Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 5, 1990 TAG: 9007050163
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BETSY BIESENBACH SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Six of those residents appeared at a regular meeting of Town Council Tuesday to complain about the proposal.
Michael Schneider, an east county resident, complained to Mayor Charles Hill about comments Hill had made in a story that appeared in this newspaper on June 28. In response to a suggestion made by Roanoke County Supervisor Howard Musser, Hill rejected a move to allow east county residents to vote on whether they want to be annexed into the town.
Any changes to portions of the consolidation agreement that pertain to the town "would severely impact the future" of Vinton, Hill said. Because the agreement already had been signed by Roanoke and Roanoke County, any changes would require the renegotiation of much of the agreement, he said.
"I don't presume to speak for every resident in the area," Schneider said, but being denied a vote would be "grossly unfair" and tantamount to taxation without representation. "We are being treated in a discriminatory manner."
Annexation, he added, would bring higher taxes and perhaps reduced services. Schneider urged council to agree to a vote to "see how we stand on the matter. That's the way government should be run."
"I'm behind him 100 percent," said east county resident Rebecca Karnes. "If you talk to people, they do not want to be in the town. I feel the people should be heard."
Hill told the residents that, as he had stated June 28, the town is not a party to the consolidation agreement, had "no input whatever," into drafting the document and cannot make the decision whether to allow the vote.
"Any changes must be the responsibility of Roanoke and Roanoke County," he said.
Although he and Town Manager George Nester were allowed to observe consolidation meetings, they were not allowed to attend closed sessions.
"We can't tell you what went on at those meetings," which were held at the Roanoke Regional Airport, Hill said, "but George [Nester] and I can tell you a lot about the airplanes that land there. We spent a lot of time looking out the windows."
"Just because you have been wronged, why are you wronging us?" Karnes asked.
"I know where y'all are coming from," Hill said. But if the residents have been "put between a rock and a hard place," he said, so has the town. "And I don't know what the answer is."
Town officials were reluctant to endorse any changes to the agreement as it pertains to the town, because one change would affect everything else.
"We didn't want to change it, not knowing what the outcome would be," said council member Roy McCarty, who has come out strongly against consolidation. "It was defeated [in 1969] and it will be defeated now," he said. "I think we have to fight consolidation. I think this council should be fighting consolidation."
If it cannot be defeated, McCarty said, "We have to protect the town of Vinton," and by doing so, he added, protect east county residents as well. "When it came out, we were looking out for the best interests of east Roanoke County."
by CNB