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Whatever it is Rashad Young has, maybe he should bottle it and market it.

The new Greensboro city manager was hired by a famously fractious City Council, 8-1.

By their accounts, he won most council members over with an engaging personality and by saying precisely what he meant in clear and unmistakable English.

What you heard was what you got.

Young, 33, was chosen from a field of 135 candidates. He comes to Greensboro from the manager's post in Dayton, Ohio, a slightly smaller city with similar issues and challenges.

But he also acknowledged in an Oct. 21 interview with the News & Record editorial board that the landscape is different here.

For instance, there will be no collective bargaining with unions here; it's not allowed among public workers in North Carolina.

On the other hand, Young had an income tax in Ohio as a revenue source, did not have to worry about the city landfill (private companies handle them up there) and had only five council members to care for and feed versus a sometimes-raucous rostrum of nine in Greensboro.

Some excerpts from that conversation:

 On his hiring by an 8-1 vote:

"When I was appointed manager in Dayton, it was important to me that the vote was 5-0 and I had communicated that I wouldn't take the job unless it was 5-0.

"This is a different situation and a different dynamic. Here I had contemplated, 'What if that vote was split?' I would have been extremely uncomfortable had it been 5-4. I didn't have a cutoff to say I'm not going to take it if it's 5-4 or 6-3, but the 8-1 was important.

"And I think it was important for them because, on major issues and decisions, I understand it is uncommon that they have that degree of consensus."

 On the lone dissenting vote from Mike Barber, who was not seeking re-election:

"I've talked to Councilman Barber since I've been here obviously and it's fine. He's leaving shortly but ... he is one of my bosses, and irrespective of his vote, I put him in the category with the other eight.

"We started out with pleasantries, and he talked about his kids and his NFL superstar up-and-coming middle linebacker and running back. So I know that already about his kids.

"He just said, you know, not to 'hold it against me because I didn't vote for you. We had other candidates,' he said, 'but you're here and I think you're going to be good for Greensboro.' My concern is that -- these weren't his exact words -- that you're some hotshot, and if you're here a year or two, you're not going help us."

" 'Don't hold that against me (Barber said). You're here now. You're going to do well. I hope you stay for a while and help the community.'

"And then we went on to the issues I wanted to talk to him about."

 On how long Young will be here:

"I don't have a time line. I could be here 20 years; I could be here five years. It just depends on the circumstances and the issues.

"In my career, I've stopped making time lines and predictions. It never has worked that way for me professionally.

"I'm committed to the organization. I'm committed to the city. I want to get some things accomplished.

"If I can still lead and contribute in a value-added fashion and grow and develop professionally, I don't know how long it will be. Certainly my expectation is not a short time to move onto something else.

"I don't know how long it will be, but my personality doesn't deal well with a lot of moving. ... That's not how I am."

 On his priorities:

"There are a couple of things that are at the top of the list. But first let me say, they are formed by the City Council. They will set the direction for me. I will help them craft a vision for the community and the organization to move forward, but they will articulate the priorities, and my job is to carry those to the organization and the community.

"And what is at the top of that list for me to be effective is, one, to learn this community and this organization; learn our service portfolio -- what we do and how we do it -- and build those kinds of relationships that are going to enable us to be effective on achieving their expectations on the other fronts.

"Certainly another one would be economic development. (The council) has been very clear to me in the interview process, and since I've been here, that poising us for development and growth as we hopefully emerge from this national recession is at the top of the list.

"And then what sort of over-arches most of what we will do is to deliver services.

"There are lots of other conversations and issues that have crept up and that are in front of us, but at the end of the day, the citizens expect the city to do some things: to pick up the garbage, to maintain the roads, and to provide public safety services and licensing and permitting and the regulatory things that we have to do.

"So my focus will be to ensure that we provide quality services and that we do it in the most efficient way possible."

On remarks from some City Council members, challengers and incumbents alike, that police Chief Tim Bellamy may retire within a year:

"Actually I have heard that from outside in. I have not heard anything about an exit date from the chief. I am meeting with all of our department heads one-on-one and talking with them about their agencies and departments and structures. So I'll be meeting with the chief -- we have met, but on specific issues, not one-on-one -- so when I know that I'll be ready to react to that."

On his thoughts about the ouster of his predecessor as manager, Mitchell Johnson:

"I wasn't here when Mitch was here. I didn't participate in that.

