Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 3, 1994 TAG: 9408030065
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DWAYNE YANCEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The new board put off discussion of its biggest task - designing a personnel policy for its 20-some employees - until next month to give itself time to study a draft prepared by Roanoke County officials.
Instead, the main order of the day for the Virginia Recreational Facilities Authority was figuring out just who was who.
This was the first meeting of Explore's 13-member governing board since Allen appointed six new members in late June - a housecleaning that booted the chairman and vice chairman and caused some Roanoke Valley leaders to grumble that Allen was being too political in his selections.
The effects of such a large turnover were clear Tuesday: Explore staffers and board members wore name tags to introduce themselves, and much of the meeting was devoted to a slide show about the park.
Explore's Old Guard also was interested in who's who. With one eye cocked toward Richmond, the board unanimously picked one of the newcomers - Vinton homemaker Trixie Averill, who headed Allen's campaign in Western Virginia last year - as chairwoman.
She replaces retired Virginia Beach banker Clifford Cutchins, who was one of the six board members who weren't reappointed - because, as it turned out, they hadn't sent in the applications the new administration expected.
Averill's selection had been worked out before the meeting by board holdovers who wanted to make sure the Explore board is led by someone who has the ear of the Allen administration. Even before Averill was selected, Rupert Cutler, park executive director, insisted Averill take the seat at the head of the table normally occupied by the chairman.
And the motion to nominate Averill was made by Harry Nickens, a Roanoke County Supervisor - and a Democrat - who effusively praised her as someone who will "bring not only enthusiasm, but a base of knowledge that would serve us all well."
Averill previously had served on a citizens' advisory board Roanoke County organized to monitor the park's progress.
Averill joked at how astonished she was that other board members would put her in charge. "My husband won't let me have the checkbook," she said. "Now I'm given a million-dollar budget."
The politics of the new board members weren't far from the surface during Tuesday's meeting. Averill introduced herself as ``a little ol' housewife,'' then added, "I guess most of you know I am a Republican and have done a lot of Republican activist stuff."
Later, in discussing the proposed personnel policy, the board's attorney, Greg Haley, pointed out that one of the things the board will have to decide is whether it wants to pay for its employees' health insurance. The board, he advised, should consider how much that will cost.
"Clinton doesn't," Averill interjected. "Why should we?"
by CNB