THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, October 31, 1995 TAG: 9510310410
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PERRY PARKS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Medium: 100 lines
City and county officials left a 2-year merger study for dead Monday night.
After a 6-1 vote by the Pasquotank County Commissioners to alter the study's mission, followed by a 5-1 City Council vote to leave the charge intact, County Attorney Ike McRee said he believed the merger commission was no longer valid.
Mayor H. Rick Gardner said he disputed McRee's opinion and would check with the city attorney, but he closed the meeting by saying, ``I think it's probably all over.''
Because the citizen commission to study merger was created by joint, identical resolutions of the city and county, McRee said that one board changing its mind would nullify the original charter.
The county ``has, in essence, ended its participation in the study commission,'' McRee said. He added that he would seek confirmation from the Institute of Government today.
Since it was created in June 1993, the Pasquotank-Elizabeth City Governmental Study Commission has spent well over 1,000 work hours studying how to combine the services of the city and county under a single governing board.
The commission was in its second phase, preparing a merger plan for consideration, after getting the go-ahead from the city and county in March.
But ongoing fear of and opposition to a total merger caught up with officials this month, and county commissioners on Oct. 10 called for a joint city-county meeting to decide whether to let the commission finish its work.
Commissioners said a vast majority of county residents adamantly opposed total merger because they didn't want to get involved with Elizabeth City. They said they wanted the appointed commission to study how to consolidate certain services, but to stop moving toward a unified government.
After a lively and sometimes emotional discussion, during which City Councilman W.L. ``Pete'' Hooker walked out of the meeting in protest, Commissioner Horace Pritchard moved to redirect the merger commission to study only consolidation of services, not government merger.
Commissioner Patsy McGee offered a substitute motion to keep the merger study alive, but it was defeated. She was the only commissioner to vote against changing the merger commission's role.
On the city side, Councilman David Bosomworth's motion to leave the merger commission alone passed by a 5-1 vote. Councilwoman Myrtle Rivers voted no; A.C. Robinson was absent, and Hooker had left.
The votes were preceded by the usual arguments by residents, public officials and merger commission members who had staked out their positions long before and were used to defending them.
Paul A. Bryant of the Alliance to Counteract the City/County Merger presented more than 1,000 signatures asking that the process be stopped; Bill Lehmann reiterated the Elizabeth City Area Chamber of Commerce's support for the study; and merger commission Chairman L.P. ``Tony'' Hornthal Jr. urged officials not to make a decision until the commission had finished its task.
``How can anyone make a reasoned judgment about a report and a plan they have never seen?'' Hornthal asked.
Each elected official made a brief statement before the votes. County Commissioner Chairman Zee Lamb's was the longest, most inclusive, and most explosive.
``This probably is the most difficult issue that any member of the board of commissioners has had to face in a long time,'' Lamb said before summarizing the arguments for and against the merger commission.
Lamb made many points that are frequently discussed among residents in private, but are rarely aired over a microphone.
Lamb said it was ``very clear'' that a vast majority of county residents outside the city opposed merger.
``Does anyone really think that a merger vote has a prayer if we have an election?'' Lamb asked, referring to the referendum that would ultimately have decided whether the governments merged.
Lamb discussed black city residents' concerns that a county board would weaken black voting power, and pointed to the all-white Elizabeth City-Pasquotank Board of Education as an example of why their concerns were valid.
And he suggested that the rules changed on the City Council after a lawsuit cleared the way for black residents to get elected. A longstanding tradition of perks for council members - now an ongoing feud on the council - wasn't an issue before blacks came on the board, Lamb said.
It was that comment that prompted Hooker to leave the meeting. It also prompted uncomfortable shifting among most other council members and an angry response from Mayor Gardner.
``I, as mayor of Elizabeth City, am deeply, deeply opposed to your statement, Mr. Chairman,'' Gardner said. ``I resent you standing here belittling Elizabeth City.''
Lamb concluded that the merger commission had been dividing city and county residents, and blacks and whites.
After the votes, a solemn Tony Hornthal declined to comment. Gardner said he was disappointed.
County Commissioner Hugh Clinkscales, whose concerns primarily led to the meeting Monday, said it was worth losing the consolidation study to get rid of the merger once and for all.
Merger commission Vice Chairman R.L. ``Bobby'' Vaughan said he didn't regret serving on the panel.
````I've learned a great deal. I've developed some new ties,'' Vaughan said. ``I only regret that we can't complete our mission.'' by CNB