DATE: Tuesday, May 6, 1997                  TAG: 9705060255

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: By MASON PETERS, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY                    LENGTH:   44 lines

PASQUOTANK VOTES TO QUIT ALBEMARLE COMMISSION

Pasquotank County commissioners Monday dissolved the county's membership in the troubled Albemarle Commission.

They also urged the nine other counties in the commission to find ``that it is in the public's interest to . . . repeal the resolution creating the Albemarle Commission.''

Dare County commissioners, saying they were unwilling to continue financial support of the agency, voted unanimously to dissolve the commission Monday afternoon, and Currituck County commissioners were expected Monday night to vote on pulling out of the organization that began functioning in 1970 as a unified agency to help the area grow.

All of the counties in the commission are expected to act this week on repealing the local statutes that created the commission.

Almost since its creation, the organization has been plagued with management problems, mostly concerning financial matters.

When Horace Pritchard Sr., chairman of the Pasquotank County board, presented the resolution ``modifying and repealing resolutions creating the regional planning and economic development commission known as the AlbemarleCommission,'' his colleagues quickly voted approval.

Pasquotank County Attorney Donald I. McRee Jr. told the board that statutes give the counties authority to wind up the Albemarle Commission's affairs. However, a local government agency will have to determine whether local grant money will have to be returned to granting agencies.

McRee told the board members that in his opinion the statutes conveyed adequate authority to the county board to dissolve the Albemarle Commission.

The other seven counties in the Albemarle Commission are Camden, Chowan, Gates, Hyde, Perquimans, Tyrrell and Washington.

In recent years, another pump-priming organization, the Northeast Economic Commission/Partnership has been urged to take over some of the activities of the Albemarle Commission.

The Partnership, chaired by Pasquotank Commissioner Jimmy Dixon, is funded by the General Assembly and has not been troubled with the kind of administrative problems that have vexed the Albemarle Commission over the years.

Dare County Manager Terry Wheeler told commissioners that the time has come to ``wipe the slate clean.''

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