Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 22, 1994 TAG: 9402220227
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Brian Kelly
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
As Supervisor Joe Gorman of Blacksburg tried to make a point to a county employee about how money spent on recycling should show up in the budget, veteran Supervisor Ira Long of Prices Fork, who was sitting beside him, talked over his remarks just seconds after making a joke that prompted the whole room into laughter.
His face red, Gorman slammed his hand on the board table. "Sir, I think it's out of order. If I'm talking to a man, let me finish. Otherwise, I'll leave," he said.
Long said, "Well."
Then he finished his sentence as Gorman, too, resumed talking.
A few seconds later, Long told Gorman, "Joe, I'm sorry, but if you do that again I'm going to walk out myself."
Gorman retorted: "Dammit, I'm talking to the man . . ."
But he never finished the sentence. Chairman Larry Linkous interrupted the spat to move the meeting on.
It was a rare, public outburst of tension between board members. Long, as chairman last year, made no secret that he believed proceeding with the library and health and human services projects would mean a tax increase. He said later in the meeting that he was inclined to vote against any such increase. Gorman, on the other hand, has been a strong advocate for the library branch renovation and expansion in Blacksburg.
Only minutes before, the board had tabled talk about the library project until after closed session.
Does the outburst herald a new divisiveness on the board? I doubt it, since for the last five months the Montgomery Board of Supervisors has been a generally congenial group of seven men. I suppose when it comes to budget time, everyone gets a little on edge.
But onto the night owls.
The meeting opened at 7 p.m. At 10:40 the board, with Supervisor Jim Moore voting no, went into closed session to discuss six matters exempted from public view by state law.
At 1:10 a.m. board members reopened their door to the public. For the next half-hour members voted on the matters they'd discussed in the executive session. Those included taking the first step toward issuing bonds to pay for the Blacksburg library addition and new health and human services building in Christiansburg - which could mean a property tax increase - and approving the proposed agreement to end the two-year dispute with the School Board over merging the schools' finance office with the county's.
The meeting ended at 1:40 a.m. with board members and staff bleary-eyed.
No members of the general public were present. I was there only because I'm paid to be. Actually, I didn't mind the long night because the Montgomery Courthouse had heat, whereas my home was freezing because a lack of electricity from the Feb. 11 storm.
But meeting that late essentially shuts out the public from seeing what its elected officials are doing. It also leaves the board open to making a mistake or voting for something just in the interest of expediency. At one point before one of the major votes was taken, a board member said he was "getting punchy." Long, too, asked the board's clerk to reread a resolution.
"Just as long as we know what we're voting for, is all," he said.
Linkous conceded afterward that no one is in top form that late. The board considered stopping around 11:30 and continuing the next night, but rejected doing so because too many members had conflicts. Linkous said it was only the second time a meeting has gone so late since he joined the board in 1991.
"I don't like that either and hope it doesn't happen again for a long time," he said last week.
That's one notion the rest of the board should second, if only for the sake of a good night's sleep.
by CNB