Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, August 26, 1993 TAG: 9308260184
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Less than 24 hours after Supervisor Bob Johnson proposed a joint meeting of the Board of Supervisors and City Council, Bowers said yes.
"It's an excellent idea, a good suggestion," he said Wednesday. "It was the right thing to do."
Bowers said he agrees with Johnson that the localities need to develop a strategy for acquiring more state funds to help ease the financial pressures on the city.
City Manager Bob Herbert will arrange a meeting among himself, Bowers and their counterparts in the county: Supervisors Chairman Fuzzy Minnix and County Administrator Elmer Hodge.
Bowers said the joint meeting of the governing bodies would come after the top elected and administrative officials meet to prepare an agenda and make other arrangements.
Bowers told the Roanoke Cosmopolitan Club that the Roanoke Gas Co. controversy was over, and it's time for the city and county to move on to other issues.
City Council accepts responsibility for the fight over the aborted threat to take over part of the gas company, he said.
"Blame us for what happened, but also give us credit for putting an end to it," Bowers told the audience.
In the face of strong opposition from county and city residents, council abandoned a proposal to ask the State Corporation Commission to value the company's assets in the city, the first step in a takeover.
In recent weeks, Bowers also has angered county leaders with his renewed talk about annexation and consolidation.
He has met with three groups of county residents to discuss the issue and financial pressures on the city.
County leaders have criticized him for meeting with their constituents without telling them beforehand.
Bowers responded Wednesday, saying he has gone to the meetings in county living rooms in his role as a private citizen, not as mayor of Roanoke.
"I am not someone with all of the answers and solutions. But I think we need to talk," he said. "We need economic growth, and we can't have it unless we work together."
Bowers said he senses that county residents, as well as their counterparts in the city, are uneasy about the lack of economic growth in the Roanoke Valley.
"The people in the valley are not enemies, but the governments are," he said.
Most council members agree a joint meeting with the supervisors could be beneficial.
Councilman William White said a joint meeting could lead to better understanding between the governing bodies. "It's always better to talk, to have better communications," he said.
Said Councilwoman Elizabeth Bowles: "I think it would be wise to meet with the county. It could be helpful."
Vice Mayor Beverly Fitzpatrick Jr. believes such a meeting could help break the logjam between the localities if each side is sincere. Both governing bodies need to put old wars behind them and take a new perspective, he said.
To address the need for more state money to solve inner-city problems, Fitzpatrick said, the Roanoke Valley localities need to form a lobbying coalition with other urban areas in the state, not fight among themselves.
"We can best deal with these urban problems by looking to Richmond," Fitzpatrick said.
But Councilman James Harvey said he's not as optimistic as others. He said he's not sure it can be solved that easily.
Like Bowers, Harvey said he believes that Virginia's structure of local government needs to be changed so cities are not hemmed in with no room to grow.
Harvey said the General Assembly can no longer push aside the financial problems of the core cities.
"It should be apparent to those in Richmond that the day is past to continue business as usual. Cities should demand changes now," he said.
Harvey said he's not sure that more state money is the answer. "Throwing more money at it may not be enough."
by CNB