THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, November 30, 1995 TAG: 9511300386
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY MASON PETERS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HERTFORD LENGTH: Medium: 93 lines
Alvah Ward Jr., a onetime Manteo ice-plant owner who recently retired as a trusted troubleshooter for Democratic Gov. James B. Hunt Jr., became a surprise candidate Wednesday to be boss of the Northeast Economic Development Commission.
But Jimmy Dixon, a Pasquotank County commissioner who is chairman of the development panel, ran into a roadblock of talky resistance when he moved to hire Ward on the spot at a regular commission meeting in Hertford.
``It was getting late, so we temporarily tabled the idea for the time being,'' said Dixon, ``but it will be brought up again at the December meeting and by then the commissioners will know more about Alvah Ward.''
At his Manteo home, the 66-year old Ward said his ``heart was in economic development, and I'd like to give the commission a year or so if things work out that way.'' Ward retired last year after more than 20 years with the Department of Commerce in Raleigh.
The commission spent most of the afternoon in a closed-door session to discuss a lawsuit that has been filed against it by Estelle ``Bunny'' Sanders, the former tourist director who was fired last summer.
James Lancaster Jr., the former executive director of the commission, was given the gate at the same time, and Dixon and some of the older members of the group want Ward to help straighten out the commission's affairs.
The economic development panel was created in 1992 and given $2 million by the General Assembly to drum up business in the northeastern part of the state. Since then the commission has been the target of critics - including commission members - who say the panel holds a lot of meetings but accomplishes little.
Sanders, in her suit, charges she was the victim of improper closed sessions called to figure out a way to get rid of her.
Her October legal action, filed in Perquimans County Superior Court, said Lancaster was fired at the same time ``to make it look right,'' The commission has frozen all major grants, including several of Sanders' tourist division proposals, until a new agenda is developed.
When Wednesday's closed session ended, Dixon quickly suggested that Ward be hired as interim director. Ward's name didn't ring as many bells as it does in Outer Banks politics, and the tired commissioners debated themselves into a stalemate.
Dixon then put off further action on the proposal until the December meeting.
Ward is widely known in the mid-Atlantic commercial fishing industry because he was for many years the operator of an ice plant in Manteo that supplied the trawler fleet.
``I was born and raised on Roanoke Island, and you don't get any more native than that,'' Ward said.
When he retired, Ward was director of the Business/Industry Division of the Department of Commerce. He then went to Kinston to help promote Hunt's treasured Global Transpark idea. The project under present plans is designed to become a huge cargo aviation hub that will enhance state business all over the world.
``I've talked to Alvah,'' said Dixon on Wednesday, ``and I think we can get him after the first of the year.''
Dixon suggested that Ward might only be willing to work four days a week and suggested the commission offer him $1,500 a month for such part-time services.
``You can run that commission from almost anyplace in the Northeast and that would mean I wouldn't necessarily be in an automobile four hours a day,'' Ward said.
Meanwhile, with a money freeze on, the commission is getting richer on interest paid on the $1,971,647.17 it has stashed in Albemarle banks.
Buck Suiter, an Ahoskie banker who is treasurer of the commission, submitted an accounting for the first four months of the fiscal year that will end next June 32.
The financial report showed mostly petty cash disbursements, and a hefty accumulation of interest payments on the commission's idle cash. Most of the money is in the Centura Bank. Suiter, along with Commissioner Ben Berry, of Elizabeth City, are both officers with Centura.
Earmarked but mostly unspent is $984,000 set aside for several projects that have not yet been formally approved by the commission. The projects include more than a half-million dollars for a group working on new projects, a study of harbor towns around the Albemarle's sounds and rivers, and a study of water resources in the northeast.
Also earmarked is $200,000 to help Dare County put on a Babe Ruth World Series next summer. The baseball competition for teenage players is being developed by Commissioner Ray E. Hollowell of Manteo.
Hollowell did not attend the Wednesday session, but sent a letter to Dixon stating he expected to have a television contract early next year that would put the Babe Ruth players on a national network during the games.
Dixon has previously said that the $200,000 earmarked for the Dare County Babe Ruth World Series would not be disbursed until the commission approves a TV contract. by CNB