ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Tuesday, November 26, 1996             TAG: 9611260122
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: S.D. HARRINGTON STAFF WRITER

BOARD CHIEF EXPECTED TO KEEP JOB

NOBODY ELSE APPLIED for the appointment, although at least one resident thinks it should go to a parent with children in Salem schools.

Salem City Council is expected to reappoint School Board Chairman Walter Franke at its next meeting in December; no one else applied for the three-year term.

At a public hearing on the matter Monday night, Councilman Alex Brown, who first sought Franke for the position in 1987, was eager to reappoint him. But laws require a certain time period between the public hearing and the appointment.

Salem resident Edward Schnittger, the only citizen to comment at the hearing, urged council to appoint someone who has children in Salem schools. Only one School Board member meets that criterion.

Schnittger said Salem residents should be viewed as consumers of the school system, and the School Board should have "more consumer representation."

Brown said he thinks having School Board members with school-age children is important, but he doesn't consider it a prerequisite.

"People who make good business decisions" should be on the School Board, he said.

Brown also said he thinks Council will have an opportunity to appoint at least one School Board member with school-age children next year. Board members June Long and Gerald Pace have indicated they will not seek reappointment when their terms expire next year, he said.

In other action, Council awarded construction of phase one of the Masons Creek Sewer Interceptor project to E.C. Pace Construction Co., the lowest of four bidders at $693,883. The line will replace an aging and insufficient 15-inch sewer line that runs from the General Electric plant on Roanoke Boulevard to an area near Dillard Paper Co. on Apperson Drive.

Total cost of the project's first phase is expected to be about $821,000. In exchange for 1.1 million gallons of capacity, Roanoke County will pay about $127,000 of the costs.

Council appropriated $725,000 from the 1995 public improvements bond issue for the project.

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