PULASKI MAYOR STARTING TO WISH FOR SMOOTHER COUNCIL MEETINGS

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

DATE: THURSDAY, February 6, 1992                   TAG: 9202060079
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-10   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER
DATELINE: PULASKI                                LENGTH: Medium
PULASKI MAYOR STARTING TO WISH FOR SMOOTHER COUNCIL MEETINGS
Mayor Gary Hancock, usually unflappable, is beginning to show some impatience with squabbles on Town Council.
He endured the Christmas tree controversy, which involved two council meetings and a Utilities Committee meeting, although calling it "a tempest in a teapot, it seems to me."
Two council members were upset about placing used Christmas trees in Gatewood Reservoir, source of the town's water, to improve the fish habitat.
Andrew Graham and Don Crispin said Town Manager Don Holycross should bring such matters before council, even though game and fish experts had said there would be no adverse effects on water quality.
"I do not think that we can run around following them every minute," Councilwoman Mary Lou Copenhaver said of town administrators.
Councilwoman Alma Holston added: "This council or any other council cannot work effectively together if there's not trust . . . I ask that we put this issue to rest tonight."
In another matter Tuesday, the Utilities Committee recommended authorizing the Public Works Department to install a 10-inch water line on Old Newbern Road from Newbern Road at Bob White Boulevard to just east of Peaksview Lane at a cost of about $9,057.
Connection fees for the 18 residents to be served are estimated at $7,200.
Crispin thought Holycross had recommended a hook-on requirement for the 18 residents without town water who are having trouble with their wells. Holycross replied that he had said that was a council decision.
This time Hancock's impatience showed.
"Can't we just do something nice for people without making into a controversy?" he asked.
The recommendation was adopted unanimously.
In other business Tuesday, council:

Authorized a stability analysis on Gatewood Dam, as required by safety regulations, at an estimated cost of $10,000;

Agreed to continue in a Virginia Municipal League program pairing Pulaski with the Northern Virginia town of Dumfries for another year. Under the program, the towns exchange visits by town officials and learn from each other;

Learned that town offices would be closed Feb. 17 for Presidents' Day.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB