Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 4, 1995 TAG: 9504040102
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT LENGTH: Medium
Town Manager Mark Henne ran through some regular business at Monday night's Town Council meeting.
He gave council members the details of a proposed road improvement project and discussed an upcoming YMCA kickoff luncheon - pretty normal stuff compared with the situation that surrounded him just last month.
Monday night's meeting was the third since Town Council members had Henne's office searched by the town's police chief March 10.
The object of the search was a missing tape - a cassette recording of a town Planning and Zoning Commission meeting in November 1993.
The search - conducted in Henne's presence - didn't turn up the tape, but it turned up something else: two bottles of liquor, one of which was open.
Henne maintains that the bottles were Christmas gifts and that he put them in a closet and forgot about them.
Members of Town Council appear to be satisfied with his explanation.
The council hasn't discussed much about the search, the liquor, or Henne since the hastily called special meeting to authorize Police Chief Butch Jenkins to look for the tape.
"It's a dead issue," said Vice Mayor Posey Dillon.
Henne was convicted of driving under the influence in 1987 and had another DUI charge dismissed in 1992.
It's against the town's personnel policy to have alcohol on town premises.
But that regulation does not apply to Henne, Dillon says, because he is an appointee of council, not a town employee.
Henne's town manager job comes up for reappointment every two years. He is paid about $50,000 a year.
"It's like this," said one council member who asked not to be named: "If four of us decide today that we're going to fire Mark Henne, then bye-bye, Mark Henne."
Because he is an appointee, Henne cannot utilize the grievance procedure afforded to town employees.
Other council members believe Henne has worked hard for the town, particularly in recent months, to secure deals for a new town and county health care park on North Main Street.
The missing Planning and Zoning Commission tape became an issue when a Rocky Mount attorney recently discovered that the commission met in November 1993.
The lawyer, Eric Ferguson, represents a Florida company that wants to build a Farmer's Home Administration-backed townhouse development on Hatcher Street.
The development was discussed at the commission meeting, and, according to several people who were there, it was found to be in keeping with the town's zoning and subdivision ordinances.
But Town Council later rejected a subdivision plat for the project.
Ferguson has asked for the tape, which he believes could play a part in a lawsuit he filed last week against the town.
Henne says the tape is lost, but he has found some handwritten notes he made at the meeting. Henne has said he attended the Nov. 30 meeting and was responsible for the tape.
Ferguson's suit asks the Circuit Court to reverse council's decision and approve the subdivision plat.
He said he plans to subpoena Henne and other town employees if the suit is heard in court.
Also at issue is the council's "emergency" meeting on March 10 - one attended by no one other than five members of council, the mayor, and town appointees or employees, according to a person who was there.
Under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, adequate public notice must be given, even for emergency meetings.
Minutes before the meeting, Dillon said, he phoned the Franklin News-Post, but no one answered.
The town charter states that a special meeting has to be attended by all council members. There is an exception, but it isn't clear whether it fits the circumstances of the March 10 meeting.
Council member Arnold Dillon did not attend the meeting.
He said he found out about the meeting late that night when he returned home and listened to a message a council member left on his answering machine.
Said Town Attorney John Boitnott:
"Yes, the meeting was legal."
by CNB