ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, February 21, 1996 TAG: 9602210056
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: PULASKI
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
John Stone, who helped develop Pulaski's economic development program more than a year ago, said Tuesday night he would resign from Town Council at the end of the month.
Stone was manager of the Dublin Comfort Inn and oversaw three motels in a 9-mile radius when he was elected to council in 1994. Now, he oversees nine motels in Virginia, Maryland, Tennessee and West Virginia, which limits his council time ``and I just could not do justice to the job,'' he said.
``If you can't do something 100 percent, don't do it at all," Stone said after council voted, reluctantly, to accept his resignation.
``You've made a contribution to this council - economic development,'' Mayor Andy Graham told him. ``You've made your mark.''
Actually, Stone said later, he felt he did very little to help establish what is now the town's 33-member Economic Development Board operating under Barry Matherly, hired last year as Pulaski's first economic development director. He said the suggestion to try this direction in municipal development grew out of joint sessions between outgoing and incoming council members in 1994, and he just happened to have been tapped to get it started.
Stone said Town Manager Tom Combiths worked behind the scenes and was ``the brains'' behind what happened, and the entire council had to approve the idea and its funding.
But it still was Stone who got a cross section of residents working to improve the town's economy. Since the program has been in place, Pulaski has received state designation as an enterprise zone with tax perks to attract business, expanded annual festivals to attract visitors, and dressed up its welcome signs into town, among other activities.
LENGTH: Short : 39 linesby CNB