ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, January 17, 1996 TAG: 9601170076
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
Calling an end to a two-month stalemate between Democrats and Republicans, Roanoke City Council on Tuesday appointed Dr. Wendell Butler to fill the council seat vacated last year by state Sen. John Edwards.
The part-time dentist and former councilman and School Board chairman will assume the empty seat at council's next meeting, Feb. 5.
Butler, 71, a Democrat, was not present for the nighttime vote. From his home afterward, he said his first order of business would be to meet with City Manager Bob Herbert.
"I feel good that I'm able to serve the city of Roanoke once again as a councilman," Butler said. "I hope I'll have a positive influence."
When rumors of his impending appointment surfaced early this month, Butler said he had no interest in running for the two years left in Edwards' unexpired term.
That proffer proved to be the icebreaker in the stalemate. Council's three Republicans - Jack Parrott, Mac McCadden and Elizabeth Bowles - held out for a "caretaker" replacement who wouldn't use the appointment as an edge in the special May election to fill Edwards' seat.
Democrats on council - Mayor David Bowers, Linda Wyatt and William White - wanted a replacement who was free to run again. But their first choice, city School Board Chairman Nelson Harris, withdrew from the running after the Republicans wouldn't budge.
On Jan. 2, the Democrats shot down a Republican attempt to appoint former Councilman Robert Garland, a Republican.
Despite Butler's appointment, the bitter taste of the partisan dispute over Edwards' replacement was still in the mouths of some council members.
Citing the disagreement, McCadden said the city would be better served if all council elections were nonpartisan.
"In this way, citizens will have the opportunity to elect the best person able to set the direction of the city rather than worry about what party a candidate is affiliated with. ... I believe wholeheartedly that our city would be in a much better position if the word Democrat or Republican were not after the name of each of us on a ballot," McCadden said.
McCadden's motion to refer the question to the city attorney passed, 3-2, with Bowers and Parrott siding with him.
White and Wyatt voted no. Bowles was absent.
City Attorney Wilburn Dibling said after the vote that it would take a change in the city's charter by the General Assembly to make elections nonpartisan. At the earliest, that could be accomplished next year, meaning it wouldn't take effect until the 1998 council elections.
In another matter, council delayed action on a bid by the Episcopal Diocese of Southwest Virginia to demolish two homes in a residential historic district. The diocese wants to expand its offices on First Street Southwest.
The application for demolition is opposed by Old Southwest Inc., a neighborhood preservation group. The delay came after Bishop Heath Light said the diocese is working on a compromise that would allow the buildings to be moved rather than razed.
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