ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, July 24, 1996 TAG: 9607240022
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
Montgomery County Supervisor Joe Stewart has a definite opinion of Virginia Tech's offer to hold land on Price Mountain as a conservation area in exchange for 140 acres taken out of a protected zone so the "smart" road could proceed.
"That's the silliest damn thing that's ever come before this board," Stewart said Monday.
Stewart was a vocal opponent of the Virginia Department of Transportation's request to take 140 acres in the Ellett Valley out of a protected conservation zone called an agricultural and forestal district. He came out on the losing end when the request passed 4-3 last month.
The supervisors made that decision without considering a May offer from Tech President Paul Torgersen to treat 140 acres on Price Mountain as a conservation area. Some board members and smart road opponents see the offer as meaningless, because the land - used for forestry research - is almost a de facto conservation area now.
The supervisors voted 6-1 Monday to postpone a decision until more information could be obtained about options. Stewart was the dissenter. "Kill it now and get it over with," he said.
Supervisor Joe Gorman suggested the county should ask Tech to perpetuate the current conservation use of the land. Haley called that a "tremendous idea," which could be handled with an easement.
Another question to be answered is whether any General Assembly approval would be required, because the land is state-owned.
Larry Hincker, Tech's spokesman, said Tuesday that the supervisors need to remember Tech's offer was to mirror the agricultural and forestal district concept. Property owners decide every eight years whether to reapply for the status. Tech's offer was not to give the land over to conservation in perpetuity, Hincker said. Rather, the offer was meant to engage the county in further discussions.
In another matter, by a 5-2 vote the supervisors denied a request by the Montgomery-Floyd Regional Library Board of Trustees to give library employees the same 5 percent salary adjustment that most other county workers will receive beginning this month.
The two Montgomery libraries - the Christiansburg headquarters and the Blacksburg branch - have 45 full- and part-time employees. The library has operated on its own salary plan after declining to participate in a county salary survey several years ago, county officials said.
Karen Dillon, the library's director, said library raises have generally kept pace with the county's over the years.
Board of Supervisors' Chairman Henry Jablonski and other supervisors said they weren't prepared to give the library the same adjustment because the Library Board had used its own pay scale and had reclassified employees to give them better wages in the past, something that wasn't done for other county workers.
Other supervisors also said workers at the Public Service Authority - which operates small public water and sewer systems in the county's unincorporated areas - didn't get the 5 percent pay raise. The authority is set up as a separate entity and its budget didn't allow for the pay raise, PSA officials have said.
All county workers - excluding school employees - are eligible for an average 4.5 percent increase in salary. For this budget year, the supervisors also voted to give an additional 5 percent across-the-board salary adjustment to county employees. The adjustment was made for the second consecutive year because the Board of Supervisors - spurred on by complaints from county employees in late 1994 - has been of concerns about losing employees to surrounding jurisdictions because of better wages.
LENGTH: Medium: 70 linesby CNB