THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 8, 1995 TAG: 9510080044
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY MASON PETERS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HERTFORD LENGTH: Short : 50 lines
On Monday, members of the Northeast North Carolina Economic Development Commission will try to find a new executive director to put the troubled pump-priming panel on a more productive course.
Chairman Jimmy Dixon, an Elizabeth City bottling executive, has promised the 15-member commission that the names of at least six candidates for paid director will be on the table at a special 5 p.m. meeting in the Williamston Holiday Inn.
``Three of the candidates are from North Carolina,'' Dixon said last week. ``All of the candidates have impressive resumes.''
The regular October meeting of the commission will be held at noon in the Currituck County library on Oct. 25, Dixon said, adding that he expects a new director to be formally selected at or before that session.
``We'll have a new director by Nov. 10,'' he said. ``The resumes have gone out to all the members.''
Dixon took over the chairmanship of the economic commission last month at a stressful time that followed the firing of Executive Director James A. Lancaster Jr. from his $58,000-a-year job.
Also fired in the July reorganization was Estelle ``Bunny'' Sanders, who likewise received a $58,000 salary for running the separate tourist division of the commission. Sanders has filed a suit against the commission, charging that the group's closed executive sessions that preceded her dismissal violated the state's open-meetings law.
At the Williamston meeting on Monday, representatives of the Leak-Goforth/Pace Group, a Raleigh economic consulting firm, will describe preliminary plans for a more aggressive development program for the commission. Leak-Goforth/Pace was hired for a $126,000 fee last month to chart a more realistic course for the commission to follow.
The North Carolina General Assembly three years ago created the northeast commission, with five other similar groups across the state, to develop regional business growth. When it was established, the northeast group received over $2 million to spend on pump-priming.
But so far the commission still has unspent money in the bank, and several members have criticized the group's poor performance record.
``I think we can turn things around,'' Dixon said last week. ``I'm confident our performance will justify continued funding from the General Assembly.'' by CNB