THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 29, 1995 TAG: 9511290411
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PERRY PARKS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines
In less than an hour Tuesday night, the City Council hired a new city manager and voted to keep its second fire station downtown.
Steven Harrell, 40, who is completing a decade of work as the manager of Clinton, S.C., population 9,600, was named to run this city of about 17,000.
Harrell was the second of only two candidates interviewed for the position. Council members said they were so impressed after they talked to him Nov. 21 that they decided to end the search and hire him. They had earlier planned to interview two other applicants.
``He met all of our criteria, plus,'' Mayor H. Rick Gardner said after the special meeting. ``So we were very happy.''
The council, on a 5-3 vote, decided to keep the new fire station on the same Elizabeth Street site as the deteriorating old station that was deemed unsafe for use more than a year ago.
Councilman Lloyd Griffin, who has battled tooth and nail to keep the station downtown in the face of repeated warnings that the site is inadequate, made the motion Tuesday.
``I fought for what my people downtown asked for, people in the 1st Ward,'' Griffin said after the meeting.
Under his motion, the council's Public Safety Committee will meet with the fire chief to decide what to do with the site and bring recommendations to the full council.
Joining Griffin in the vote were council members Jimi Sutton, Anita Hummer, A.C. Robinson and Myrtle Rivers. Opposing were Dorothy Stallings, W.L. ``Pete'' Hooker and David P. Bosomworth. For Hooker and Bosomworth, stepping down when their terms end Monday, it was probably the last formal vote.
The motion ended a meandering, months-long discussion over where to locate the city's second fire station. In the meantime, all firefighters have been stationed in a single building on Halstead Street that is too small for them.
The council appeared to have chosen city property on Knobbs Creek Drive north of downtown when they rezoned the property for a fire station this spring. But in August, Griffin, Hummer and others began talking about keeping the station downtown.
Architects, engineers and Fire Chief Tedd Melvin have all said the Elizabeth Street site should be abandoned. Gardner again implored the council to do just that Tuesday night.
``The council,'' Gardner said after the vote, ``has made a very, very grave error on this matter.''
Because the council was so divided on the fire station issue, Bosomworth said he wanted to emphasize how united the board was on the new city manager.
``He's an impressive person,'' Bosomworth said. ``Council is 100 percent behind this guy.''
Reached at his home in Clinton Tuesday night, Harrell said he looked forward to starting his job Jan. 15.
``I'm very excited about coming to Elizabeth City,'' Harrell said. ``My wife and I are both North Carolinians, and we had ambitions someday to get back up into the Tar Heel state.''
Harrell's family hails from Sunbury, he said. His wife, Gloria, has family members in Clinton, N.C. - the town where Elizabeth City's last manager, Ralph Clark, went to work when he resigned in the spring.
The Harrells have children ages 8, 5 and 1.
Harrell has a master's degree in public administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has worked in Goldsboro, managed the town of Benson, N.C., served as government liaison for Raleigh's Chamber of Commerce, and managed Clinton, S.C., for the last 10 years.
Clinton has a publicly administered electric system, as does Elizabeth City.
Harrell said he likes Elizabeth City's location near the Outer Banks and South Hampton Roads.
``Elizabeth City is just a very picturesque little town,'' Harrell said. ``I am really excited about doing some waterfront projects.''
Harrell said he's also looking forward to helping the city move into a new administrative building and finish a $24 million overhaul of its water and sewer system.
His first action, he said, will be getting to know the needs and wishes of the council and the city's department heads.
``My initial interview and meeting with the council went very well,'' Harrell said. ``I thought there was some good chemistry there.'' by CNB