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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 10, 1995                   TAG: 9505100059
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: RICK LINDQUIST STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD                                  LENGTH: Medium

CITY'S ATTORNEY ASKS THAT SEATS NOT BE APPOINTED BY WARDS

Some council members complained during a public hearing to accept School Board nominees that they didn't know the rules had changed.

Council is to appoint two School Board members from among five candidates May 31. The field includes both incumbents John "Chip" Craig and Carter Effler, as well as Ken Edwards, a local businessman and former city councilman; Christopher Harrison, who runs an employee benefits firm; and F. Spencer Hall, the assistant vice president for facilities at Virginia Tech..

Monday night, Spiers stepped in to object to David Worrell's motion to require the appointments be made by wards, which the city officially abandoned in a 1968 charter change. Until last year, council - as an informal policy - had continued to appoint two School Board members from each of the city's three wards, but Spiers told council earlier this year there was no legal requirement to appoint or elect from wards. "The city is one school district," he said.

In January council informally went along with Spiers' suggestion to not name a replacement to the Rev. George Ducker, who died Dec. 4, effectively reducing the board to five members and clouding the old two-to-a-ward pattern.

At Spiers' recommendation, a recent legal notice soliciting candidates made no mention of the old wards. "My legal advice was not to put it in," he told council.

Monday, the mayor and some council members maintained no one had told them the system had changed and seemed inclined to cling to tradition.

"It's still strictly up to council," Mayor Tom Starnes said.

Worrell argued council should make its last two appointments by wards, but his attempt to formalize that opinion failed for lack of a second.

Last November, city voters approved a switch to an elected School Board, and Monday Spiers told council he doesn't want to do anything to jeopardize the U.S. Justice Department's tacit approval last week of the city's plans to elect five members at large to four-year terms starting next year.

Spiers suggested council could compromise the elected plan if it appears to be backing away from an at-large selection policy.

Tuesday, Spiers himself backed away from a statement saying appointments by ward have been "illegal for 20 years," and conceded he'd lost his temper during the debate. He agreed council could appoint as it sees fit later this month, but that he didn't want council to formally adopt a policy requiring nominees to reside in any particular part of town.

"I just don't want to make it a rule," he said.

At Monday's regular meeting, City Council:

Unanimously approved an agreement to sell a dilapidated 1934 fire truck to Benny Ridpath, who wants to restore and show the vehicle.

Approved spending nearly $27,500 for a temporary modular building to house court offices until the Municipal Building can be expanded.

OK'd an approximately $36,600 appropriation to repair January flood damage at Veteran's Park.

Accepted a bid of just over $53,400 from Magic City Ford for a solid waste compactor vehicle.

Agreed to let the Industrial Development Authority issue $3.5 million in bonds to finance a new industry expanding into the Radford Industrial Park.

Approved a recommendation from Finance Director Jess Cantline that changes the city's utility billing to a three-cycle system. The plan would mean East End customers would be billed for two months' service within a short time during the June startup period. Cantline said the city would work with customers who experience a hardship because of the new system.