ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, June 7, 1996 TAG: 9606070029
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-12 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: PULASKI
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
Pulaski Town Council will receive a recommendation at a special meeting June 28 to become a partner in the New Century Council.
A study committee led by Councilman Roy D'Ardenne agreed Thursday morning to recommend that the town join through the New River Valley Planning District Commission.
"We see very strong benefits coming from the organization, especially in obtaining help from the state legislature that we haven't been able to obtain before," D'Ardenne told other Pulaski council members Thursday.
He said the New Century Council could act as an umbrella organization working with area planning district commissions and other groups to provide a single voice in dealing with the state.
The New River Valley Planning District Commission is expected to agree at its next meeting on June 27 to act as a liaison member of the New Century Council representing Pulaski and other New River Valley localities that are becoming partner organizations.
D'Ardenne, who has been Pulaski's representative on the planning commission, will leave Town Council at the end of June along with two other members. That is one reason the special council meeting was scheduled before council membership changes.
D'Ardenne has also been chairman of a Planning District Commission committee looking at the pros and cons of New Century Council affiliation. Other committee members are Radford Mayor Tom Starnes, Pulaski County Administrator Joe Morgan, Pulaski County Supervisors and Commission Chairman Joe Sheffey, and Montgomery County Board of Supervisors Chairman Henry Jablonski.
Both commission members and Pulaski officials had some early concerns about some of the 150 strategies outlined by the New Century Council in pursuit of its overall goals, including the combining of planning district commissions in the Roanoke and New River valleys.
The Leadership Committee of the New Century Council, headed by New River Community College President Ed Barnes, has recommended that some of the strategies be tabled indefinitely. D'Ardenne said that has relieved some concerns about the New Century Council. "They are willing to listen to us," he said.
"We see some very good benefits. We do very definitely want to work with the group," D'Ardenne said.
The Pulaski County School Board signed on earlier as a New Century Council partner, with the understanding that its only obligation is general support of council goals.
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