Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, September 9, 1995 TAG: 9509110030
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT LENGTH: Long
Details are sketchy, but one thing's for sure. Hilde Hussa is no longer the director of the town's Main Street revitalization program.
A weeklong stalemate between Hussa and the board that's running the program ended Friday. The board of the Community Partnership for Revitalization, which brought in Town Attorney John Boitnott as its spokesman earlier this week, issued a short statement that verified Hussa's departure but left many questions unanswered.
The board "has confirmed that a change is being made, and they are seeking a new executive director," the statement read. "A search committee is being established for the purpose of locating a replacement."
Hussa was asked to resign on Sept. 1 as the result of a closed-door meeting of the board - a meeting she was not asked to attend.
Board members have been mum about specifics, and none would say whether she was fired or had resigned.
"We released a statement, and I'll stick to that," said Dick Shoemaker, a member of the partnership's executive committee.
Hussa could not be reached for comment Friday, but she had not resigned as of Thursday afternoon and had continued to show up this week for work at the partnership's office on Franklin Street.
On Thursday, Hussa indicated that a change had occurred but didn't elaborate.
Board members said Boitnott was asked to take a lead role in the controversy because the situation became more and more uncomfortable as it progressed. Boitnott, as the town's attorney, agreed to serve as legal counsel for the partnership because Rocky Mount appropriated $12,500 to the revitalization effort.
The board's statement did not disclose a reason for its discontent with Hussa, and board members contacted over the past few days have declined to discuss their problems with Hussa publicly.
But two did say that 14 out of 15 board members who attended the closed-door meeting agreed that Hussa should be asked to resign.
In an interview Wednesday, Hussa - who said she's been made aware of the meeting results - called the situation "mind-boggling."
Hussa said she was told that one of the board's concerns involved her role in the set-up of the town's Main Street program.
Rocky Mount was designated a Main Street community this summer by the state Department of Housing and Community Development. The program provides planning and architectural expertise to qualifying localities to refurbish old buildings and spruce up other elements of downtowns.
According to Hussa, the state would not allow the county's existing organization - the Community Partnership for Revitalization - to run the Main Street program, but instead required that a new one be created.
Then, just a few weeks ago, the state changed its mind and decided that the Main Street assistance could be channeled through the partnership, she said.
"I was made out to be the bad guy when I was just doing what was supposed to be done," she said. "I'm glad the state finally decided to let us use the partnership."
But a spokeswoman for the Department of Housing and Community Development said there was no such mandate at any time from the state.
"We don't tell a town how to run the program," said Janet Bruce, director of communication for the department. "That's up to them. There may have been a misunderstanding but, to my knowledge, there is no such requirement."
Several board members said that their problems with Hussa extend well beyond the organizational flap.
Hussa was the partnership's first director. She was being paid $21,000 annually on a part-time basis.
With Hussa's departure, feelings differ on the impact.
Board member Carthan Currin, general manager of the Comfort Inn in Rocky Mount, said the commitment to revitalization is too strong to be affected.
"The personnel issue is unfortunate," he said. "But what's at stake is too important. I think the future remains bright and I'm going to move forward."
However, County Administrator Macon Sammons, a member of the partnership's advisory committee, said: "Whenever you lose a director of a program, you've got to lose some momentum. I just hope a new person is quickly found to minimize that loss."
The vacancy left by Hussa had a familiar feel to Sammons.
In the past 10 days, assistant county administrator David Laurrell has left to start his new job as Campbell County's administrator; Mary Scott, director of the Smith Mountain Lake Chamber of Commerce/Partnership, has resigned because of a job change by her husband; and Liz Parcell, director of the Smith Mountain Lake Policy Advisory Board, has resigned so she can return to college and get a teaching degree.
Laurrell, Scott and Parcell had become prominent civic fixtures in Franklin County.
"It's not been the best of weeks," Sammons said.
by CNB