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

DATE: SATURDAY, August 28, 1993                   TAG: 9308280050
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

SUPERVISOR COULD BREAK TIE ON BOND-REFERENDUM VOTE

A county supervisor who was absent at the Aug. 23 Montgomery County Board of Supervisors meeting says he will support putting a Blacksburg library bond referendum on the Nov. 2 ballot.

Supervisor Jim Moore of Blacksburg said he will vote at a special meeting Monday night to give county voters the chance to voice their opinion on the project. Moore's vote could break a 3-3 tie.

Moore said he hasn't made up his mind on another bond referendum, for a new county Health and Human Services building, and will have to review financial figures before making a decision.

The supervisors scheduled Monday night's meeting after reaching an impasse on both projects.

The board faces a Thursday deadline to obtain a court order to place the questions on the ballot.

This past Monday, the supervisors deadlocked on a motion to ask the voters for authority to borrow $1.88 million to renovate and expand the Blacksburg library on Draper Street.

One aspect of the library project would be to replace a sawtooth-shaped roof at the front of the building. The roof leaked heavily in a Friday storm, damaging scores of books.

A motion to borrow $2.88 million for a new building on Pepper Street in Christiansburg to house the health, social services and other human service agencies was headed for a similar impasse before the board decided to table the vote until the Aug. 30 special meeting.

Supervisors Henry Jablonski and Joe Stewart and Board Chairman Ira Long voted against putting the library on the ballot. Jablonski questioned the size of the project and the proposed architect. He also wanted a stronger commitment from the town of Blacksburg to help pay for parking and other matters that will benefit the town.

Stewart and Long questioned inclusion of money in the referendum to automate the entire Montgomery-Floyd Regional Library system. Long said he could support the project if roughly $400,000 were trimmed from it.

Following the Aug. 23 meeting, supporters of the library project were optimistic that Moore, who served on the project's planning committee, would vote to send it to referendum.

Jablonski and Supervisor Joe Gorman indicated they would vote against the health and human services project because too many questions about its construction had been left unanswered. Stewart opposed the project, proposing instead to locate the county agencies in the county-owned former Health-Tex building on Roanoke Road.

by CNB