Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 19, 1991 TAG: 9104190499
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RICK LINDQUIST CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: DUBLIN LENGTH: Medium
"All I'm asking is . . . at the appropriate time in the not-too-distant future, to get a committee together to study it - not do it - study it," Stanley said.
He had informally raised the issue at last month's council meeting, and this time around the negative reception got worse.
"I'm opposed to the idea," said Councilman David Farmer, adding that he did not want to see the town spend money even to study it.
Farmer said that as an unincorporated part of Pulaski County the town would not get adequate representation. "That would be worse than consolidation," he said.
Town and county voters turned down a countywide consolidation referendum in 1983.
Council members Elsie Repass, Colbern Linkous, and Sam Gregory echoed Farmer's sentiments. "I agree with Dave, and I don't want to be on any committee," Gregory said.
Refusing to back down, Stanley cited "certain economies of scale with less government" and the rising cost of resource conservation. "I'm not going to argue this point but just appeal to reason," he said. "I'm not saying that anybody would save any money."
Stanley said town taxpayers' dollars would be better spent on environmental protection and recycling than on paying council to meet to "haggle over mobile homes being put in here."
Farmer countered: "If we do away with town government, the services will have to be picked up by somebody, and somebody's going to have to pay for them."
Larry Moye, a member of the town Planning Commission, was even more emphatic. "You drop the charter and you're going to have less than zero," he said. "The only way this town is going to go forward is through the annexation" of adjacent county neighborhoods.
"Dublin's not represented in the county in any way, shape or form," he said.
Mayor Benny Keister suggested forming a "where do we go from here?" committee to study the town's options, including whether to go to court over annexation.
"What I have not been able to find out is whether the citizens want us to go for more land or . . . want to stay the same size, and the silent majority never speaks up," the mayor said.
Linkous said, "I'm for annexation or boundary change or whatever you want to call it, and I'm willing to spend the money to take it to court."
Stanley warned, "We need to count the costs before we hire an attorney and start suing anybody for more land."
County resident Tom Pifer, who owns real estate in Dublin, advised town officials not to jump too quickly into a court fight. "I believe this is like starting a war. It's easy to start, but hard to get out of," he said.
In other action at Thursday's meeting, council voted unanimously to deny a request to permit erection of a mobile home on Oakwood Drive.
Council also approved a request to draft an ordinance to restrict any household to two yard sales a year. The town does not now regulate yard sales.
by CNB