
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, October 28, 1994                   TAG: 9411020043
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                  LENGTH: Short

SUPERVISORS TO LOOK AT FUTURE IN DAYLONG MEETING|

Near the midpoint of the final decade of the 20th century, where is Montgomery County and how can local government help it move into the future?

The county Board of Supervisors will tackle that broad question and more specific issues in a retreat - the board's first in nearly a decade.

Saturday's 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. meeting is open to the public and will be held at board Chairman Larry Linkous' home at 2051 Merrimac Road. Steve Parson, a Virginia Tech professor, will help guide the board's discussion.

The board arrives at this session just a year before a majority of its seven members will be up for re-election.

"The whole idea of this retreat is for us to gain some direction and set some policy," Linkous said.

The Board of Supervisors is following in the footsteps of the county School Board, which held a two-day retreat in Charlottesville last month for its nine members. That retreat, combined with a Virginia School Board Association training seminar, cost the county $1,617, according to the School Board clerk.

Aside from the long-term issues, the supervisors will talk about: the county's management; conducting closed-door sessions; the budget process; the capital improvements program; relations with the Sheriff's Office; promoting the county in the media; policy making vs. administration; handling school issues raised by county residents; holding more efficient meetings; and relations with other local governments.

by CNB