Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 15, 1995 TAG: 9503150024
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SARAH HUNTLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The document, prepared by Towers Perrin Consultants in Arlington, focuses on better ways to provide services such as transportation and trash collection to the valley's residents. Based on a number of interviews with local governments, the consultants outlined five recommendations that would streamline responsibilities and costs.
But the problem so far isn't with the recommendations. It's with the introduction.
In the opening commentary of a draft version, the consultants suggest that the residents of Vinton would be better off if the town were to give up its charter. That raised the eyebrows - and the ire - of Vinton Town Manager Clay Goodman, who has asked that the comment be removed.
``That should not be a part of the report,'' Goodman said. ``Of course, we would be opposed to any of that. I've contacted the consultants and told them about our concerns.''
In addition, Goodman phoned Del. Richard Cranwell, D-Roanoke County, who led efforts to get localities to share the cost of the $30,000 report, and asked him to look into it.
Funded reluctantly by the governments and enthusiastically by the Roanoke Valley business community, the regionalization report didn't start out on a smooth political road to begin with. And to some, this latest ruffling of feathers raises the question, what will it take to get localities to sit down at the same table?
Consultant Bill Evans, co-author of the report, declined to comment on the specifics before it is released publicly, but he did say he had no idea his comments about Vinton would provoke concern.
``All we did was suggest that the people of Vinton may want to think about it. It was the observation from the perspective of an outsider with a lot of experience in local governments,'' he said. ``It was such an obvious fact that we would have been remiss to not include it.''
Vinton residents are the only people in the valley who pay taxes to two local governments.
Evans said the commentary was not a reflection on town management.
``We think it is a well-managed town, as far as towns that small go,'' he said.
Roanoke County Administrator Elmer Hodge said he took the Vinton comments as a ``lead-in'' to the report.
``I saw that to be somewhat of an observation, a general observation, rather than a recommendation,'' Hodge said. ``Vinton's reaction was a little bit of a surprise to me, too. We get recommendations of this type quite frequently, but the people of Roanoke County have spoken [in the 1990 Roanoke-Roanoke County consolidation referendum], and that's unlikely to change.''
But others said Vinton's reaction didn't surprise them.
``It doesn't take a brain scientist to surmise what Vinton's reaction will be to that. It's going to be a sticky wicket,'' Roanoke County Supervisor Bob Johnson said.
``I hope the report doesn't get changed before it is made public,'' Johnson said. ``This was supposedly a regional report. I would hope it wouldn't be sanitized or altered because one locality objects. If you do that, I think you prostitute the integrity of the report. I don't think we paid for that.
``Good, sound decisions are made through a diversity of ideas, instead of everyone winking and nodding on cue.''
A meeting was scheduled for local officials to receive and review the report last Thursday, but it was canceled because Cranwell had a scheduling conflict. Cranwell declined to comment on the report until it is made public, but said he doesn't expect the report to be changed.
The meeting will be rescheduled within the next two weeks, Cranwell said, and the report and the consultants' recommendations will be released then.
by CNB