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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 29, 1995                   TAG: 9503290050
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: RICK LINDQUIST STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD                                LENGTH: Medium

REGISTRAR HAS HIS JOB BACK|

The Electoral Board has since reappointed Howard, who hopes to put the matter behind him. "I knew it was going to cause some kind of stir," he told City Council on Monday.

The trouble arose when Howard - a full-time employee whose city-paid salary is reimbursed by the state - agreed to accept $1,100 a year to do clerical work for the Local Emergency Planning Commission.

He later found out from a fellow registrar that state law forbids him to accept a position paid for by any government entity. According to the law, by taking on the paid Local Emergency Planning Commission work, Howard effectively had resigned as registrar.

"So, I quit [the commission position] right then in order to save my job as a registrar," Howard recounted Tuesday.

He said he plans to return the money - less than $100 so far - that he's been paid since August.

Monday night, City Council agreed to grant Howard a $1,100 salary supplement to replace the income he would have gotten from the commission, but not before Councilwoman Polly Corn and City Attorney John "Bunny" Spiers suggested it looked like an end-run around the law.

"I think it's pure and simple subterfuge," Spiers said. He said the law is clear, and Howard cannot do other work for the city and be paid for it.

Calling the law "picky," Howard said it's OK for him to do work the Electoral Board may assign that's not inconsistent with his registrar's job.

"In essence, the Electoral Board has asked me to do this - technically," he told council.

Council unanimously approved the supplement, but made clear it would only be for his work as Voter Registrar, not for Local Emergency Planning Commission work, which Howard will continue to do, unpaid. Council will review the supplement annually.

Although in a sort of legal limbo from August until early March, when he was reappointed, Howard said his situation would not affect last November's election results "in any way."

Howard has been Radford's Voter Registrar since 1992, when he was appointed to fill the remaining term of the late Morris Lepchitz.