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

DATE: THURSDAY, October 26, 1995                   TAG: 9510260037
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-10   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI                                LENGTH: Medium

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT SPECIALIST JOB MAY BE MADE PERMANENT

Pulaski Town Council is likely to make permanent the position of economic development specialist.

The town's Human Resources Committee voted Wednesday to recommend that the position, which has been a temporary one, be made permanent and that advertisements and interviews for the post be carried out as quickly as possible.

Council's next regular meeting will be Nov. 21.

The temporary position is being filled by Keith Stafford, who acted as an assistant to Roscoe Cox, former economic development director, and now is assistant to Barry Matherly, the current director.

Councilwoman Alma Holston said she would prefer offering the position to Stafford, but Town Manager Tom Combiths and Town Attorney Frank Terwilliger said the town's policies require that recruiting procedures be carried out.

Combiths said Stafford could still be chosen for the job, but there has been interest expressed from outside the town.

The salary range will be $19,492 to $29,238.

In other business, Councilman Eddie Hale asked Matherly whether the Economic Development Board has taken on the project of restoring the Pulaski Theatre. Matherly said that has not happened so far.

The Friends of the Pulaski Theatre, a group organized to seek funding for restoring the former downtown movie theater as a community and performing arts center, is Pulaski County's designated agent for the project. The building was donated to the county when it closed as a movie house several years ago.

The Friends group recently approached the Economic Development Board's Development Committee to look into the status of the project. Matherly said the board has told the committee that, if it was to take on the theater project itself, it would have to develop the necessary research and planning for it "and so far that hasn't happened."

Several groups have urged the establishment of a movie theater in Pulaski to give young people a place to go. The Pulaski Theatre was the only movie house left in town when it closed.

by CNB