"Obviously, I don't know the details firsthand, only what I've read and what people have said.

"For me, it's important to understand what the pressure points are, but I'm looking forward not back to that."

On having to adjust to various personalities as council members shift with elections (as most recently happened, after the interview, on Nov. 3):

"In local government, that's just one facet of the job. ... I work for the City Council and, yes, they will change. But also, I'm responsive to the citizens."

"It can't just be council, council, council -- or things aren't going to work right."

On managing city debt:

"I will tend to be conservative in terms of our ability to pay it back and what the coverages are so that we can maintain an excellent bond rating as we issue debt and finance things.

"I will tend to want to invest, though, in infrastructure and make those investments for growth opportunities and for development opportunities.

"In our community (Dayton), we were so much more challenged fiscally than we are in Greensboro. I made cuts to the operating side to fund infrastructure and the result was we had head-count reductions and position abolishments on the operating side of the ledger. And we still weren't doing enough.

"Infrastructure development was that important to us because if you don't prepare and have developable sites and have the infrastructure poised for growth, you cannot take advantage of those opportunities."

On whether any areas would be off-limits for cuts:

"It depends. It depends on the council's comfort level. In Dayton, we got to the point where nothing was off-limits because that was the financial situation. Now, we did articulate priorities, and they were public safety, development and infrastructure.

"And so, when we constructed the budget, we didn't have across-the-board cuts.

"We chose to say we're cutting everybody, but we're going to do our best to cut public safety the least; we're going to preserve waste collection; we're going to preserve recycling or whatever it is, but everybody's getting a cut.

"I was going to lay off 11 police officers in May of 2009, the first time I think police officers were imminently going to be laid off in at least 20 years, if ever, because the finances just were that poor. And they didn't get laid off because we got the (federal) stimulus grant for the cops hiring piece.

"But we had to make tough decisions."

On the question of solid waste and whether the White Street Landfill should be reopened:

"I've had to make some adjustments because in Ohio cities do not operate the landfills. They're privately operated. So to run and manage a landfill is not something that is common in Ohio for the municipalities.

"And the transfer station is operated by the county (in Dayton).

"That being said, I really haven't formed an opinion about the landfill issue. There are certainly lots of sides to this argument. ...One of the advantages of being new is I'm not tied to anybody's position because I don't know. I'll be learning that."

On helping small businesses:

"It is cheaper and will be easier in some respects to grow existing jobs or retain jobs that are already here than locate new facilities here -- recognizing again that we have to do both.

"Small businesses are going to be a key, and typically they provide a large proportion of the jobs in the work force. We've got to pay attention to that.

"From a financing standpoint -- whether they are low-risk or low-interest loans; whether they are forgivable loans; whether they are business capacity-building opportunities -- we've got to pay a lot of attention to the small business community and make sure they are viable and have the tools and the resources that we can make available for them to be prosperous. That's going to be critical as we move forward into what we hope is a post-recessionary economy."

On sharing resources and services with other jurisdictions:

"We were getting to that point when I was city manager (in Dayton). We started providing waste collection for other communities. We had two jurisdictions that our public works department did the solid waste collection for and were talking to a third.

"We signed an agreement to participate in a regional 911 center, and that's in transition as we speak. There are probably 15 communities that joined in the county to do that. ...

"And they were starting conversations about how we might share fire services because we have so much mutual-aid response to neighboring jurisdictions where we could reduce overtime costs and reduce manpower costs. ... For example, the town that bordered Dayton shared (with the city) one facility, shared staff resources, shared equipment. ...

"And there's a whole host of other things on the law enforcement, information-sharing side. The county and city created a special police task force that could patrol each other's jurisdiction, recognizing that those individuals don't stop committing crimes because they left Dayton and went to Trotwood, which is the next township, and in the sheriff's jurisdiction.

"So we had a squad of officers who were deputized in each other's jurisdiction, so they could better coordinate that effort.

"There are a lot of those kinds of conversations that are moving along."

On his communication style with the council:

"My style is to be communicative and open. And I said to them, you're going to hear my best professional opinion. And I will tell you my professional opinion, even if I think it's counter to what your preference is. At the end of the day, you're the policy makers.

"If you make the vote and the majority dictates where we go, I'm done. That's where we go.

"And they all seem to be comfortable with that. And if we can adhere to those rules of engagement, then I don't anticipate we'll have any problems."