ayor Frank Jones has led the City of Manassas Park for the last three years. Following a full Navy career, Mayor Jones continues to work at the Department of Defense as a division chief within a defense agency, in addition to his municipal duties.

   Site Selection: Mr. Mayor, is it true that you give out your cell phone number to constituents and business people?
   Mayor Jones: Absolutely. And I answer it! I am approachable and reachable, as is every other member of the city government. This is part of what sets us apart: we are a city small enough that everyone gets to know everyone else, but big enough and proximate enough to a major city that we can provide all the support services that a business would need.

   SS: Clearly, the city is changing. How do you envision Manassas Park's growth?
   Jones: We are continuing the process of a very healthy transition today. We established the industrial park in the 1970s and '80s because we needed to diversify beyond the residential tax base. Now, the environment has changed again and the city's future welfare depends on diversifying even more. We want to grow the office and retail sectors to help with this.

   SS: Compared to other parts of the country, Manassas Park lacks the broad swaths of greenfield space that might pique the interest of a corporate site selection team. And the city is unable to annex new land. How do you attract new business given this situation?
   Jones: We can't get around these constraints, so it means we have to take a careful approach to the development of the tracts of land that we do have available. It also means that we are focusing on redevelopment. We recently revisited our long-range land-use plan and detailed specific areas where we would encourage redevelopment. We have strengthened our planning process and reinstated the economic development authority to help reach out to businesses interested in relocating and target local businesses that might want to expand. We also established the Community Development Authority, and this allows us to go into the bond market to help finance companies that would be interested in redevelopment. We see Park Center as the focal point and the catalyst of our redevelopment.

   SS: Do you have plans to institute a formalized incentives program to encourage commercial development?
   Jones: There are no opportunities that would be off the table and I would be interested to hear a company's view and vision. The truth is that standardizing an incentives program might not be the best idea since we are a small locality, and different businesses have different levels of resources. So, the incentive needed might be help in reducing the acquisition costs of the real estate for one company, or deferring the tax burden for another. I would want to sit down and talk to them about how we might be able to help – everything is negotiable.