ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, February 4, 1997 TAG: 9702040068
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: RADFORD
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE STAFF WRITER
Gravel got in the craw of School Board Chairman Chip Craig last week.
Gravel, that is, suggested by City Council member Polly Corn to fill a buckling parking lot behind the School Board office. The lot holds school buses and has been in need of repair for months. Each time it snows, Craig said, a piece of the lot comes up with the shovels.
The School Board planned to repave the lot with leftover money used to build classroom additions to the four schools in the city. Of the $1.5 million allocated by City Council, the board planned to use the remaining $1.3 million for roof replacements, classroom equipment and new test materials.
The last request, for $13,982, was to repave the lot.
When it first reviewed the building improvement requests, council unanimously supported it. But last week, at the suggestion of Corn, the council took out the lot repavement and passed the request in a 4 to 1 vote.
Craig complained Thursday that no one from the schools was told that the issue might be discussed again.
"If my tone sounds like I'm a little hot about this, I am," he said.
Councilman Dave Worrell voted against the change, saying he'd seen the lot himself and agreed it needed major improvements. Corn said she hadn't examined the lot, but even if she had, "I still would have said to put some gravel down," she said.
"My feeling was we have needs for a lot of things, and though $13,000 doesn't sound like a lot of money, it's a lot when people come in asking for $2,000 to help with homeless people or something," she said. "It's a matter of priorities."
Meanwhile, it did approve a budget for next year, without the lot repaving. The School Board plans to speak to City Council in February.
The School Board approved a $9.2 million budget request, or an 8.2 percent increase over last year's budget. Included is $500,000 in new money for items such as a 4.5 percent salary increase for employees, new computers and computer software. The budget now goes on to council for consideration.
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