last week.

Sam Dean | The Roanoke Times

Burcham steps out of a meeting with the Promise of Roanoke steering committee to confer with an assistant.

The city of Roanoke has gone through eight years, three mayors, 19 council members and nearly $2 billion in spending since Darlene Burcham was hired as its manager.

Now, as she goes back to work with new Mayor David Bowers -- who also was mayor the first six months of her tenure -- Burcham remains a controversial figure in city politics. She's made waves since she first began the job, drawing both praise and criticism for her determination and stylistic approach.

"She's a get-it-done person, no question about that," said Virginia Sen. Ralph Smith, who served four years as mayor with Burcham as manager.

She's survived several potential career killers: The demolition of Victory Stadium after the long debate that preceded it; two different municipal elections that included candidates calling for her to be fired; and an online attack against her that was later ruled by a judge as defamation.

And it doesn't appear she'll be done in by the election of Bowers, who in 2004 pledged he'd ask council to fire Burcham the first chance he got the opportunity.

"I've got phone messages: 'When are you going to fire Darlene Burcham?' " Bowers said last week.

"The votes are not there to fire Darlene Burcham."

No standing still

Even Burcham's harshest critics rarely question her ability; as a self-described "doer" who started her government career as a social worker in the 1960s, she's proven to be a tenacious and efficient administrator.

"People's beef with Darlene if they have one, is -- nine times out of 10 -- stylistic and not substantive," said Councilwoman Gwen Mason.

That seems largely the case with former Councilman Alvin Hudson, who also served as the city's sheriff for 20 years.

"She got in and tried to make too many changes," said Hudson, who pushed hard to hire Burcham in 1999. "Roanoke is a big ol' country town. That's what it will always be until at least 20 years, when the old folks pass away. People don't like change too quick. She made a lot of changes too quickly."

But others, like Mason and former Mayor Nelson Harris, believe those changes are crucial to the city remaining vital in the 21st century.

The city manager makes no apologies.

"I don't think there's any such thing as standing still anymore," Burcham said. "Communities may have been able to do that in the past, but with the world as it is now, standing still means you're falling behind."

To that end, Burcham has aggressively promoted the use of technology to help city officials do their jobs better. She's sought to attract young professionals to the city, creating a position devotedly solely to that end. She's overseen the construction and maintenance of 15 miles of pedestrian-friendly greenways.

Burcham's pushed -- and received council consent on -- an ambitious capital building agenda that included construction of a new Fire-EMS headquarters and expansion of the Roanoke Civic Center and two branch libraries.

And while the city school board members were ultimately the ones who made the decision to renovate both high schools, Burcham helped ensure that Roanoke had the money to pay for the combined $111 million cost for the projects.

"She reduced the city's operating budget so that more funds could be set aside for capital investments, and I think that that was overdue, and I think that is to her credit," Harris said.

Roanoke NAACP President Daniel Hale credited Burcham for helping increase opportunities for black residents to work in the city administration.

"If you walk into city hall today versus back then, it's evident on some of the improvement," Hale said.

Burcham is careful not to take credit for the city's achievements, stressing that victories come through the efforts of many individuals, but when pressed she said she's proudest of census figures showing modest population growth within the city boundaries last year. With a Census Bureau-estimated population of 92,600 in 2007, the city is still on track to be surpassed in size by Roanoke County in coming years.

"The population decline this community has experienced for over 20 years appears to have stopped, and we're seeing a very slight increase in population," Burcham said. "I think that's a significant accomplishment for this city."

The turnaround resulted from the work of many people, she said, but she added that the government still played "a significant role."

"It's really nothing you do by yourself when you're in the position I'm in. You motivate others, help others, but you don't individually cause something to happen," Burcham said.

That attitude stems largely from the early years of her career, when she went to work as a social worker in Williamsburg and Hampton during President Lyndon B. Johnson's "War on Poverty," which increased the government's role in social welfare programs.

"What I learned as a social worker was how to work with people, how to motivate people, how to set goals for people and how to hold people accountable," Burcham said.

City council's turnover

But she has also been hampered by an ever-changing city council. Burcham said her job is to "implement council's decrees" -- but what if those decrees change every couple of years?

She inherited the issue of Victory Stadium, which had been on and off council agendas for several years when she was hired.

"The council when I came made for me a priority of Victory Stadium," Burcham said. "They said we need to resolve that issue. We worked long and hard at it and came close at different times to having a solution but then had to pull back."

In 2004, the city had spent $3 million and all but signed a contract for construction of a stadium and amphitheater on Orange Avenue that would have sealed the stadium's fate. At the last minute, however, the council decided to hold off on the project until after May's municipal elections. Two candidates in favor of renovation won seats, and the debate caught fire for another two years.

"It became a divisive issue for this community that probably held us back from doing some things that could have put us farther ahead," Burcham said.

The council finally resolved the issue after the 2006 elections, voting to tear down the stadium once and for all. But bitter feelings still linger from the debate, and some of those are directed at the city manager.

Mason, who was elected to council the year of the stadium's demolition, said she thinks that the council's frequent turnover and inability to stick to past decisions has had a collateral effect on Burcham.

"I think it's difficult for her to disguise her weariness with the revolving door of council, and ... she may have a tendency to minimize the subordinate relationship she is to have with members of council," Mason said.

