Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 3, 1990 TAG: 9004030452
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A3 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER MUNICIPAL WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The county would be assured of six seats on an 11-member board that would be created to oversee a joint school system.
Council agreed to expand the school board for the proposed Roanoke Metropolitan Government from nine to 11 members, as three county supervisors had requested.
The city even went one step beyond what county Supervisors Dick Robers, Lee Eddy and Steve McGraw wanted. The supervisors had requested that the school board be expanded to 10 members with an equal number from the city and county, with a court-appointed tie-breaker.
Under the earlier plan, the school board would have had nine members - five from the city and four from the county. The board members would have been appointed by voting districts, with one from each of the nine districts in a consolidated government.
Because of that, some county residents feared that the school board would be dominated by the city because five districts would be created in the city and four in the county.
In the revised plan, the voting districts would remain the same and nine board members would still be appointed by districts.
But there would be two additional members: one to be appointed from Vinton, and a second to be appointed from the locality having the largest school enrollment Feb. 28, 1990, the date the consolidation agreement was signed. The county had a larger enrollment on that date, so the additional member would come from the former county.
Vinton would keep its school board seat on a permanent basis because it would be part of the consolidated government, said Roanoke Vice Mayor Beverly Fitzpatrick Jr.
The school enrollment would be reviewed after four years, and if the former county area continued to have the larger enrollment as expected, it would keep the additional board seat, he said.
Fitzpatrick said the change will have to be approved by the Board of Supervisors. City and county officials hope to obtain approval from the General Assembly to change the charter for the consolidated government during a one-day legislative veto session later this month.
The city agreed to go beyond what the three supervisors requested, Fitzpatrick said, because the city's consolidation negotiators believe that anyone who is going to vote on school issues should be a board member, not just a tie breaker.
Councilman Howard Musser said the city had pressed for an 11-member board during the consolidation negotiations, but the county had rejected the proposal.
Robers said he was pleased by the city's decision.
This change "really works to the benefit of Roanoke County," he said. "I think [schools] was the No. 1 issue raised at the citizen workshops."
Robers said that Fitzpatrick and Musser, the city's negotiators, "were very open to any suggestions" made by the county. "We had a very congenial meeting and were able to come to an agreement" last week, he said, but it was not announced then because city and county officials needed to get assurance from lawyers that this was legal.
Supervisors Bob Johnson and Harry Nickens have been the county's consolidation negotiators. Johnson and Nickens opposed efforts by Robers and two other supervisors to seek changes in the plan that was approved earlier by both City Council and the Board of Supervisors, because they doubted that the city would agree to changes.
Nickens said Monday the school board change will be favorable to county citizens who have concerns about the school system in a consolidated government.
But Nickens said the change might also be seen as the city trying to buy the county's support for consolidation "for 10 pieces of silver." He suggested that it was "another Band-Aid to try to salvage the plan."
Fitzpatrick said the city's negotiators will discuss other changes sought by Robers, Eddy and McGraw later because they do not require a change in the charter for the consolidated government.
The other proposed changes are:
That residents of Mason Cove, Bennett Springs and the Catawba Valley be given the chance to become part of Salem if the consolidation plan is approved. Now, only residents who live west of Virginia 311 and between Fort Lewis Mountain and Poor Mountain would get that chance and only if a financial settlement with Salem is approved.
That residents of subdivisions along Virginia 24 and Hardy Road in East Roanoke County get a chance to vote on whether to become part of the town of Vinton if the consolidation plan is approved. Now the plan allows Vinton to expand its boundary to include those subdivisions without a vote.
That current city-county boundary lines not be used for the "urban" and "suburban" service districts in the consolidated government. The urban tax district would carry a higher real estate tax rate.
Staff writer Mark Layman contributed to this story.
by CNB