ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, March 24, 1996 TAG: 9603250005
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-16 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
Administrator seeks minute meetings
WYTHEVILLE - Wythe County Administrator Bill Branson has hired an attorney to seek two sets of Board of Supervisor minutes from meetings he suggests were illegal.
The current board chairman agreed last week that the meetings were not advertised to the public as required by state law.
Originally, Branson had asked for the minutes of a Jan. 15 work session called by then-Chairman Mark Munsey in the office where Munsey works. Branson, who is retiring as administrator in September after 19 years on the job, has said it was at that meeting where the board decided to oust him.
Now, Branson is also requesting the minutes of a similar Dec. 11 meeting called by Munsey.
Munsey has already said that no minutes were taken and no recordings of the meetings were made. He said the only written notes he took were individual names of people for possible committee assignments, which he read at the regular Jan. 16 board meeting.
At its meeting last week, the board voted to have a search committee appointed for candidates to succeed Branson.
Supervisor Charles Dix, who succeeded Munsey as board chairman, said questions about the meetings called by Munsey should be directed to Munsey and not to him.
Dix promised to hold future meetings in accordance with laws governing them and apologized for the Jan. 15 gathering when "county business was conducted in an unadvertised meeting."
County wants study on jail feasibility
WYTHEVILLE - Wythe County will advertise for proposals on a feasibility study on how to replace its 70-year-old overcrowded jail.
The job will include looking at various options such as building onto the existing jail, consolidating a new jail with a new courthouse, seeking a new separate location for a jail, or joining the New River Valley Regional Jail Authority, which is planning a jail serving four localities in Pulaski County.
Community colleges join forces in project
ABINGDON - Virginia Highlands Community College in Abingdon and Wytheville Community College will combine their resources to tackle literacy, academic, life and employment skills issues of the work force in their two service areas.
Paul R. Parker, employee development director at the Wytheville college, will administer the joint Employee Development Program under which the two colleges will market adult education programs to business and industry; assess workplace literacy education and training needs, and help arrange education and training programs such as computer skills, international marketing standards and total quality management.
Wytheville Community College President William F. Snyder said the service to business and industrial communities had been major emphases at both colleges. "We both recognize the need to pool our resources and strengths to help educate our citizens for the jobs of today and tomorrow," said Virginia Highlands President F. David Wilkin.
Wythe County to end school year June 13
WYTHEVILLE - Wythe County will end its school year by June 13, no matter what.
The School Board is seeking a waiver from the state limiting the number of days lost to weather that must be made up, or using several days of "banked time" accumulated by having school days run slightly longer than the minimum state requirement. The state requires at least 990 hours of instruction per year, and Wythe exceeds that.
The board will also seek a state waiver to allow Wythe schools to open before Labor Day at the start of the 1996-97 year.
It set graduation dates for June 7 at Rural Retreat High School, June 8 at Fort Chiswell, and June 9 at George Wythe.
Official suggests city-county 911 center
WYTHEVILLE - A Wythe County supervisor wants to consolidate the future 911 emergency communication center with one that already exists in the town of Wytheville.
Supervisor Bucky Sharitz said that would save tax revenue and cut in half the number of employees needed for the center. He made the proposal at last week's county Board of Supervisors meeting, and it will be considered as the county prepares its 1996-97 budget.
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