"Every once in a while, she needs to be reminded she's subordinate to council. I think that's a reflection of a strong personality, great competence and this revolving door of [more than] 14 bosses in eight years," she said.

Smith said he thinks that greater oversight by the council would fit well with Burcham's approach to her job: "If I had myself in control of council today, I would probably say, 'Darlene, let's go to work. We're going to do some things differently. You're the person who could get it done.' "

Big plans from the start

Burcham has used that "get-'er-done" approach throughout her career. She spent eight years in James City County, focusing largely on looking for ways to make the government more efficient in serving a small but growing community. While serving as acting county administrator her final year there, Burcham proposed an ambitious budget recommending the hiring of 15 new employees, a 15 percent increase in the school budget, and construction of a new visitor center and branch library.

Although Roanoke has struggled with a declining population during Burcham's tenure, its budget has grown more than 40 percent -- from $184 million in 2000 to $270 million this year. And through increased and restructured fees, government downsizing, rising property assessments and a dramatic increase in debt, she's managed to avoid raising the real estate property tax rate.

That increase in debt is a major concern for former councilwoman Linda Wyatt, who was one of two "no" votes when Burcham was hired.

"We are almost tapped out," Wyatt said. "We have just incurred more and more and more debt. She's invested in capital improvement but hasn't invested in human improvement."

Others have argued that the city was overdue for much needed capital improvements.

"I don't feel like anything we did in terms of our capital program was frivolous or unwarranted," Harris said.

He argued that the construction has been good for the local economy. And some government-aided projects -- primarily the development of a biomedical research and technology park off South Jefferson Street -- could end up paying big dividends.

Plans for what was then called the Carilion Biomedical Institute were announced six weeks before Burcham took office, but she helped influence the decision to locate what has become the Carilion Clinic's Riverside Center along South Jefferson Street and Reserve Avenue. In 2007, Carilion and Virginia Tech announced plans for a medical school on the site, with construction funded by a bond package approved by state lawmakers this year.

The project, based largely around redevelopment of old industrial property, has been perhaps the brightest piece of Burcham's economic development efforts. Based on announcements tracked between 2001 and 2007 by the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, Roanoke ranked 46th for new jobs per capita and 36th for investment per capita among Virginia's 134 localities.

Burcham said that's largely because the city is landlocked and can't devote large swaths of open space to attract industry. That, she said, makes redevelopment projects like the one on South Jefferson all the more important.

The South Jefferson redevelopment project bears several similarities to the Eastern Virginia Medical Center in Norfolk, a complex that consists of a medical school, two hospitals and many private physicians' offices. It's a major employer and economic driver for the city, where Burcham spent 13 years in municipal government.

"The medical school was in place by the time that I had arrived in Norfolk," Burcham said, but she did play a role in helping to locate new development around it.

"Norfolk wouldn't be the same had that medical complex and school not developed there," she said. "I think Roanoke will be defined in the future in some significant part by the medical facilities and the medical school."

Burcham's not alone in that assessment. Bowers, who said that at one point he had many concerns about the Riverside Center, said, "Now, I think it is on target and it will be the biggest economic development impact in the city since the coming of the railroad."

Burcham said she thinks the facility will bring "a lot of new medical and technology-related jobs to the city." And she hopes the city can entice the workers who will fill those jobs to live in the city instead of surrounding communities. One selling point may be the "sense of neighborhood that gets developed over time in an older urban area such as Roanoke," she said.

To that end, Burcham has targeted many of the city's oldest neighborhoods, funneling federal and city tax dollars and incentives into redevelopment projects in Southeast, Old Southwest, Gainsboro, Hurt Park and even downtown.

A belief in government

Of course not everyone agrees with every project. Former mayor Smith, for example, said that many of Roanoke's present and past projects should have been executed by the private sector, not the government. He cited the failed development of Countryside Golf Club, the Southeast by Design revitalization effort and economic development grants for downtown living as examples.

"Where we diverge is she believes government can fix most any problem," Smith said. "I most of the time think government is the problem. That's the big difference."

Burcham responded: "Where we've figured out that private sector can do it better and cheaper, we encourage that. But there are always programs that will not be performed by the private sector."

And while Burcham said she believes the government can help to fix certain problems, she's also a believer in keeping it streamlined and efficient. While in Norfolk, Burcham was tasked with modernizing and downsizing the city administration.

Shortly after her arrival in Roanoke, Burcham repeated the process and swept out the upper ranks of the city administration, promoting some from within and hiring others from outside.

"I spent probably my first five years making sure the right people were in the right places in the city," Burcham said.

Those swift changes rankled some city leaders, especially Hudson.

"I was very, very disappointed when we lost all of our top managers," Hudson said.

In addition to personnel changes, Burcham started formulating and updating a series of plans designed to provide long-term guidance to city officials.

"I think there was a sense when I came into the community that the community needed to change," Burcham said. "They weren't sure exactly what change was necessary, but they had this sense."

Using plans such as Vision 2001-2020 and the housing strategic plan not only provide transparency, but also allow citizens to voice their own opinions as to what change should come, she said.

"Government has gone from telling you standards to a system where people want to interact with you, for opinions to be valued and not to just go by the book," Burcham said. "I learned to work with people who are ready to move with you as opposed to beating your head against a brick wall with somebody who's not comfortable enough at that point to want to change."

Data delivery editor Matt Chittum contributed to this report.