THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, December 20, 1995 TAG: 9512200447
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN WEINTRAUB, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines
The City Council decided Tuesday to construct a Social Services Department building in the parking lot of the current Virginia Beach Boulevard site.
The council voted 7-2 in favor of the existing spot after 10 months of searching for another location. Council members Louisa M. Strayhorn and Barbara M. Henley voted against the measure, preferring a site on Rosemont Road that could also house the Health Department. Council member Robert K. Dean abstained, saying he had not had time to contact residents near the Rosemont Road site; and council member Nancy K. Parker could not attend Tuesday's meeting because of an illness in her family.
The council also voted, unanimously, to ask the General Assembly for help in dealing with the School Board. The two bodies are at an impasse on resolving the district's $12.1 million budget deficit from last year.
The council has agreed to fill the budget gap on two conditions: that the district commit to repaying the money, and that the board authorize merging the city's and the district's payroll, accounting and finance departments.
The School Board, meeting separately Tuesday, voted 8-3 in favor of a debt repayment plan. But last week, the board decided it was not ready to support consolidating the departments.
The agreement was similar to one approved by the board in November except for slight modifications. The plan calls for repaying the debt from several sources including: the sale of property no longer required by the district, the return of money left over at the end of a fiscal year and savings from completed capital projects not needed for other projects.
The agreement says the city and School Board will make every effort to reconcile the debt on or before June 30, 2000.
Council members said Tuesday that they hated having to ask the General Assembly for help, but they saw no other way to get the School Board to move forward with consolidation.
``This just tells everybody in the city that the School Board and the City Council can't work together on things,'' said council member Dean, who said going to the General Assembly gives him ``heartburn.''
Most of the members of the Virginia Beach delegation to the General Assembly have said they will support the city's efforts at consolidation.
City studies have shown that consolidation would save the city and the district money and would help increase fiscal responsibility in the district, whose budgeting system was a mess last year, according to an independent accountant hired by the city.
School Board members have said they need the city to provide more details about the benefits of consolidation before considering the move more seriously.
In the building relocation issue, the council opted to build where there was the least public resistance.
Neighbors of two proposed sites - on South Independence Boulevard and on Rosemont Road at Route 44 - had protested, saying more traffic would disrupt their quality of life. There has been no neighborhood outcry against replacing the current converted department store with a four-story office building.
City employees and clients of the Social Service Department will have to park nearby while the new building is constructed in the present parking lot. The old building will then be torn down to provide parking.
Because the current site is smaller than the other two, the new building will house only the Social Services Department and not the Health Department as originally planned. The Health Department is spread among three separate buildings but could be put in rental space near the new building, City Manager James K. Spore said.
Michael J. Barrett, president of The Runnymede Corp., the would-be developers of the Rosemont Road site, argued Tuesday that his project would cost the city $11 million less in the long run. But the majority of council members rejected his proposal.
The city manager said he hopes to have the new building done in 15 to 18 months. MEMO: Staff writer Aleta Payne contributed to this report.
KEYWORDS: VIRGINIA BEACH SOCIAL SERVICES DEPARTMENT by CNB