Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 13, 1995 TAG: 9507130039
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Bartlett responded to comments made Monday during a Board of Supervisors' discussion of a proposed school-building program.
"I think this is an aberration that has to do with the time period we're in," Bartlett said, noting this fall's election cycle, when four supervisors' seats will go before the voters.
Three supervisors said they hadn't received timely responses to questions they have about the four-school, $34-million-plus proposal, which could have major tax-rate implications. One also said he hadn't received a response to a long-standing inquiry about school-employees' travel expenses.
"Superintendents are in a hot seat," Bartlett said. "Certainly a major capital improvement plan will bring that to the forefront as fast as anything I know."
Bartlett had been attending a conference in Richmond and missed Monday's supervisors' meeting, though he attends most others. He said the comments distressed and concerned him, given that he's made improved communications with the board a priority since coming to Montgomery County two years ago.
"I feel like the timeliness of my response should not be considered late when viewed with the amount of information requested," Bartlett said. Two of the reports requested were finished Wednesday. Sitting on Bartlett's desk, they stacked about 6 inches high.
"I couldn't have gotten it for anyone any quicker than we got it," he said.
The supervisors' questions came up during a June 12 meeting. The county sent a written request for the information on June 16. Bartlett said his office received the letter June 19, a Monday. That gave his staff 10 full business days plus an abbreviated holiday week to pull the data together, he said.
Larry Linkous, Board of Supervisors chairman, said Wednesday he was upset because a joint School Board-supervisors' committee studying school sites reported back to the board without the requested information. "It's been almost a month," Linkous said. "Maybe it takes that long." He also was frustrated that the School Board hadn't looked into expanding Blacksburg Middle School on its present site. Yet he said he and Bartlett continue to have a "real good working relationship."
Bartlett said he is concerned about the "negative publicity" surrounding the comments and the effect it could have on the county. He pledged to continue timely, efficient communications with the board.
"Hopefully it's not a serious situation," Bartlett said. "I don't believe it is."
Bartlett said the report on travel expenses, requested by supervisors months ago during the budget deliberations, involves culling through thousands of pages of travel vouchers for the school system's 1,400 employees. That report is almost finished. "It's not like it's a two-minute job," he said.
by CNB