Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 26, 1994 TAG: 9405260105
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ADRIENNE PETTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BEDFORD LENGTH: Medium
"The devil is in the details," said M.H. Wilkerson, executive director of the Commission on Local Government, before piling information on committee members, City Council, the Board of Supervisors and 25 residents gathered in Council Hall.
Among other things, Wilkerson said that the two localities can take any of three routes to achieve a unified government: they can create a city, a county or partially consolidate, which establishes a county encompassing a "tier city" - a town with special annexation privileges.
H.F. and Anita Garner - the Forest couple who spearheaded the consolidation drive to prevent annexation of their area by Lynchburg - were pleased with Wilkerson's talk. Under state law, a city cannot annex portions of another city. But their petition - signed by about 4,000 county and city residents - unequivocally called for a unified city - not a county.
"They're really not options, as far as we're concerned," H.F. Garner said. "If the name of the game is to stop annexation, there is only one route you could take."
Wilkerson added that Forest could block annexation by becoming a town.
Wilkerson said the consolidation committee would have to weigh the political and ethical concerns of going against the petitioners' request for a city.
Ultimately, he said, the courts would have to determine the legality of the committee taking a different route.
He outlined some steps the localities can take to make the merger work.
For instance, they could establish separate debt districts in the newly formed locality to retire the debts previously incurred without making residents responsible for paying off combined debt. Assuming the committee completes a plan for creating a city, it would then submit the plan to the Commission on Local Government. After reviewing the plan, the commission passes it on to the state Supreme Court, which convenes a three-judge panel that rules whether to enter an order permitting the plan to go to referendum.
Memo: ***CORRECTION***