Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 11, 1990 TAG: 9007110497
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: MARK LAYMAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
As they have in the past, Chairman Dick Robers and Supervisors Steve McGraw and Lee Eddy voted in favor of the changes. Supervisors Bob Johnson and Harry Nickens, who helped negotiate the original consolidation plan, voted against the changes.
One of the changes, which were approved unanimously by Roanoke City Council on Monday, increases the number of seats on the consolidated government's school board from nine to 11. Initially, six members would come from the county.
Another makes it clear that the same level of police, fire and rescue services would be provided in the new government's urban and suburban service districts.
And the third would expand the area that would be given the chance to become part of Salem if Roanoke and Roanoke County consolidate. That might be moot, however, because Salem and Roanoke County have been unable to agree on a financial settlement for the area.
Only one consolidation supporter spoke during a public hearing on the changes. Lee Blair of CARE, the County Alliance for Regional Excellence, told the supervisors she was there "simply to let you know that there are citizens of Roanoke County who support" consolidation.
"A united Roanoke would be in a stronger position to address the future needs and challenges" facing the Roanoke Valley, she said.
Don Terp of Citizens Against Merger was among the consolidation opponents who spoke. "You've got people so confused," he said. "People are calling me on the phone and asking me to explain [the plan] . . . You've got a lot of people very upset out there."
Winton Shelor, a longtime civic leader who is president of the Fort Lewis Civic League, said rural residents of the county are asking, "What can Roanoke city do for me, west of Salem, on top of Bent Mountain? . . . Nothing, we believe."
McGraw suggested that County Administrator Elmer Hodge come up with a plan for disseminating factual information about consolidation to county voters. But after Johnson and Nickens objected - saying the county had already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and countless hours of staff time on consolidation - McGraw dropped the suggestion. "This issue has been divisive enough for this board," he said.
Of the five supervisors, only Robers is an unabashed supporter of consolidation. Nickens is a member of Citizens Against Merger. McGraw and Eddy have said they will vote against the plan. Johnson has all but said he will vote against the plan, too.
Also on Tuesday, the supervisors:
Approved a letter to state Sen. Granger Macfarlane, who said last week that state funding for Explore will jeopardize state funding for other projects in the valley.
The letter says, in part, that Macfarlane's claim is "unsubstantiated . . . The Roanoke County Board of Supervisors made an informed decision, based on facts, in voting to support the Explore project, and we will continue to do so . . . Explore is one of our top economic development priorities."
The letter asks Macfarlane to "spend your time in the Senate obtaining as much funding as possible for all of the inportant projects in the Roanoke Valley."
Eddy voted against sending the letter. "I can't see any point in antagonizing" Macfarlane, he said.
Renamed the park behind Penn Forest Elementary School the "C. Darrell Shell Memorial Park." Shell, the county's first parks and recreation director, died this spring. He had worked for the county 23 years.
Re-elected Nickens chairman of the Roanoke County Resource Authority, which is overseeing planning for, and construction of, the new regional landfill.
Hodge also assured residents of Mason Cove that the county has no plans to allow out-of-state garbage to be dumped at the new landfill.
It's possible, though, that Montgomery County will be allowed to use the landfill in exchange for allowing Roanoke Valley localities to use its landfill temporarily, he said. That might be necessary if the current landfill in Mount Pleasant fills up before the new regional landfill opens.
That's simply "a neighbor working with a neighbor," Hodge said.
by CNB