Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 25, 1994 TAG: 9405250060
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By JAN VERTEFEUILLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday postponed until June 14 a vote on extending the hand of regional cooperation to Roanoke's new City Council.
Supervisors were having a little trouble cooperating among themselves.
Supervisor Bob Johnson suggested the idea of a joint city-county meeting after last month's City Council election. The election ushered in a new crop of council members who appeared more receptive to discussing cooperative ventures.
But when he made a motion for a vote on the matter Tuesday, Supervisor Harry Nickens balked.
Nickens said he wanted to extend a joint meeting beyond just the city and county and include Vinton and Salem. He also suggested having fewer people than the entire boards attend. Past meetings that involved the entire boards, he said, were just "window-dressing type of meetings" and weren't productive.
Supervisor Ed Kohinke agreed with that in a memo to the board this month, saying that "our joint meetings with other bodies are almost always nonproductive."
He said Tuesday, however, that many of his misgivings had been addressed and that he supports regional cooperation - with all four valley governments.
Johnson argued that even if the meeting were simply a meet-and-greet social event, it would be productive, if only to get to know each other.
"I think a lot of the problems that have existed between City Council and this board have been personality [problems]," he said, and a get-acquainted meeting could only help. "I ask as a personal favor you support this resolution."
But Nickens made a motion to table the matter until the next meeting. That will give the county time to look into whether a joint meeting would be duplicating an effort begun last fall by Del. Richard Cranwell.
Cranwell brought together elected officials and top administrators throughout the valley for meetings that continue.
The vote to table was 3-2, with Johnson and Fuzzy Minnix voting against postponement.
Chairman Lee Eddy cast the deciding vote to table because he wants a vote on regional cooperation to be unanimous, and it was unlikely that would have happened had the vote been held Tuesday.
Johnson said after the vote that he's confident the vote will be unanimous next month. He said Cranwell's group is concentrating on infrastructure problems, which doesn't overlap with what Johnson has proposed. One proposal he hopes to suggest to a joint meeting is a cooperative economic development project.
He would like to see the two governments buy several hundred acres near Virginia Tech and create a "smart park" to lure high-tech industry. That way the area can negotiate on "a level field" with places like North Carolina.
After his motion was tabled, Johnson returned the favor to Nickens on the next item on the agenda.
A request to fund a matching grant of $15,000 to study the county's changing forestry needs was on the table. Nickens made a motion to approve it at the request of the planning and zoning department.
Then Johnson assailed Nickens' motion - which he called his "Nickenization" of the motion - because the money would be approved without going through the budget process.
In the end, the motion failed 4-1, with even Nickens voting against funding the forestry grant. Eddy cast the lone yes vote and told Planning Director Terry Harrington as he walked off, "Maybe you can bring it back another time."
Like after the feuding ends.
Said Johnson, "It's Tuesday in Roanoke County. We've turned down trees and shaking hands."
In other action:
The board voted to raise the emergency 911 tax added to residents' phone bills to $1.06 a month, from 46 cents. The money can be used only to finance the 911 operation - new equipment and dispatchers' salaries.
The board voted 3-2 on first reading to increase supervisors' salaries 3.8 percent, the same as county employees will get in the coming fiscal year. The raise would increase supervisors' compensation from $9,808 a year to $10,181.
Eddy and Minnix voted against the pay increase. Nickens suggested that voting on the losing side against a raise and then keeping the money was designed to look good at election time and asked Eddy and Minnix if they would keep the money.
Eddy said he thought 3 percent was reasonable and would donate the rest to charity. Johnson, even though he voted for it, said he would donate his increase to the No. 5 Hollins fire station.
Minnix said, "If you're fool enough to give it to me, I'm fool enough to keep it."
The vote means only that the board sends the matter on to a second reading at the next meeting, where there will be a public hearing on the matter.
One citizen, David Courey, urged supervisors not to vote themselves a raise, so it would be seen as an attempt to keep down costs.
Memo: ***CORRECTION***