Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 27, 1990 TAG: 9006270353
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARK LAYMAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
McGraw said Salem Mayor James Taliaferro misled residents about county finances, the General Assembly's Grayson Commission and capital projects such as the Spring Hollow Reservoir and the new regional landfill.
"I would never accuse the mayor of Salem of lying," McGraw said. "But I would say that . . . I would expect the truth and the facts" from him.
He called on Taliaferro to apologize to county residents and to correct the "misrepresentations" and "half-truths."
McGraw did not attend the meetings last week, which were held to get the views of Catawba Magisterial District residents on a proposal to allow them to become part of Salem if Roanoke and Roanoke County consolidate. McGraw represents the Catawba district.
But he said he had seen news reports of the meetings and had talked to county employees who attended.
And he said it appeared that Salem was trying to encourage those residents to seek annexation into the city if the consolidation referendum fails this fall.
At Tuesday's Board of Supervisors meeting, McGraw couldn't get a majority to go along with his suggestion that the county formally ask for an apology and a correction from Salem.
"Nobody's going to apologize to anybody," Supervisor Bob Johnson said. McGraw's comments will only heighten the tension between the valley localities over consolidation, which is "dead as the proverbial doornail" anyway, he said.
Supervisor Lee Eddy, who attended the meeting in Glenvar, said Salem wasn't trying to be "deceptive" but simply had incomplete information. It is important to set the record straight, "but I'd like to avoid a confrontation" with Salem, he said.
Chairman Dick Robers went along with McGraw's suggestion, which failed on a tie vote. Supervisor Harry Nickens was absent.
Rather than formally requesting an apology from Salem, the supervisors decided to publish a rejoinder in Roanoke County Today, the county's monthly newspaper.
And they told County Administrator Elmer Hodge to make sure officials in Salem, Roanoke and Vinton got copies of a memorandum he wrote Monday that answered questions Taliaferro raised about county taxes and debt.
That memorandum, Robers said earlier, showed the county is in "excellent financial shape."
Told of the supervisors' comments Tuesday, Taliaferro said he stood by the information given out at last week's meetings. The tax information was taken from the county's budget and the state department of taxation.
"The questions that were asked of us we attempted to answer . . . if you take it all and add it all up, we feel it's cheaper to live in Salem than in the county. They might feel differently."
Taliaferro said there was "a little bit of supervisor bashing" at the meetings "but we didn't participate in it or encourage it."
He said he told residents that any voluntary annexation suit "is very costly and it's doubtful they could do it." He also said it appears the majority of county resident want to stay in the county and don't want a change.
Also on Tuesday, the supervisors:
Approved spending $168,000 over the next year to remove leachate from the old Dixie Caverns landfill.
As required by the state Water Control Board, the county has built a pond to collect the leachate, which is rainwater that has seeped through buried garbage.
The $168,000 will pay for equipment rental, labor and hauling the leachate to a public sewer. There are no sewer lines at the landfill.
The leachate, which had polluted a small stream, does not come from the same part of the landfill that the county has been cleaning up under orders from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The cleanup of that part of the landfill began two summers ago with the removal of paint sludge, tires and chemical barrels. County Attorney Paul Mahoney said the EPA and the state Department of Waste Management still haven't agreed on how an estimated 9,000 cubic yards of steel furnace fly ash should be disposed of.
Work is under way on what the EPA calls a "remedial investigation and feasibility study" of that part of the landfill to determine if any contaminants remain in the soil, water or air. A preliminary report should be ready this summer, Mahoney said.
Also this summer, the county will begin to file suits against companies that dumped potentially toxic waste at the landfill, he said.
Approved spending $10,000 for the first phase of a study of county government by the University of Virginia's Center for Public Service. The study will look at how well county employees use their resources, communicate and cooperate.
Congratulated county Treasurer Fred Anderson for being one of three local government treasurers in the state to be certified as a Professional Governmental Treasurer by UVa's Center for Public Service. Anderson helped start the certification program for city and county treasurers.
by CNB