ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, October 23, 1996 TAG: 9610230081
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHRISTINA NUCKOLS STAFF WRITER
Roanoke County supervisors gave their sheriff $20,000 Tuesday for a lawsuit aimed at winning back five jail workers and court bailiffs cut this year by state officials.
Sheriff Gerald Holt said he hopes to hire Gregory Haley - an attorney with Gentry, Locke, Rakes & Moore - to represent both the Sheriff's Office and the county in the suit. Haley helped Montgomery County regain four positions lost to similar state cuts this year. In that case, state officials backed down and reinstated money for the four jobs before the suit went to trial.
Under Virginia law, Holt must sue both the state and the county because money is distributed through local governments for sheriff's department staff. That means the county will technically be an opponent even though it is sympathetic to Holt's cause. Holt said he believes Haley can represent both the Sheriff's Office and the county, but that issue has not yet been tested in court.
The state Board of Compensation, which determines staffing levels for sheriffs' offices throughout Virginia, ruled this spring that Roanoke County would have to cut five of the 78 positions from the Sheriff's Office. It stopped paying for two jail workers July 1. Holt said one position was vacant at the time, and county supervisors covered funding for the second job until an employee retired recently. Three bailiff jobs will be eliminated through attrition, Holt said.
Holt appealed the state's decision in July, and his appeal was denied earlier this month. The sheriff is arguing that state officials based the cuts on the county jail's inmate population for only one quarter of last year. If the state had looked at the full year, the average daily inmate population actually rose from 138 for the 1994-95 fiscal year to 141 for the year ending July 1. So far this year, the average number of inmates at the jail has been 147. The jail was built to hold 100 inmates, Holt said.
Holt said the number of court bailiffs also was reduced because the General Assembly provided money to have security present only in circuit and the criminal division of general district courts. He said the greatest need for security actually exists in Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court.
Also Tuesday, supervisors took the following actions:
* Approved a $13.1 million bond issue for the county's portion of a regional sewage treatment plant. The county signed an agreement two years ago with the cities of Roanoke and Salem, the town of Vinton and Botetourt County to build the plant, which will cost a total of $49.2 million.
* Scheduled a Nov. 19 public hearing on a proposal to take a 1-acre tract on U.S. 460 in Glenvar by eminent domain. County officials want to build a road across the land for access to an industrial site. County Attorney Paul Mahoney said the potential industry involved has not been disclosed.
* Denied a rezoning request that would have allowed construction of an inn offering efficiency suites on U.S. 460 east of Roanoke. Supervisors said they didn't like plans to put the inn on top of a hill, making it more visible to adjacent homeowners as well as members attending the nearby Villa Heights Baptist Church.
* Instructed Mahoney to seek outside counsel to represent the county in a lawsuit against the Roanoke Moose Lodge for its failure to pay a public admissions tax for bingo games.
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