THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 8, 1995 TAG: 9509080486
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANCIE LATOUR, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
The city attorney has concluded that Chesapeake must hold its first School Board election on Dec. 19, the earliest possible date, according to state election guidelines.
In a legal opinion prepared Wednesday for City Registrar Virginia W. Garrett, City Attorney Ronald S. Hallman also named the five School Board members he concluded would have to give up their appointed seats first: L. Thomas Bray, Barbara B. Head, Lynn K. Pierce, James M. Reeves and Roderic Taylor.
On Thursday, copies of Hallman's findings were sent to the mayor and City Council members, as well as to top city and school officials.
In his memo, Hallman cautioned city officials that the Attorney General, State Board of Elections and Circuit Court would have to confirm his interpretation of the law before the City Council can approve the date.
In his rationale for a vote Dec. 19, Hallman found that Chesapeake was bound to a special law it asked the General Assembly to enact in its January 1994 session.
When the U.S. Justice Department rejected Chesapeake's request to hold an at-large election, the city asked the legislature to pass a law that would allow the city to hold elections as soon as possible once a voting method passed federal muster.
The law, Hallman wrote, requires that the election be held on the first Tuesday that is at least 90 days after the clearance is granted by the federal government.
That clearance came Aug. 28 when the Justice Department reversed itself and lifted its objections to electing a School Board at-large.
The special law, Hallman noted, also dictates that the election must occur at least 35 days after a primary or general election.
Tuesday, Dec. 19, was the date that fit both the criteria, Hallman found.
For at least three City Council members, that date is much too soon.
``I don't like it,'' said council member Peter P. Duda, Jr. ``It's awfully quick. . . You have to get time to get your stuff together, they have to raise funds, get their campaigns going, and get their materials out there.''
Duda, a council liaison with the School Board, said he would rather support all five incumbents than see a potentially dramatic change in the makeup of the School Board.
``This is basically saying that by May, you could have nine board members on there not knowing squat and wanting to change everything around. I'm not for that.''
He also said the date, which falls a week before Christmas, could mean few voters would go to the polls.
In an interview before he received Hallman's opinion, Mayor William E. Ward said an early election would leave little time for citizens to evaluate the candidates intelligently, and might discourage qualified potential candidates from running because they lack money or name recognition.
``We need to give citizens as much time as possible,'' Ward said Tuesday, ``and give as many people as possible the opportunity to come forward and present themselves in order to have the best School Board we can.''
In deciding how many members, and which members, would have to give up their seats first, Hallman again referred to the special state law, which he said was written with May, 1994, School Board elections in mind.
If those elections had not been obstructed by the Justice Department, Hallman said, five School Board positions would have been filled. As required by other state laws, the city had put five positions up for election to match the five City Council seats filled that May.
The terms of Bray, Head, Pierce, Reeves and Taylor are the first to expire, so they would be the first required to relinquish their seats, Hallman wrote.
KEYWORDS: CHESAPEAKE SCHOOLS CHESAPEAKE SCHOOL BOARD by CNB