ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Thursday, November 14, 1996            TAG: 9611140047
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C-1  EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER

CITY WON'T PAY COLLEGE COORDINATOR BECAUSE BUSINESSES WILL PICK UP THE TAB

City Manager Bob Herbert says the city won't pay a dime of taxpayer money toward hiring a former special projects coordinator to spearhead development of a higher education center in Roanoke.

Instead, the money will come from the business community, which has pledged $20,000 toward hiring former city special projects coordinator Brian Wishneff for the job, Herbert wrote in a letter to City Council members Wednesday. Wishneff now works for himself as a private development consultant.

In the letter, Herbert promised to keep council informed on the project - and he apologized for not telling them about it earlier.

The proposed center would allow community college graduates to earn a four-year degree without leaving Roanoke. Some of the colleges interested in developing programs at the center are Mary Baldwin, Virginia Tech, University of Virginia Graduate Center and Radford University.

The city manager wrote that the idea of hiring a higher education center development coordinator was hatched in a late-August meeting attended by Herbert; Mayor David Bowers; state Sen. John Edwards, D-Roanoke; Charles Downs, president of Virginia Western Community College; George Cartledge, who heads Grand Piano & Furniture Co.; Tom Robertson, chief executive officer of Carilion Health System; and Warner Dalhouse, the former chairman of First Union Bank of Virginia.

"The business leaders said they said they would be willing to raise $20,000 from the business community to hire a coordinator for the next six months through the end of the next session of the General Assembly " Herbert wrote. "I never considered the use of tax dollars or the city hiring of Mr. Wishneff."

In August of last year when Wishneff resigned, Herbert said if Wishneff had stayed with the city, Wishneff would have been in charge of such city projects.

The advertisement posted last year seeking applicants for Wishneff's replacement listed developing "new strategies for housing and hiring education" as an example of the special projects coordinator's duties.

Herbert wrote that Deborah Moses, Wishneff's replacement, is serving as the city's liaison to Virginia Western Community College for the project. But she is too busy with other projects to coordinate development of the center.

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