Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, July 6, 1990                   TAG: 9007060719
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: MARK LAYMAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

VINTON `MAJOR PLAYER' IN MERGER TALKS, JOHNSON SAYS

Johnson, who was the county's chief consolidation negotiator until this spring, said Vinton was, in fact, "a major player" in the talks.

Johnson said Hill and Town Manager George Nester "were there advocating the best interests of the town." There's nothing wrong with that, he said. "It's just that after they've done it, they shouldn't apologize for it."

Hill told six east Roanoke County residents who attended Tuesday's Town Council meeting that he and Nester weren't allowed to attend some of the bargaining sessions, which were held at the Roanoke Regional Airport. "We can't tell you what went on . . . but George and I can tell you a lot about the airplanes that land there. We spent a lot of time looking out the windows."

Johnson remembers it differently.

"If the perception is that they sat there and counted airplanes while Vinton was discussed, that's just not true. . . . If there was anybody watching airplanes, it was the media," who were barred from the talks but were briefed by negotiators afterward.

The negotiators did have some private sessions, without Hill and Nester, to discuss proposals regarding expansion of Vinton's boundaries, Johnson said. "But then we'd come back out and discuss that with them."

And Roanoke City Councilman Howard Musser, one of the city's consolidation negotiators, pointed out that Vinton officials signed the section of the plan that deals with expansion of the town's boundaries.

Under the plan, the town would be allowed to expand its boundary east to the Botetourt and Bedford County lines, taking in the subdivisions along Virginia 24 and Hardy Road.

Hundreds of county residents who don't like that idea have signed petitions asking for the chance to vote on whether to become part of the town. A three-person majority on the county Board of Supervisors agrees with them.

Representatives of Roanoke, Roanoke County and Vinton met for three hours late in May to discuss changing the plan to give those residents the chance to vote. But afterward, Musser said no change would be made.

At the time, Musser opposed the change. Over the next two weeks, though, he thought about it some more and decided the east county residents were right. And he wrote a letter to Vinton Town Council asking that the change be reconsidered.

But in his reply, Hill said the parts of the plan that affect Vinton "should remain in place."

Any changes in the plan are the responsibility of the city and county, Hill said. But Vinton would insist that the plan be renegotiated if there are any changes that affect the town, he said.

Hill elaborated on that Thursday. "You have a total package here. You can't pick and choose one item [to change] without adversely affecting the entire agreement."

On that, he and Johnson agree. "Everything [in the plan] was tied together," Johnson said. The plan "shouldn't be picked apart."

However, Johnson is in the minority on the Board of Supervisors on that issue. He and Supervisor Harry Nickens, the county's other negotiator through most of the consolidation talks, oppose changes in the plan. Chairman Dick Robers and Supervisors Steve McGraw and Lee Eddy favor certain changes, including giving those east county residents the chance to vote on whether to become part of the town.

Musser said Thursday that he would be "more than happy to go to City Council [at Monday's meeting] and ask them to approve that vote."