Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 22, 1993                   TAG: 9312250114
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-4   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: By BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

MONTGOMERY LOOKS AT CHARTER

With a charter, which is only granted by the General Assembly, Montgomery could obtain certain powers it does not already hold, such as specifying how the transition to an elected school board will take place in 1995. It also could seek additional taxation or borrowing powers under a charter.

The only counties with charters are Roanoke and Chesterfield, a suburb of Richmond. In Virginia, county governments hold only powers delegated to them by the legislature.

But county charters may not be all they're cracked up to be. ``It is questionable whether you pick up any additional powers by adopting a charter,'' said James Campbell, executive director of the Virginia Association of Counties.

To petition the General Assembly for approval of a charter, the Montgomery Board of Supervisors first would have to take one of two routes: either hold public hearings on a draft charter and then vote on it; or hold a referendum.

Either method means there is not enough time to bring the matter before the 1994 General Assembly session, which begins in three weeks.

Montgomery County Administrator Betty Thomas briefed the board on the charter issue last week. Quoting from a memo prepared by County Attorney Roy Thorpe, Thomas said 1995 would be a better target for a charter proposal.

However, the General Assembly may be able to clarify the transition to an elected school board through legislation this winter, according to Thomas' summary.

The problem is that there are nine members on the Montgomery School Board, including appointees specifically for Christiansburg and Blacksburg, compared with the county's seven election districts.

The School Board's attorney has written the state attorney general asking for clarification on the mechanics of changing from an appointed to an elected school board. Under most scenarios, the board would lose two members. Moreover, School Board members are serving four-year terms that are not in sync with the Board of Supervisors' election cycle, as the new elected school board law requires.

When four members of the board met with the county's General Assembly delegation on Thursday, the issue came up only minimally in a discussion of what can be included in a charter, said Assistant Administrator Pamela McCune. Because of illness, Thomas missed the meeting with state Sen. Madison Marye, D-Shawsville, and Delegates-elect Jim Shuler, D-Blacksburg, and Morgan Griffith, R-Salem.

Supervisors Chairman Ira Long, and members Joe Gorman, Larry Linkous and Jim Moore went over the county's legislative initiatives with the lawmakers. Those initiatives, included in a resolution passed during the summer, cover finance, economic development, education and planning issues but don't mention a county charter, though they do advocate some modifications of the state's limitations on a county's powers.