Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 20, 1990 TAG: 9006200500
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER MUNICIPAL WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Instead, they prefer that Salem try to negotiate a financial deal that is between $3.6 million and $9.8 million - based on a share of the county's bonded debt - if the county is willing to reopen negotiations.
If the county refuses to accept anything less than $16 million, the residents want Salem to join with them to try to defeat the consolidation plan.
That was the prevailing sentiment Tuesday night at a meeting that attracted more than 250 people who squeezed into the Mason's Cove Elementary School cafeteria.
Mayor James Taliaferro and nearly two dozen other Salem officials got a warm reception at the first of three meetings to get county and Salem residents' views on the proposed financial settlement that would allow most of the Catawba District to become part of Salem.
The second meeting will be Thursday night at the Glenvar Elementary School.
County Supervisor Steve McGraw, who represents the Catawba District, and the other supervisors came in for most of the criticism at the Mason Cove meeting.
McGraw did not attend because he said earlier he did not want to get into "a shouting match" over the proposed financial settlement. He said it was "regrettable that Salem waited until the eleventh hour to get involved" in the consolidation negotiations.
Several county residents accused McGraw of poorly representing the Catawba District. One unidentified speaker drew loud applause when he charged that McGraw failed to represent his constituents on a proposal to establish a landfill on Smith Gap and other issues.
Without mentioning McGraw by name, Taliaferro also disputed McGraw's claim that Salem did not get involved early in the negotiations. Salem has been involved in the consolidation issue since the talks began, he said.
Referring to a change in the county's negotiators, Taliaferro said it's difficult to know who is negotiating for the county.
Taliaferro spent 90 minutes answering the residents' questions about the proposed financial deal and Salem's plans for providing services to most of the Catawba District if it becomes part of the city.
For the most part, the meeting was quiet and orderly with little display of the emotions that have surfaced at many consolidation meetings in the past 18 months.
If the consolidation plan is approved, a second vote will be held to allow the Catawba District residents to decide whether they want to become part of Salem rather than the consolidated government.
Without a financial settlement, a second vote to allow the residents to opt out of the consolidated government would be meaningless.
The meeting was arranged by Salem officials; Charles Landis, a former Roanoke councilman who now lives in Glenvar; and Catawba residents.
Landis opposes the consolidation of the county with Roanoke, but he wants the Catawba area to have the chance to vote on joining Salem if merger is approved.
Landis told the crowd that Salem is at a "crucial point" in the talks with the county and must decide if it will accept the $16 million offer by consolidation negotiators for the county and Roanoke.
In addition to the $16 million price, Salem City Council would also be required to agree to a 25-year moratorium on voluntary petitions for annexation by residents to become part of Salem if consolidation is rejected.
The offer is half the amount that Salem would be required to pay if the consolidation negotiators had stuck with an annexation-type settlement as originally proposed.
But Taliaferro told the crowd that the proposal for the Catawba area to join Salem is not an annexation case and the financial settlement should not be calculated on that basis.
"Salem is not trying to annex anyone, and our position is we don't initiate annexation suits," he said. If the county residents want to join Salem, he said, the city is willing to take them if a financial settlement can be reached.
by CNB