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

DATE: SATURDAY, April 8, 1995                   TAG: 9504110049
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: ANN DONAHUE, SANDRA BROWN KELLY AND LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

STATE AGENCIES PLAY `WHAT IF?' AS NOSES COUNTED IN BUYOUT

Friday was the end of the grace period for state workers who opted to take Allen's buyout option to change their minds.

The final group of applications is in the hands of the state, which now will attempt to meet its April 14 response deadline.

Roanoke Valley agencies have preliminary numbers of how many workers applied for the buyout.

Virginia Western Community College faces an 8.4 percent decrease in its staff. Eleven out of 131 full-time employees accepted the terms of the buyout. Five of the 11 applicants were in the housekeeping department, said Mike Shelton, human resources manager. Faculty members were not eligible.

Between now and May 1, the Roanoke and Alleghany health departments will be developing "what if?" scenarios, trying to decide which programs they can continue if the 35 workers who have applied for the state buyout from those departments take it.

The 35 requests represent 20 percent of the total work force, said Molly Rutledge, director of the Roanoke department and acting director for Alleghany.

"It also might be time to rethink" the merger of the two departments, she said. A study completed in the past year under Rutledge's leadership recommended against merging the two, but left it as an option.

Even though the state could deny some requests for buyouts, Rutledge said she is proceeding as if all 35 jobs will be lost.

Services that are not mandated by the state will be given extra scrutiny in the effort to develop a plan, she said. These services include the pharmacy program, primary care pediatrics and some services to schools and refugees.

Small divisions of state departments will face big losses if all those who applied for the buyout are accepted.

The western regional office of the state fire marshal had only one person apply for the buyout. However, the loss of this person would cut the four-person staff by one-quarter.

In the Roanoke field office of the Department of Rehabilitative Services, three out of 14 workers, or 21 percent, applied for the buyout.

Two people from the Roanoke-based regional office of the state Department of Social Services applied.

Vincent Jordan, acting director of the department's Division of Human Resources, said one is a regional specialist and the other a regional specialist or supervisor. The regional office employs 53 people.

Harry Gray, regional office director, said the loss of any staff would affect office operations. In the entire department, 130 people, scattered throughout the state, applied for the buyout, Jordan said.

Losing those employees "is going to change the way we do what we do in one degree or another," Jordan said.

All told, 7,519 state employees applied for the buyout.