ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, February 12, 1997 TAG: 9702120055
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-10 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: PULASKI
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
Joe Weddle, Pulaski Division superintendent with American Electric Power Co. where he has worked for 22 years, became the newest member of Pulaski Town Council on Tuesday.
He was appointed to fill the unexpired council term of John Johnston, who was elevated to mayor last week following the resignation of Mayor Andy Graham for health reasons.
Johnston's council term runs through mid-2000.
Council met for some 45 minutes in closed session at a special meeting starting at 7 a.m. before emerging to name Weddle to the seat. The closed session was for personnel and legal matters.
Weddle was out of town Tuesday at a meeting in Wytheville.
He had run unsuccessfully for council in 1992, having become interested in local government after serving on the town's Planning Commission since 1987.
Weddle is a Pulaski native. He graduated from Virginia Tech in 1969 with a degree in electrical engineering and earned an associate degree in business administration from New River Community College in 1987.
When he ran for council five years ago, he said he would keep an open mind on citizens' concerns brought before council. As a registered professional engineer, he said, he would be familiar with council matters involving utilities and public works, and his business education would help on town budget matters.
Weddle also served on the town's Board of Economic Development, representing the Planning Commission when he was named to the board in 1995. He has also served on a business-education partnership committee and a school construction needs study committee for the Pulaski County school system.
After adjourning the council meeting, the council members met as a committee to consider Columbia Pulaski Community Hospital's desire for a second detached sign. At its current site, zoned R-1 and R-0 residential, only one detached sign is permitted. The proposed sign is also larger than signs allowable in those zones.
The committee will recommend at Tuesday's council meeting that the governing body refer the matter to the Planning Commission, to suggest whether to create a new Medical Arts zone that could accommodate the sign or to change the R-0 zoning requirements to allow conditional use permits for them.
"There's some validity to a Medical Arts district," said Town Engineer John Hawley. "I think that's a recruiting tool for the town." But it will take longer to get approval for the hospital's new sign that way, he said.
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