THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, February 21, 1995 TAG: 9502210295
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PERRY PARKS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines
The City Council moved the city-county merger process forward Monday.
By a 5-3 vote, the council agreed to address the issue at a March 15 meeting with Pasquotank County commissioners, with the recommendation that the second phase of merger study be approved. The public also will be asked to weigh in on the merger process at that meeting.
Supporting Councilman Lloyd Griffin's motion to move ahead were council members Anita Hummer, Jimi Sutton, W.L. ``Pete'' Hooker and David Bosomworth.
The Pasquotank-Elizabeth City Governmental Study Commission told both governments in December that it would be ``feasible'' and ``advisable'' for the bodies to combine, along with administration and services. The recommendation followed more than a year of study by the appointed commission, which then asked permission to prepare a report on how the merger would proceed.
Both the city and county governments must approve of the next step before the commission can continue its work.
Some City Council members have expressed concern about the merger, and the council last month prepared a list of 25 questions that commission Chairman L.P. ``Tony'' Hornthal tried to answer Monday night.
Black residents, who comprise a majority in the city, have expressed concern that they would lose political power if it were spread throughout the county, which has more whites.
Hornthal reminded council members half a dozen times Monday that approving the second phase of the process would not commit the governments to a merger. What it would do, he said, is allow the commission to answer many of the specific questions that have been asked, such as how the new governing body would work, how representation would be organized and what the tax structure would look like.
``Try to have as many answers as you possibly can in reference to representation,'' Sutton told Hornthal. ``That's my greatest concern.''
Hornthal repeated his position that the commission has taken the voting process seriously in its study. ``This is an issue that our commission plans to deal with fairly, in consultation with all segments of this community,'' he said.
No one spoke directly against moving to the second phase, but Councilman A.C. Robinson challenged wording in the Phase One report that said the council had ``welcomed'' a merger study. He said the study had been merely ``accepted.''
``I keep hearing the word `belief' '' in association with merger, Robinson said. ``Belief is one thing, facts is something else.''
Council members Myrtle Rivers and Dorothy Stallings joined Robinson in voting against recommending a second phase. by CNB