Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 5, 1995 TAG: 9510050020
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
Max Beyer, administrator of the state tax department's Roanoke District when he was hired by Pulaski last May, submitted a letter of resignation to Pulaski Town Council Tuesday.
"Although my tenure has been brief, it has been sufficiently long for me to determine that it is in my best interests to pursue my professional career in a different organizational environment," Beyer wrote.
"This has been, of course, a difficult decision," he added. "The Finance Department has been making great strides recently and I am hopeful that this progress will continue. The acquisition of the new automated equipment will, through time, create new opportunities for the department and the town administration."
The new computerized equipment went on line during the summer and finance office employees are still being trained in its use. It had been chosen before Beyer was hired.
Reached at his home in Roanoke Wednesday morning, Beyer said it had been a long commute from Roanoke to Pulaski. When he took the job, he said, he had hoped to find a home in the Pulaski area. "It just didn't work out."
He said he had thought it best to make the change now, giving the town enough time to get his successor on board by the first of the year.
Council named Assistant Finance Director Anita Taylor as acting director until a successor could be hired. Taylor had run the office from September 1994 until Beyer was hired last May following the resignation of Mildred Bolen.
Bolen had served from summer of 1990 until last September. She succeeded Gary Cutlip, who held the post from late 1982 until mid-1990 before becoming Bland County administrator.
Beyer's resignation was effective at the start of October.
He had been district director for the Department of Taxation in 1992 and became regional director in 1994. Before that he worked in Richmond and James City County. He is a retired Army lieutenant colonel.
In other business Tuesday, council voted to apply for part of downtown Pulaski to be designated a state Enterprise Zone. Such a designation would bring some state tax breaks and other incentives for new or expanding businesses and industries locating in the zone.
"Wish us good luck. There's a lot of competition for that zone," said Vice Mayor and Finance Committee Chairman W.H. "Rocky" Schrader.
He commended Barry Matherly, the town's new economic development director, for having gotten together the data for the application in a short time. Matherly was hired only a few months ago.
Council voted to join Pulaski County and the town of Dublin in a study of the countywide recreation program, and asked that the study be expanded from youth sports to include all recreation programs such as adult sports and senior center activities. The town's share of the study cost is estimated at $1,000 to $2,000.
A request for a conditional use permit to open a 15-by-15-foot dance area in the Beijing Restaurant was approved on recommendation from the Planning Commission by a 4-2 vote. Opposition came from John Stone and Bettye Steger, who said they had gotten calls from residents near the restaurant opposing a dance hall permit.
by CNB