ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, June 30, 1996 TAG: 9607010078
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
It sounds like a great idea: Merge three local marketing and service organizations under one roof, creating a lean and efficient one-stop shop for residents and business prospects.
When Rocky Mount Town Manager Mark Henne first proposed the consolidation of the groups - the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce, the Franklin County Retail Merchants Association and the county's Community Partnership for Revitalization - more than a year ago, its advantages seemed obvious.
Gone would be the overlap between the groups and the levels of bureaucracy.
Members of the organizations - some of whom belong to more than one - wouldn't have to pay multiple dues, nor would they have to attend as many meetings.
And the consolidation would make it clear to outsiders "that we're a community that has everything together," Henne said.
The county's social and economic heart - downtown Rocky Mount - faces a stiff challenge with a Super Wal-Mart store opening next month on Virginia 40 just east of the town limits. A unified organization - instead of three scattered ones - could help focus a plan to revitalize the downtown area, Henne and others say.
The initial reaction to the proposed merger was positive. A task force was formed to find out a way to do it, and there was a lot of back slapping and hand shaking.
After several subcommittees were formed to study different aspects of a merger, the task force met in March at Ferrum College to hear their recommendations. Various members of the board of directors at the chamber, merchants association and partnership also were there.
A majority of those at the meeting voted to continue toward a merger, said Larry Heaton, chairman of the consolidation task force and past president of the Chamber of Commerce.
They set a January 1997 completion date.
But that was then.
Listen to what people have to say now.
"All I've heard is that the merger's dead," said Town Councilman Arnold Dillon.
"The merger is the right thing to do. But unfortunately, local politics have gotten in the way," said Carthan Currin, a member of the consolidation task force, as well as the Chamber of Commerce and Community Partnership's board of directors.
But Heaton says despite local talk, the merger is still very much alive.
He said he never expected the process to be easy.
He was right.
"The major obstacle is initiating and managing change," Heaton said. "It's that simple."
And there are other possible sticking points, such as the organizational setup of the merged groups, personnel and funding.
So what happened to slow down the consolidation movement from the time of the March meeting until now?
Heaton says it was a letter from the Retail Merchants Association.
The letter proposed an alternative to the full-fledged merger. The association could move into the same building with the Chamber of Commerce - but not the partnership - and the two organizations could continue to do business as each does now, while working to find areas that could be combined.
Because the association's director, Dorothy Cundiff, and some of its board members attended the Ferrum College meeting and saw what took place, "I was a little surprised to receive the letter," Heaton said.
However, Cundiff's spin on the meeting differs from Heaton's. She said the majority of association board members in attendance either abstained or voted for the second option - the one that the association's current proposal resembles.
Cundiff also said she's concerned that four of the five people who chaired task force subcommittees were members of the Chamber of Commerce.
One of those four chairpersons stood at the meeting and recommended that the association's credit bureau and insurance program be eliminated, Cundiff said.
"That's what bothers me," she said. "Someone was made chairman of that committee, and they didn't know what they were talking about."
Cundiff, who has been with the association for 33 of its 40 years, admits that it's tough to face the possibility that she might have to let go of parts of something she holds so dear.
But she also realizes that major changes are barreling down on Rocky Mount and Franklin County and that the town's leaders must act accordingly.
She just isn't convinced that the merger is the only answer.
And if there is a merger, Cundiff thinks it should involve the association and the Chamber of Commerce, and not the partnership.
"The partnership, in my mind, is not a player in this," she said.
Cundiff declined to elaborate, but others in the community have criticized the partnership for being slow to produce results.
The partnership was created in 1994 to help revitalize the downtown area as well as the county's main road corridors. The partnership's main task is to oversee the Rocky Mount Main Street program - a state program it qualified for earlier this year.
Carthan Currin says the partnership lost momentum because it had to let go of its first director, Hilde Hussa, last September, and it was several months before its new director, Susheela Shende was hired.
It didn't help that Hussa's departure was shrouded in controversy. The partnership's board met behind closed doors and voted to ask for her resignation. Hussa, who wasn't asked to attend the meeting, was later informed of the vote by a reporter and had to go ask a board member what had happened.
Town and county leaders have since criticized the way the partnership's board handled the situation and have questioned its ability to lead.
In Shende the board found a director with an impeccable resume. She has a master's degree in urban planning from the State University of New York. She was the deputy director of planning in Harrisburg, Pa., and she was a consultant to the planning commission in Philadelphia.
But Franklin County's not Philadelphia, and she knows she's got a lot of work to do.
Shende, who supports the concept of a merger, says she has some clear ideas about how the partnership needs to proceed. She hopes to soon acquire a state grant to develop a nuts-and-bolts plan for the town's revitalization.
She envisions a public mall that would incorporate green space and new and old businesses to link the uptown and downtown areas.
And, discussing her philosophy, she said, "If you haven't made a public commitment, how can you ask for private commitment?"
Heaton says the merger won't work without the partnership.
The consolidation will be discussed again on July 22.
The Retail Merchants Association has asked members of the task force and the Chamber of Commerce to sit down and discuss things.
Heaton says he'll bring along members of the partnership, too.
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