ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 4, 1996 TAG: 9602050079
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: S.D. HARRINGTON STAFF WRITER
RESIDENTS MAY NEVER have another mayor quite like Jim Taliaferro. Under his guidance, the young city grew into a major player in the Roanoke Valley.
Someone recently asked Roanoke County Board of Supervisors Chairman Bob Johnson what political decision will be the most critical for the Roanoke Valley in the near future.
That, he said, will be how the city of Salem handles the departure of Mayor Jim Taliaferro.
Salem has existed as a city for nearly 30 years. And for more than 22 of those years, Taliaferro has been at the helm.
After years of struggling with the idea of stepping down, he has finally stopped listening to those who kept asking him to stay. His 24 years on City Council will come to an end when his term expires in June.
"Jim Taliaferro is Salem, as a city," Johnson said. "He goes back that far."
When Taliaferro was elected to City Council in 1972, Salem's city charter was only four years old.
The city won its charter as it fought off an attempt to consolidate the Roanoke Valley governments.
According to the newly elected Taliaferro, then 36, the city would have to continue fighting to keep the sovereignty it had gained.
"We had to take a town and make a city out of it," Taliaferro said.
When you ask Taliaferro to look back on the 24 years he has been on City Council, he'll point to the $115 million worth of capital projects completed during his tenure. They include the $10 million Salem Memorial Baseball Stadium, the $8 million Salem High School, the $1.8 million Moyer Sports Complex and a $2 million football stadium.
What he won't discuss is what could have been done better.
"I'm not a person ever to look back into life," Taliaferro said. "I try not to do the same dumb thing, but I don't know of anything our council would ever change.
"Whatever we've accomplished is history, and that will have to be judged by whoever judges those things."
From the beginning, Taliaferro acted as guardian of Salem's well-being.
In the late 1970s, the mayor led an aggressive attack on a proposed 500-inmate medium-security prison for Roanoke County. The prison was never built.
During that same period, Taliaferro refused to put a Salem representative on a board proposed by the Fifth Planning District Commission to conduct a study of regional waste-water management. He called the study a waste of money for Salem and the proposed board a duplication of the commission itself. The study eventually began without an advisory board.
When he entered office in 1972, Roanoke County was running Salem's schools. But, Taliaferro said, Salem got the short end of the stick when it came to funding.
"We were getting hijacked on the schools," Taliaferro said during a recent interview.
In 1983, the Taliaferro-led council finally overcame Republican resistance and voted to establish an independent school system.
Taliaferro got things done his way - and that was just fine with his colleagues.
"He didn't just haul off on his own and do something. He got the consensus of council before he did it," Vice Mayor Sonny Tarpley said.
"I truly believe he reflects what the city wants," Johnson said. "They have reinforced what they want because they've kept putting him back in office."
Taliaferro isn't the type of public official you will find nursing a gin and tonic at a cocktail party. Instead, he may be chewing a wad of tobacco at the football stadium during a Salem Spartans' game.
The former U.S. Army paratrooper and Norfolk and Western employee carries many rough qualities. He's been known to be the only man to show up at valleywide government meetings not wearing a tie.
"I don't like being called a politician," Taliaferro said. "To me, it was always a job to take care of our city."
Salem Civic Center Manager Carey Harveycutter said that before any big event, Taliaferro was likely to be out making sure all was going like it should.
The day before the annual NCAA Division III football championship, the Stagg Bowl, Taliaferro might have been checking the condition of Salem Stadium's field or making sure the stands were clean, Harveycutter said.
"He's out making sure the job gets done so that Salem comes out on top," Harveycutter said. "As mayor, he takes the lead."
During his 22 1/2 years as mayor, Taliaferro has earned a distinct reputation in Salem. He is known as a straight shooter to those who have ever negotiated with him. And for those who attend his council meetings, he is known for short sessions with little debate.
In the past five years, you could count on one hand the number of contentious issues that have come before Salem City Council.
Council members say that reflects Taliaferro's ability to hammer out the rough spots in a proposal or resolution before it gets to council.
"I think he spent a lot of extra time that a mayor in that size of a city wouldn't do," said 12-year Councilman Howard Packett.
Any time council members got a proposal, they knew Taliaferro had asked all of the questions and done all of the homework on it, Packett said.
"We knew that it was straight," he said. Because of Taliaferro's background in building, "he probably saved us thousands of dollars."
