Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 6, 1991                   TAG: 9103061226
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: MARK LAYMAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

EDDY WANTS VOTERS TO ELECT CHAIRMAN

Now, all five members of the board are elected by district. Each January, the board holds an organizational meeting at which a chairman is chosen for the coming year. As a result, Eddy said, the chairman has little status outside board meetings.

An at-large chairman elected for a four-year term, just like the mayors of Roanoke and Salem, would give the county "a little more clout in dealing with other local governments," he said.

That also would give county residents an elected representative to seek help from other than the supervisor who represents their district, Eddy said.

Of course, he said, there is the risk that a chairman elected at-large would try to "throw his weight around" on the board. "If you got the wrong person in that position, it could be a disadvantage for the county."

Eddy is the first supervisor to publicly call for an at-large election for chairman.

The opportunity to make that change will come this spring when, as a result of the 1990 census, Roanoke County redraws its voting district lines.

A committee made up of Registrar Elizabeth Leah, County Attorney Paul Mahoney and Planning Director Terry Harrington is studying redistricting plans and will make recommendations to the Board of Supervisors in a month or so.

The county is bound by certain legal requirements when it redistricts. Voting districts must be roughly equal in population, be compact and contiguous and have clearly observable boundaries. Minority voting strength must not be diluted. And the supervisors have said that neighborhoods such as North Lakes, which now is split between the Catawba and Hollins magisterial districts, should not be divided.

Other than that, though, the supervisors are free to consider a variety of alternatives.

The size of the Board of Supervisors could be increased to seven members, for example, to allow for the at-large election of a chairman, and possibly a vice chairman.

Eddy said he likes the idea of a seven-member board, "but I want to keep my options open. We don't want a lot of screwy-looking lines."

Of the 95 counties in the state, 43 have five-member boards and 20 have seven-member boards, Eddy said, citing information obtained by Mahoney from the state Board of Elections. At least two counties - Fairfax and Prince William - have at-large elections for chairman. A few other counties have at-large elections for board members, but it isn't clear from the information Mahoney obtained how those boards choose their chairmen.