Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 1, 1995 TAG: 9506010049
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-10 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
The full board, representing as many facets of town business and citizenry as possible, already has brain-stormed plenty of ideas, which have been farmed out to the appropriate committees.
"The thoughts, dreams, wishes are all out there," Executive Committee Chairwoman Sybil Atkinson said Wednesday. That committee will meet at 8 a.m. on the fourth Wednesday of each month.
"The committees have got to work," she said. "You can't expect 30 people to get together and make decisions."
Each committee will be asked to have a report one week in advance of the full board meeting July 12, so the Executive Committee can read it and have it printed for the membership.
One of the challenges for the committees will be to establish priorities and baseline goals. That way, Pulaski Town Council will have some way to gauge the board's progress in meeting its goals.
Roscoe Cox, the former Pulaski Main Street executive director who has been heading the new board, said the board is a reflection of what Pulaski is now and hopes to be in the future.
"I believe that this economic development right now is at a crossroads," he said, and participation by all board members is vital to its success.
"If we work in our small groups, it's not going to beat everybody to death," Atkinson added.
Board members are hoping for a better turnout at the July meeting than they had last month, when only a third of the appointees showed up.
Council is in the process of appointing replacements for a few of the original 30 board members who have resigned, for reasons including moving from the county or changing job responsibilities that would limit their time for board participation.
The Executive Committee will lose one of its members in August, when Joe Reed begins a new job teaching fifth grade for the Radford city school system.
Several of the other resignations have been tendered by board members serving on the organization's business recruitment committee. "That will be a committee we need to get going," Atkinson said, once the replacements are appointed.
In other business, Cox reported that preparations are on track for the second annual Depot Day Festival, scheduled for June 23-24.
Activities including clogging and gospel singing will start about 5:30 p.m. June 23 at the Memorial Square Shopping Center. The major activities will be centered downtown June 24 and feature well-known entertainers and programs in conjunction with the Virginia Museum of Natural History and Appalachian Railroad Heritage Foundation. Details will be announced in the weeks ahead.
Cox said he anticipated 10,000 to 20,000 people turning out for festival activities this year.
by CNB