India’s Insights: July 2026
India Adams-Jacobs, VLGMA President, Bowling Green Town Manager
Welcome to India's Insights, my monthly column as President of the Virginia Local Government Management Association. Thank you for reading and for your continued support of our organization. At 358 members, with 550 ICMA members and one of the largest Credentialed Manager cohorts at 83 members in the nation—VLGMA remains strong and primed for growth.
As part of my Presidential message at our summer conference, I pledged that, over the course of the year, we would increase our exposure, better align our great progress, and reinforce that public service matters. Through this column, I'll highlight local government trends impacting Virginia, updates on VLGMA's key initiatives, innovative member projects, notable events, and insights from our members. I've gotten to know so many of you over the years, and I look forward to connecting with our newest members.
For this first column, I'm sharing insights from three retiring managers with a combined 100-plus years of experience across counties, cities, and towns in the Commonwealth. I emailed Dr. Joe Casey, Melissa Rollins, and Wyatt Shields—all retiring this July—three questions to answer as they ride off into the sunset of retirement. My hope is that their reflections offer you some validation, provocation, or inspiration in the month ahead. I thank them for their candor, generosity, and service.
For this column, I have selected a few of their responses for publication.
1. As you wind down your professional local government management career, what do you hope to be remembered for?
Melissa: Together, we made a lasting impact by bringing universal high-speed broadband access to every home in our community, a new local market, replacing an outdated legacy radio system with a state-of-the-art public safety communications network, and leading our organization through the unprecedented challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic with calmness, perseverance, and a steady focus on serving our citizens. Above all, I hope to be remembered for helping our community position for long-term success while always keeping people at the center of every decision.
Joe: I’m the person who went to many VIP, media, or board-related events, but went straight to the audience or staff people to engage with them and make some type of connection. For those I didn’t know, I call it reminiscing with strangers. I enjoyed hanging with them more than the suits and egos.
Wyatt: I hope that I will be remembered for the relationships we formed in service; for supporting a workplace culture where honesty, productivity, and mutual support are valued; and for getting a lot of cool stuff done together!
2. What do you consider to be the highlight of your career and why?
Melissa: The greatest highlight of my career has been building an exceptional team and fostering the relationships that transformed our rural community into a recognized leader. Watching our organization earn national and statewide recognition, including awards from the National Association of Counties (NACo) and the Virginia Association of Counties (VACo), for the first time was incredibly rewarding. Those accomplishments validated what can happen when talented people share a common vision and work together. More importantly, they demonstrated that rural communities can innovate, lead, and serve as models for others across the country.
Joe: When Discovery Plus wanted complete access to our inmates in our Helping Addicts Recover Program (HARP), it culminated in inmates attending the premiere episode at our local performing arts center. We gave them the red carpet and Hollywood-lights treatment. Then they sat amongst the audience. Following episode two, inmates participated in Q and A. Steve, who had a huge tattoo of “Alicia” on his forehead, initially described our tattoo removal program, and either he needed to find another Alicia, which wouldn’t be easy, or get the tattoo removed. Classic moment.
Wyatt: Three moments where I felt a huge relief and that important chapter had turned: completion of the sale of the city water system to Fairfax Water, the execution of a 99-year ground lease for West Falls to help finance the new high school, and the first couple of positive financial reports after the Great Recession. Each of these came after years of stress and difficulty, and I believe the workforce and Council felt like we were on the right track. And a fourth moment: in March 2020, my Mom died the same week that everything shut down for the pandemic. My city colleagues made the thousands of necessary decisions with wisdom and grace, while I was away to be with her at the end. I'll always be grateful for that.
3. If you could do anything differently or over, a project or a role, what would it be and why?
Melissa: If I could change one thing, it would be learning earlier in my career not to take public criticism personally. In local government, public scrutiny is part of the job, and over time I learned to separate from personal attacks. Once I reached that point, it allowed me to lead with greater confidence, objectivity, and perspective. That lesson made me a more resilient leader, and it's one of the most valuable insights I would share with anyone entering this profession.
Joe: I started writing personal emails to the workforce during COVID, sharing my life and how COVID changed traditions, which evolved into emails for the rest of my career about my life’s experiences, trials, tribulations, and joys. Being vulnerable. Sharing my mother’s dementia journey to her death and children living afar really connected to others who then shared back with me. Often 100-plus emails each time of their personal journeys and not feeling alone anymore.
Wyatt: Talk less and listen more. (Ask WAIT: Why Am I Talking!? It’s always the right question).