Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 1, 1990 TAG: 9006010459
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARK LAYMAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
He's been remarkably successful - until recently.
The heated debate over the consolidation of Roanoke and Roanoke County has caused simmering tensions on the Board of Supervisors to boil over.
"Consolidation has them at each other's throats," Hodge said in frustration two weeks ago.
That's never been more evident than it was Tuesday, when what was expected to be a short meeting to review changes in the consolidation plan dragged on more than two hours.
And while the supervisors sparred, Hodge - who usually doesn't hesitate to jump right in during board discussions - sat in silence.
Later, he declined to discuss the meeting.
"It bothers him," Supervisor Steve McGraw said. "He's upset about it."
But McGraw and others on the board said their disagreements over consolidation won't stop them from working together on other issues.
It's not surprising that the supervisors would disregard Hodge and come out swinging on consolidation. It is, after all, "the most emotional and divisive issue any governing body has to face," said Supervisor Lee Eddy, who also was on the Board of Supervisors in 1969, the last time consolidation was put to a vote. "We had some very heated discussions" that year, too, he recalled.
"We've got everything else together," McGraw said. "I don't know any other issue where we get into big arguments. . . . [Consolidation] will be real topical until the referendum on Nov. 6. Then it will be over."
The supervisors have "five distinct opinions" on consolidation, Eddy said. And they are "strong-willed, intelligent individuals who are not reluctant to state how they feel."
Chairman Dick Robers is the strongest supporter of consolidation on the board. Supervisor Harry Nickens is the strongest opponent. The other three fall in between.
McGraw works for a downtown Roanoke real estate firm but represents the mostly rural - and staunchly anti-consolidation - Catawba Magisterial District. He has said he likes the idea of consolidation but has qualms about this particular plan.
Recent changes have softened Eddy's opposition to the plan. "I'm closer to a neutral position than I was," he said this week.
Johnson has said he won't take a public stand on the plan, but will make sure supporters and opponents stick to the facts in their arguments.
The recent tensions on the board stem from the shift in power that resulted from Eddy's defeat of Lee Garrett last fall and the success that Robers, McGraw and Eddy have had in getting Roanoke to agree to changes in the plan - a plan Johnson and Nickens helped negotiate.
The supervisors point out correctly that Tuesday's discussion could have been held behind closed doors. But consolidation is so important that "people need to know how individual board members feel about it," Eddy said.
"If we are going to limit executive sessions, we have to have this frank and open discussion out in public," Robers said. "Sure, there are differences of opinion. It makes for better government. If we agree on every issue, we're not doing the right thing, either.'
Robers said he "would never let this carry over into a personal relationship. It's not my nature - and it's not the nature of the others."
Yet, the debate over consolidation has been punctuated by personality clashes, particularly between McGraw and Johnson.
McGraw said he has no idea why his relationship with Johnson is strained. "He told me once, `I just don't like you,' " McGraw said. But he said he learned a lesson from his public feud with then-Supervisor Alan Brittle in 1985.
"I see Bob Johnson getting very red in the face . . . but I'm not going to get into a screaming match with him like I did with Brittle," McGraw said.
Johnson said he doesn't socialize with any of the other supervisors, and "If McGraw thinks I don't like him, I'm sorry."
He and McGraw are both strong-willed, Johnson said. "If I think he's wrong, I'm not going to let up. . . . [But] to say I've personalized anything - there's nothing farther from the truth."
Robers hasn't indicated that he's too worried about the relationship between McGraw and Johnson, saying, "I think they can work that out. I know in the back rooms they talk to each other."
And whether they like each other, McGraw and Johnson have been allies on many issues over the years, such as funding for schools and human service agencies, and improvements in employee pay and benefits.
by CNB