Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 3, 1990 TAG: 9004030434
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER MUNICIPAL
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
City Council's decision Monday to fill Byrd's unexpired term from the nine applicants for seats now held by William White and Sallye Coleman angered two council members.
Councilmen Howard Musser and David Bowers charged that the decision was "a sham and political shenanigans" aimed at preventing other people from being considered for the banker's unexpired term.
They wanted council to invite applications for Byrd's seat and consider others who didn't apply for the seats held by White and Coleman.
But Councilman Robert Garland said he thought it "would be futile and a waste of time to reopen it and invite applications because we already have some good applicants."
Musser said some people had called and told him they didn't apply for the White and Coleman seats because they thought that council would appoint blacks to fill them. White and Coleman are black.
White, who has been on the board for five years, is running for City Council in the May 1 election and isn't seeking reappointment.
Coleman, a board member for six years and current vice chairman, has applied for a new term. She is a retired administrator in the city school system.
Musser said council wasn't obligated to fill the two seats with blacks, but some potential applicants apparently assumed that council would do so.
"There will be others who want to be considered. We need to go through the same process and invite people to apply if we are going to be fair," Bowers said.
Bowers charged that council's decision to choose a successor for Byrd from the pool of applicants for the other two seats was "a continuation of the sham" last year when Don Bartol was replaced as a board member.
Musser said Byrd indicated earlier this year and again in a recent letter to council members that he wouldn't resign until June 30. Byrd, who was appointed to the board last summer, accepted a job as president of a bank in Charleston, W.Va.
Mayor Noel Taylor said Byrd submitted a written resignation effective March 28.
Some people who were interested in being considered for Byrd's unexpired term assumed it wouldn't be filled until later, Musser said. Byrd's term will end June 30, 1992.
Musser charged that council had violated the city code by restricting Byrd's replacement to the existing pool of applicants, but City Attorney Wilburn Dibling said council was free to use whatever method it desired.
Other council members denied they had hidden or political motives in voting to fill the vacancy.
Vice Mayor Beverly Fitzpatrick Jr. said he was concerned about the charges and language used by Musser and Bowers.
"The issue is not whether we appoint two black board members, but the responsibility that we have to elect the two best people," Fitzpatrick said.
Councilman James Trout criticized Musser for refusing to participate in interviews of applicants for the board last year to protest council's decision not to reappoint Bartol.
Garland said the fact that the nine applicants include four whites undercuts the argument that everyone assumed that council would appoint blacks to the two seats.
Under the city's procedure for filling vacancies, council holds public interviews with up to three applicants for each vacancy. Because three seats will be filled, all nine applicants will be interviewed on April 12.
In addition to Coleman, the applicants are: Charles Day, a former principal, teacher and coach in the city school system and now in real estate sales; Emanuel Edwards, a lawyer; John Geary, a retired postal worker who now works in the Lewis-Gale Clinic's security department.
David Lisk, a former School Board member and former city councilman; Delvis "Mac" McCadden, a former teacher who is now district sales manager for USAir; Lewis Peery, a retired Postal Service worker; Finn Pincus, director of the Electronic Computer Programming Institute; and Denise Reedy, a housewife and PTA leader.
by CNB