Taliaferro is president of Salem Contracting Co., and has 28 years' experience in the construction business.
"Council knows that's his expertise," said Assistant City Manager Forest Jones, who has worked with Taliaferro on many of the larger capital projects in the city, such as the Salem Memorial Baseball Stadium and the Moyer Sports Complex.
"He's the one that deals with capital projects," Jones said.
City Manager Randy Smith said Taliaferro put everything into perspective for council members and administrative staff. And that's what has made a consensus so easy.
"He had the keen ability to see through all of the side issues and get to the bottom line," Smith said. "A lot of times the bottom line was that we couldn't afford to do it."
"I feel like we cooperate where cooperation is needed," Taliaferro said about Salem's participation in regionalism. "The thought of taking care of your business first will always be on the front burner."
Although that philosophy is one of the things that kept him in office for 24 years, his popularity outside Salem wasn't always as great.
Some criticized his opposition to anything that didn't benefit Salem.
Others criticized Taliaferro for voting on issues that benefited him or his construction company.
In 1987, Taliaferro was accused of voting on a land swap for the Moyer Sports Complex that benefited his Salem Contracting Co.
Any conflict of interest was unintentional, Taliaferro said.
"I didn't need to vote," he said, noting that his fellow council members had already voted 4-0 in favor of the land swap before he voted.
"It certainly made us more cognizant of the laws," he said. Since then, Taliaferro has been noticeably careful on any vote in which he may have a conflict of interest.
Whomever Taliaferro dealt with - as friend or foe - he earned their respect.
Salem watchdog Aaron Smith, who is president of the Salem Taxpayers Association, has been attending City Council meetings for about five years. He has lobbied against several tax increases and capital projects.
"Jim has taken a very hands-on approach, and he very earnestly believes what he thinks is best is best for Salem," Smith said. "But when it comes to doing his homework and footwork, there's nobody who does a better job on this council."
Taliaferro also has earned respect from surrounding government officials and the politicians in Richmond.
"Jim is respected statewide," Vice Mayor Tarpley said.
"It's going to be hard thinking about doing business with Salem without Big Jim," said Roanoke County Chairman Johnson.
He recalls negotiating with Taliaferro over Red Lane, a street in Roanoke County whose residents wanted to be annexed by Salem.
"We negotiated that on the back of a napkin," Johnson said. That was probably the first nonaggressive annexation in the state between two jurisdictions, he added.
Although Johnson said he has disagreed many times with Taliaferro, he respects the way the mayor puts Salem first.
"He looks after his own and he takes care of his own," Johnson said.
Those on City Council say that with three seats open, they will have no idea who could become Salem's next mayor until after May's elections.
"You'll just have to see the direction council goes before you can see who will become mayor," Tarpley said.
But the elected officials have said they will miss the leadership Taliaferro has provided. He has served with 12 other council members and two city managers.
"I think that it will be a transitional period," Tarpley said. "Salem citizens have grown accustomed to his leadership, and it will be needed.
"Following Jim Taliaferro would be like following Bear Bryant at Alabama." JIM TALIAFERRO
Political history:
Elected to Salem City Council in 1972.
Appointed mayor by City Council in 1974.
Personal history:
Age: 59
Family: Married Rixine Nelson in 1958. Two children: Jay, 30, and Janie, 26.
Occupation: President of Salem Contracting Co.
What Taliaferro has said:
About Salem's place in the Roanoke Valley:
"Philosophically, Roanoke is eons or light years away from Salem. We have a conservative and tightly knit city.
"Many people think Salem residents resent Roanoke. We know it is the hub of the Roanoke Valley, and we don't resent it. But we also feel that Salem, because it is smaller, is more manageable and more economical." -1980
About consolidation:
"We're capable of self-government and have been since 1802 [when the town was founded]. We feel we have the right to govern ourselves." - 1976
About his role as mayor:
"I sometimes have to be a spokesman for a compromise view that I don't totally agree with. I just have to go along. That's one part of being mayor I don't like, but if you can't do it, you shouldn't have the job." - 1980.
LENGTH: Long : 199 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS/Staff While Salem leadersby CNBponder an existence after Mayor Jim Taliaferro, he'll be fishing on
Florida's Lake Okeechobee. color
2. FILE/1987 Roanoke County Board of Supervisors Chairman Bob
Johnson (right) says Jim Taliaferro (left) is the embodiment of
Salem. KEYWORDS: PROFILE