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

DATE: SATURDAY, February 18, 1995                   TAG: 9502200036
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV6   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                 LENGTH: Short

APPOINTEES TO BOARDS MAY SEEK OFFICE

Last month, the Montgomery board changed a personnel rule to allow a county employee to seek a constitutional office such as commissioner of revenue, commonwealth's attorney, sheriff or treasurer without having to quit.

The move cleared the way for Helen St. Clair, a treasurer's office accountant, to seek the Republican nomination for the commissioner's post.

But to run for the Board of Supervisors, county employees would have to resign, the new rule states.

County Attorney Roy Thorpe told the Board of Supervisors Jan. 23 that he interpreted "county employees" to include the citizen appointees to Montgomery's various boards and commissions.

Under that interpretation, people such as Planning Commission Chairman Jim Martin, who has twice run for the Board of Supervisors, would have to resign to run in future elections. To avoid a Catch-22, the supervisors exempted themselves from the new rule.

It turns out Thorpe's interpretation, given in response to a question he hadn't had time to research, was wrong, he told the Planning Commission Wednesday.

After further research, he discovered a section of the county personnel manual that specifically exempts elected officials and appointees from the county's personnel rules.