ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, April 20, 1996 TAG: 9604230043
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-11 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: PEARISBURG
SOURCE: CLAYTON BRADDOCK STAFF WRITER
If the Giles County Board of Supervisors and the Pearisburg Town Council are to hammer out agreements over the town's attempt to annex parts of the county, it might take a joint meeting to start the process.
The supervisors agreed to such an effort Thursday with a clear understanding it would not be a closed-door meeting.
Board members approved an 8:30 p.m. May 6 meeting, to be in the lower courtroom in the county's administration building.
The board also set a meeting of its own prior to any joint session with the Town Council, to be held earlier the same day.
The supervisors' first steps in the process came Tuesday at a public meeting at Giles County High School attended by 100 people, most annexation opponents. No Town Council members attended.
Though no discussions of agreements spelled out last year by the Commission on Local Government have been put on the table, the commission's report has been examined and debated privately by both parties. However, officials on each side have generally acknowledged three possible scenarios:
Accepting the commission's report with little or no debate
Negotiations between both sides, some of which might occur during closed-door sessions by each side, a joint meeting of both parties and then some serious negotiations.
A court settlement, something that could be adversarial.
The latter could lead to a costly battle over turf and some more vigorous give and take. No one knows which of these three scenarios will be the final one: negotiating table or battleground.
LENGTH: Short : 41 linesby CNB