ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, February 4, 1997 TAG: 9702040106
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
Betty Field may have to wait awhile to get on the Mill Mountain Development Committee.
After an apparently illegal meeting behind closed doors, City Council on Monday rebuffed a bid to put the nature lover/development opponent on the committee.
The action occurred after an executive session during which Councilman Jim Trout unexpectedly proposed expanding the committee from nine members to 10 in order to add Field.
But the motion was voted down 4-2. Only Councilman Carroll Swain voted with Trout; Mayor David Bowers, Vice Mayor Linda Wyatt and Councilmen William White and Jack Parrott voted against enlarging the panel.
Councilman Nelson Harris was absent.
"I thought I'd win four votes," Trout said afterward.
Trout later acknowledged that discussion of expanding the committee began during an executive session called for council to discuss vacancies on other boards and commissions.
The Virginia Freedom of Information Act allows council to meet privately to discuss specific appointments.
But the law does not allow closed-door talks on policy matters such as expanding a committee's size, said City Attorney Wilburn Dibling Jr., who was not present during the discussions.
On Monday night, Bowers said he would ask Dibling for a formal opinion on whether the discussions were illegal.
"Trout came back [into council's conference room] and started talking about putting Betty Field on the committee," the mayor said. "Somebody said 'Who's the vacancy?' and he said he wanted to enlarge it to make one. And nobody wanted to hear that. ... He was trying to get his way one way and couldn't - and typical Trout - he tried to get it another way."
Trout said his move was well-intended but that he should have brought the matter up before council went into closed session.
The Mill Mountain Development Committee currently comprises nine members, including four who were added last year. It has no power but advises City Council on proposals concerning the mountain, which is Roanoke's largest and most treasured park.
The mayor serves as an ex-officio member, as he does with all city boards and commissions. That brings the total vote to 10, which could result in ties, said Trout, who is council's representative on the panel.
One more vote "would have been a good tie-breaker," he said. "It's just a natural to have another person. I tried for the lady. I gave it my best shot. I don't know why they voted it down."
Field, who lives in South Roanoke, has run, walked and hiked more than 28,000 miles on Mill Mountain. She is there nearly every day. She has also helped feed homeless people who have camped in the mountain's woods and has "adopted" some of the wildlife.
Field usually attends forums where the mountain's future is discussed. Often she is the only member of the public to show up at the committee's meetings.
A story about her devotion to the mountain that appeared in The Roanoke Times in fall prompted telephone calls of support from people across the state. She has been trying to get on the committee since last year.
"I'm sorry," she said after the vote. "There's nothing I can do but keep going to the meetings." She said Trout told her at a visioning workshop Saturday that he would make the motion at Monday's meeting.
"We've heard so much from Ms. Betty Field about the mountain, her hikes on it, interest in it, and her vision of what the mountain should be that I thought she should be on it," Trout said.
Councilman William White, who just weeks ago lauded Field for opposing expansion of Mill Mountain Zoo, said his vote wasn't personal.
"I didn't vote against Betty," White said. "I voted against expanding the committee. We need to be careful. This was just brought up to us by Mr. Trout today. If we had taken it under advisement, the outcome might have been different. Now if there was a vacancy on the committee and her name was placed in nomination, I would have voted for her in a heartbeat."
Wyatt said she voted against enlarging the committee because of the four members who were added last year.
"There's nothing that prevents Mrs. Field or anyone else from providing input to that committee," Wyatt said.
City Clerk Mary Parker said terms of all nine committee members expire June 30.
LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. & 2. Councilman Jim Trout proposed to expand theby CNBcommittee to include Betty Field, who spends a lot of time on Mill
Mountain. color.