Jamie Justice, Davidson Town Manager since November of 2015, recently announced his impending retirement on June 30, 2026. Having previously been Town Manager of Mooresville NC and Assistant Town Manager of Matthews NC, Justice’s career has spanned 30 years in local governments. In Davidson, he leaves behind a legacy of work on advancing the affordable housing initiatives, guiding the town through important moments like the sale of Continuum and the adoption of the 2020 comprehensive plan. He also worked alongside regional partners to advance the legislation authorizing the 1-cent transportation sales tax. Justice spoke with The Davidsonian’s Claire Ireland ’28 in reflection on his career and looking forward to his retirement. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
The Davidsonian: What did your role as Davidson Town Manager look like?
Justice: My role is the Chief Executive Officer of the town government. I work for the elected officials. So I’m not in politics. My job is to help kind of implement the policies that they come up with based on what the community wants. So it’s a really important role, and I took it very seriously. Davidson in particular, is really engaged. Everybody cares a lot about their community, so there’s a lot of importance to making sure we got things right, and whether that’s planning or infrastructure or whatever that looked like. It was a real pleasure to kind of navigate through that and make sure we were doing the right things on behalf of the community.
The Davidsonian: What initially drew you to this role?
Justice: I think the Davidson pull, certainly. I’m a Charlotte native, so I’ve enjoyed staying around Charlotte. The reputation Davidson had before I got here was really strong. I already knew it was a different community. It was definitely special, and they approached things differently here. And so that really drew me to the position that this will be a really good job, because Matthews was a great place, and I was enjoying that role. It was really going to take a special community and a special job to pull me away from that, and I’m so fortunate that the town board hired me.
The Davidsonian: Is there any one achievement as Town Manager in particular that you are the most proud of?
Justice: I would say the thing I’m most proud of is how it was a real team effort no matter what we did. So that’s community engagement, that’s the elected officials, both past and present, providing great direction and support. And at the end of the day, it’s the employees that work for the town. They’re the ones who did all the great work, and I was just really fortunate to be kind of team lead on that. So that’s really the thing I’m most proud of. We just functioned so well together and worked as a cohesive unit. So that’s the kind of resilient community that can tackle anything, any challenge, any project, any anything, and can successfully navigate it. You don’t get that everywhere.That’s what really makes Davidson special.
The Davidsonian: What you would say is the biggest lesson you learned while working in local politics?
Justice: I think the biggest lesson really, as a town manager, you know, I’m really not in politics. I’m more in the administration, but you’ve got to work with the elected officials, and they’re the top politicians. The biggest currency is information, so you have to communicate. You absolutely have to communicate, early and often in different ways to meet the needs of the elected officials you’re working with. Communicating with the staff, and communicating with the community. You’ve got different audiences there, and that’s just the key to this job. And the key to being successful is being able to communicate the expectations, the vision, what’s going on, the challenges that are out there, and how to address them. I mean, just all those things. So that’s a common theme, I think, throughout my career, with all the communities, but you just have to be good at that to be a town manager.
The Davidsonian: Do you have any specific memorable moments from your time as Davidson Town Manager that you know are going to stick with you as you go into your retirement?
Justice: I’d say probably the one that was the most memorable and scary at the same time was the pandemic. There was a lot, so much unknown there, and we really weren’t sure what was happening. None of us were really at the town, really public health experts, and that was scary. We really reacted well, we had to stick together. We had to take care of each other, not only the community together and community members. The staff of the town, we had to really come together and navigate our way through something none of us have ever experienced or ever thought we’d experience. So what’s so memorable about that is we did navigate through that as well as best we could. And you know that that really was something to be proud of, all of us in our community, the College, everybody, we really did the best we could to navigate through that and come out better on the other side and I think we did.
The Davidsonian: Was there any specific mindset that you approached the role of town manager with?
Justice: My approach really was the humanistic aspect of it. You know, we’re all people, and working with people is rewarding and challenging. I think approaching anything in that role, you’ve got to remember you’re working with individuals with feelings and hopes and dreams and all those things. You really have to be able to work with people and meet people where they are. You should never forget that; whatever challenge or project or thing you’re working on, it’s people that are working on it. The most important thing is to be able to work with folks and have those relationships to be able to get things done.
The Davidsonian: What motivated your retirement?
Justice: When you work close to 30 years, that’s a really good long career, and certainly makes you retirement eligible. I’ve been here 11 years, and I feel like it was time to go ahead and let somebody else have a turn at it and move into something different in the next chapter of the book of my life. So really was just more of a felt it was the right time and ready to move to something else
The Davidsonian: Is there anything specific you’re looking forward to doing in your retirement?
Justice: I don’t golf, hunt or fish. I don’t really have any major hobbies. I said this to someone earlier, I don’t really have any plan of doing anything, which is both scary and exciting at the same time. I am looking forward to whatever that next chapter holds, and I do not expect to be sitting around on the couch. I expect to be finding something to do, to give back, and that’s what I’m, that’s what I’m hoping to discover.