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Eight months after becoming Kernersville's town manager, former Mayor Curtis Swisher is still learning about the management side of government. But one thing he learned rather quickly: how to keep his lips zipped when political issues pop up before the Board of Aldermen.

"At first I wanted to speak up, but I don't have that urge anymore. It took me a couple of months to get over that. It suits me not to have to say anything at a meeting," said Swisher, 37, who has lived in Kernersville all his life.

"My role is to provide information for the board and to make sure that they know all of the details that we have available about situations the board is considering," he said.

Even after being an alderman and a mayor, there were things Swisher didn't know about town management. "Fortunately, we have outstanding department heads in Kernersville and I can discuss situations with them and gain more insight."

Despite his time as an office holder and an education that includes an undergraduate degree from UNC-Charlotte and a master's degree in business from UNCG, Swisher said he is still getting educated about how to manage a town. That differs from running the family business, S&L Motors, where he was business manager.

"There were some things I didn't know about (in town management requirements)," he said.

Swisher has finished one session at the Institute of Government in Chapel Hilland and will enroll in another program there Oct. 21. "I will have four or five more sessions down there after that," he said.

"I'm learning about things like how to prepare a budget and how to do a lot of things I never thought about." Swisher said voting an aye or a nay on a budget was easier than preparing a budget.

"They offer a lot of good courses, and I may take some more classes later," he said.

The Board of Aldermen provided an extra $5,000 for Swisher's on-the-job training when he was named town manager on Feb. 18. That is almost as much as his annual salary of $6,600 when mayor. Swisher was hired as manager for $92,000 when Town Manager Marvin Davis quit the post after only nine months in Kernersville.

While he has found some new things in his role as manager, Swisher also has some old things. "Much of it is like what we were dealing with when I was mayor," he said.

Being able to concentrate on a single job has been a plus. As mayor, Swisher not only had duties and expectations to be at a lot of evening meetings, he still had his day job managing the family business. His father, Melvin Swisher, has taken over that role. "Now, I can go to most of the meetings I need to during the day, and I can concentrate on the work here," he said

"I don't have the ceremonial things to do that I did as mayor but I still attend meetings and am involved in things where the town needs to be represented." He also has more time with his family.

Swisher is delighted to see improvements to the downtown area in recent months but said quickly that his being town manager didn't cause improvements to Main Street or the extension to Oakhurst Street. "Those things were in the works back in 2005 and 2006, even in 2007." Aldermen made the decisions to move forward with downtown improvements. A plus also was the beginning of the Paul J. Ciener Botanical Garden on Main Street where attractive brick fencing has been built, and work has begun on the gardens.

"All of downtown is looking better," Swisher said. "We have some new poles for our lighting that will be installed, and that will look better, too."

The city still has work to do on its streets to handle heavier traffic flow. "It is projected that we will have 47,000 people here by 2020 to maybe 2025," Swisher said. "We have a population of about 21,000 now."

Even with a downturn in the economy, good things are happening in Kernersville. Swisher's enthusiastic about the possibility that FedEx Ground, a subsidiary of FedEx Corp, will decide to locate on 125 acres in the town's Triad Business Park. The company plans to build a $110 million regional shipping center and has been considering locations in three states.

It wasn't Swisher's role as town manager that attracted FedEx to consider Kernersville for constructing a 400,000-square-foot building to use as a sorting-hub. "The board had been talking to them; we did work on getting the business park but it is privately owned. Our board worked on that."

Swisher's new duties don't keep him from dropping by the family business almost every day. It's a habit he started as a child, even before he became the manager. "I have managed to quit going down there on Saturdays like I used to have to do every week when I was working there," he said.

"It's good to be free on Saturdays."

Contact Bob Burchette at bburchette@triad.rr.com