Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, October 11, 1994 TAG: 9410110090
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
Part of the money will come from $97,754 previously budgeted for the town's participation in the New River Valley Economic Development Alliance, New River Valley Airport and Pulaski County Chamber of Commerce.
The remaining $54,203 will be taken from Urban Development Action Grant funds, which mainly have been used as loans to fledgling businesses.
A 20-member committee headed by Councilman John Stone worked for six weeks on developing the plan, which includes hiring an economic development director and appointing an economic development board to oversee it.
Council's Finance Committee, which included all eight council members, deadlocked 4-4 Thursday on whether to recommend funding the plan to council. Mayor Andy Graham broke the tie, voting the motion down.
``If we're not all for it, you may as well forget about it,'' he said at Tuesday's council meeting. Council has had the plan in hand since Sept. 6, but Graham said the Finance Committee discussed it for only 15 minutes.
``We're all for economic development, but you've got to give this council time,'' Graham said.
Graham called for a motion in Tuesday's meeting to authorize Town Manager Tom Combiths to negotiate with Pulaski Main Street director Roscoe Cox to expand his business recruiting to the entire town. Council would have continued to study the proposed plan.
Bettye Steger made the motion, but Stone made a substitute motion to fund the plan as originally proposed.
Steger, who had voted against it in last week's Finance Committee meeting, this time joined Stone, Roy D'Ardenne, John Johnston and Eddie Hale in voting for it. E.G. ``Junior'' Black, Alma Holston and W.H. ``Rocky'' Schrader again voted against it.
Graham and Holston expressed concern about nibbling away at the Urban Development funds, rather than using them to loan to new businesses that repay them, keeping the fund intact.
``That's one thing we have that other towns don't have,'' Holston said.
``This is what it's for ... to create a broader tax base,'' Stone argued.
Graham said the town manager should recommend any such plan.
``This is a very unusual way to conduct business ... Lord help this town, if that's the way we're going to do,'' he said.
D'Ardenne said Combiths and Assistant Town Manager Rob Lyons had taken part in preparing the plan, and Combiths said the manager's job is to carry out council directives.
``I don't see that there's a problem,'' he said.
Stone also moved that Combiths be authorized to negotiate with Cox for the economic developer job, and that passed unanimously.
The discussion followed remarks by citizen Paul Etzel, owner of the Renaissance Restaurant on Pulaski's Main Street, urging council to consider the plan even though the Finance Committee was bringing back no recommendation to fund it.
``What you cannot do is not do anything,'' he said. ``The one ingredient to success is risk.''
by CNB