Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 22, 1993 TAG: 9304220231
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ROBERT FREIS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
The supervisors reluctantly made the plan public after the School Board refused to meet with them in private.
Marked "Confidential: prepared for executive session," the consolidation proposal would save taxpayers money and improve accounting efficiency without sacrificing any jobs, said County Finance Director Roy Lunsford.
After briefly reviewing the document, School Board members expressed concerns about whether those advantages actually would be achieved.
"How much do they know about the way we do things? They've never asked . . . never sought that information," said School Board member Virginia Kennedy.
Consolidation of the county and school financial systems has been rumored for about a year. Supervisors have accused the county school system of being uncooperative with their requests for financial information.
The school administration and School Board members, on the other hand, say the supervisors have been uncommunicative and callous about their plans for consolidation, creating uncertainty and poor morale among school employees.
The rancorous relationship between the two boards nearly sidetracked Wednesday's initial discussion about the consolidation.
Initially, the meeting was called by the supervisors as an executive session. They said a discussion of personnel issues involved in the consolidation legally justified meeting in private.
Kennedy disagreed, saying that the School Board wanted to discuss the benefits of consolidation generally, and that such a discussion in executive session would be inappropriate.
But the supervisors voted 5-2 to go into executive session, with Supervisors Jim Moore and Nick Rush dissenting.
A motion by School Board Chairman Roy Vickers to also go into executive session failed for lack of a second.
School Board members and reporters then left the room and waited in a hallway while the supervisors debated what to do next.
After 20 minutes, the supervisors voted to re-enter a public session. School Board members re-entered the room, the "confidential" report was distributed, and Supervisors Chairman Ira Long directed Lunsford to give a synopsis of the consolidation plan.
Long precluded any comment or questions about the plan. "The first one that opens their mouth" would be gaveled out of order, he said.
Lunsford's presentation of the consolidation plan did not address specific personnel issues. Had the proposal been presented in executive session, as the supervisors intended, the discussion apparently would have been in violation of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act.
According to the plan, financial accounting and purchasing operations would be merged into a single department. In addition to greater accountability, the consolidation should save the county an estimated $237,000 over the next five years, he said.
No jobs would be lost, although some employees would be transferred.
Long recessed the meeting, held at the Christiansburg library, immediately after Lunsford finished speaking. School Board members left and reconvened across town at the school administration building to discuss the plan.
One disgruntled school administrator, who requested that he not be identified, compared the supervisors' action to a hostile corporate takeover.
School Board member Donald Lacy urged an unemotional review of the proposal. "I'm not opposed to merger. It works in other places. It may work here if we can get the mechanics and trust factors in order."
Other board members expressed concerns about the actual savings that consolidation might achieve. They also questioned how the plan would influence their control over matters such as salaries, personnel and records.
School Board members also noted that the county did not propose a schedule for the consolidation.
Dodge asked board members to review the document and forward questions and comments to him, and said a response to the proposal may be ready by early next week.
No date was set for the supervisors and School Board to meet again.
Other localities, including Roanoke and Roanoke County, have consolidated their financial departments in recent years without the acrimony that the Montgomery boards have experienced.
Although those mergers caused anxieties similar to those expressed by member of the Montgomery School Board, officials say they were successful.
Those officials also said the key to success was communication and trust among those involved, factors that Vickers said have been absent between the Board of Supervisors and the School Board in Montgomery County.
by CNB