Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 27, 1990 TAG: 9004270654
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: BEDFORD/FRANKLIN
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT LENGTH: Long
Both candidates, T. Wayne Cundiff and Broaddus M. Shively, have promised to bring economic development, downtown revitalization and more recreational facilities to this Franklin County town.
The two men are vying to succeed Mayor Allen O. Woody Jr., who is retiring for health reasons after having run town government for 20 years.
Woody, 68, has loomed large in the mayoral race, both through his behind-the-scenes support for Shively and his conservative legacy that has helped shape the platforms of his would-be successors.
Like most small-town elections, the outcome is expected to turn on the candidates' personalities and the vigor of their door-to-door campaigns.
When voters go to the polls Tuesday, they also will select three council members from a field of five candidates. A heavy turnout is expected from the town's 1,750 registered voters.
The two mayoral candidates are a generation apart. Cundiff, 39, is president of his family's lumber company and has been a member of Town Council since 1986. Shively, 60, is president of Central Oil Co., a fuel distributor, and has been on the town zoning board since 1975.
Woody broke his public neutrality in the race by endorsing Shively - and blasting Cundiff - in an interview at his office this week.
"I think his character is unimpeachable," Woody said of Shively. "He has a tremendous dedication to the town of Rocky Mount."
As much as he wants to see Shively win, Woody appears equally determined to prevent Cundiff from succeeding him. "Mr. Cundiff has been more divisive than the other 11 council people I have served with combined," Woody said.
Cundiff has stood out on a council that almost invariably bends to Woody's will. The two men have clashed privately and publicly since Cundiff was elected to council four years ago.
Things came to a head at a December 1988 council meeting at which Woody publicly reprimanded a town maintenance supervisor for taking several workers to a Christmas party at Cundiff Lumber Co. where moonshine whiskey was served. Woody persuaded council to suspend the supervisor for 30 days, but many believe the mayor made an issue of the holiday party to embarrass Cundiff.
In the interview, Woody said he feels so strongly that he might have jumped in the race himself - despite his emphysema and a slew of other health problems - had Shively not challenged Cundiff.
Cundiff said he was not surprised that Woody has campaigned so hard against him. "He's working in the shadows to self-perpetuate his own reign," Cundiff said.
Cundiff said his election to council was "a clear mandate from the people that they were ready for a change, and I don't think I have disappointed them.
"I'm trying to represent all of the people," he said. "They [Woody's supporters] have a voice, but the small man has a voice, too."
Shively acknowledged that he had received Woody's blessing to run, but that he was waging an aggressive door-to-door campaign in an effort to listen to everyone's concerns.
"I hope I can get support from him [Woody] and 51 percent of the voters," Shively said.
Woody will leave Rocky Mount with a solid infrastructure and $7.6 million in the bank. Most of the surplus is earmarked for a new sewage treatment plant.
Cundiff and Shively have praised Woody's conservatism, while at the same time saying the town government should do more for its citizens than provide garbage collection and water and sewer service.
They have put downtown revitalization and recreation - programs that were all but ignored during the Woody era - at the top of their agendas.
While Bedford, Altavista and other nearby municipalities have organized efforts to spruce up their central business districts, there has been little done in Rocky Mount. In 1988, a group of businessmen tried to enlist financial help from Town Council, but Woody made sure the issue never came up for a vote.
"It was like a stone wall going to see the mayor," said radio executive Donny Brooks, who headed the short-lived downtown revitalization committee.
Woody said he saw no point in encouraging the committee because many property owners in the downtown business district opposed the plan. "The town can't do anything about what the property owners want to do. I have had no property owners approach me and say they are willing to pay part of the costs," he said.
With Woody's departure a few months away, revitalization has become a major issue. Cundiff touts his efforts as a member of the revitalization committee. Shively recently attended a state-sponsored revitalization conference in Lynchburg. And all of the council candidates - except incumbent Willie Mills, who owns several buildings downtown - support the idea.
Cundiff and Shively also have talked about improving the town's two parks, Mary Elizabeth Park and Mary Bethune Park, and studying the feasibility of other recreation facilities.
In recent years, Town Council has spent several thousand dollars to install playground equipment and picnic shelters at the parks despite Woody's lack of enthusiasm for the expenditures.
Woody said town residents - many of them elderly and on fixed incomes - also pay county taxes to support county recreation facilities.
Some say the mayoral race is too close to call. "I wouldn't even try to predict," said Peggy Allman, voter registrar for Franklin County.
Cundiff has won some populist support for his willingness to stand up to Woody. Shively has more in common with the town's large retired population, which tends to turn out at the polls on Election Day.
The new mayor, who takes office July 1, is expected to have considerably less clout than Woody, who also filled the role of town manager.
Council recently hired a full-time manager, relegating the mayor to a part-time role of breaking ties at council meetings, greeting dignitaries and cutting ribbons. The mayor will be paid $400 a month and receive no fringe benefits.
The five Town Council candidates are:
Steven Carter Angle, 36, a business education teacher and basketball coach at Franklin County High School.
Benjamin Allen Hodges, 25, a fund raiser for Ferrum College.
Peggy Sigmon Love, 58, director of business and finance for Franklin County's school system.
Mills, 72, president of Angle Hardware Co., who is seeking to retain the seat he has held since 1962.
James Alton Robertson, 60, a retired machinist for General Electric Co.
by CNB