THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 10, 1995 TAG: 9509100061
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PERRY PARKS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines
All has been quiet on the volatile Elizabeth City-Pasquotank County merger front for months, but there have been subtle movements behind the lines.
Since the city and county governments approved further study of how they might combine, the committee pursuing the concept has been regrouping, consulting with lawyers and forming a massive ``advisory committee'' to keep the process open.
Behind-the-scenes maneuvering will reach a public crescendo at 7:30 p.m. Monday, when the advisory committee is scheduled to meet at the K.E. White Graduate Center with a group looking into how a combined governing board would be organized.
``We're going to try to get cranked up and move forward Monday night,'' said L.P. ``Tony'' Hornthal Jr., who has chaired the Pasquotank-Elizabeth City Governmental Study Commission since its inception two years ago.
Although there has been little public discussion of the merger study since its second phase was approved March 15, the issue continues to simmer among its opponents.
One of five City Council candidates in contested races this year, Paul A. Bryant of the 1st Ward, has said he entered the race primarily to oppose the merger study.
Bryant is one of several black community leaders who say merging the city and county governments would dilute black voting power in the county. Blacks compose a majority of the city population and make up half of the eight regular voting members of the City Council. Blacks make up roughly one-third of the registered voters in the county overall, and hold one of seven seats on the county board.
Concern over voting representation is one of two main political hurdles facing the commission as it prepares an implementation plan for merging the governments. The other is fear among some county residents that their taxes could go up to subsidize city services.
Both factions made their opinions known in March before the city and county voted to proceed with the second phase of study in the merger plan.
Hornthal has repeatedly told opponents that taxes would not be raised unfairly under a merged government and that a new governing structure would need widespread support to survive.
A merger would require further approval by the elected city and county boards, approval of the U.S. Justice Department and the passage of a countywide referendum.
``Always, the commissioners and the council have a right to reject what we do,'' Hornthal said last week. ``And even if they pass it, the people have a right to reject it.''
That's why the commission organized a 46-member advisory board that includes members of both races and both parties, Hornthal said, ``leaving no stone unturned to assure that we were going to give every person the opportunity to serve on this who wanted to.''
Among the black leaders on the board are the Pasquotank County NAACP, Raymond Rivers, and the director of the Hugh Cale Community Center, Shirley Simpson.
``People have been appointed . . . who have already expressed opposition to the process, and that's fine,'' said Hornthal. ``We've got a lot of good people who have agreed to serve.''
The commission's first phase of work ended in December when the group concluded that a merger was both ``feasible'' and ``advisable'' after a year of study and asked permission to prepare an implementation plan.
Forming that plan is the task currently before the committee. Members will have to find specific ways to combine such services as police, fire and utilities.
The most sensitive issue will be outlining a new governing board and creating voting districts. The commission has hired a Raleigh attorney with expertise in government and elections to help out.
One of the dignitaries on the advisory committee list, retired 1st District state Rep. Vernon G. James, said he plans to attend Monday's meeting to learn more about the merger process.
``I think it's a good thing to have an advisory board so that a lot of people will have more information about it than they have now,'' James said. ``I really don't know a lot about it. . . . I'd like to know more about what are the benefits and what are the negatives, if any.''
Hornthal last week dispelled any thoughts of the commission's work dying out, despite the loss of five original committee members, including Steve Gabriel - the respected Public Safety Subcommittee chairman - and the staff liaison from the Albemarle Commission, who kept the merger commission's data and records.
``We are determined,'' Hornthal said. ``We're going to complete our work. We may not be able to complete it as soon as we had hoped.''
``It may be assumed that this process is going to go away,'' he said. ``But if it goes away, it's going to be because the people tell us they don't want it, not because somebody quit.'' by CNB