A newly formed citizens committee that may provide the solution to Roanoke's stadium predicament met for the first time Thursday.

It appointed former City Councilman Jack Parrott as its chairman and retired William Fleming multisport coach Sherley Stuart as its vice chairman.

If the committee's initial two-hour discussion is any indication, it may be hard for it to complete its mission in the nine-month time frame in which it's been asked to deliver a recommendation to Roanoke City Council.

"This sounds like it's equivalent to the homeland security job," quipped committee member Tom Hanes.

A few committee members suggested that someone - possibly a veteran city employee - be invited to one of the group's upcoming meetings to give a crash course on the issue, which has played out for more than a decade. Such a briefing could take nine months itself, several city hall-savvy audience members joked.

Committee member Dick Kepley, a former Patrick Henry High School basketball coach and administrator, said the group should stay away from city employees because they were all "programmed" to support a new stadium and amphitheater that was planned for a site off Orange Avenue until it was put on hold this year because of intense public pressure.

The stadium issue was a main factor in the May council election. Two first-time candidates, Sherman Lea and Brian Wishneff, bashed the Orange Avenue proposal and tied their successful joint campaign to their support of a Victory Stadium renovation instead.

The citizens committee batted the politics of the stadium issue around on Thursday and had trouble at times agreeing on what its charge is.

The council adopted a mission statement this month for the committee to study a potential Victory Stadium renovation as well as any other possible athletic venue site that it sees fit - which could include the Orange Avenue location.

Several committee members, in an attempt to start moving the group along, mentioned starting with Victory Stadium.

Duane Howard, a Victory Stadium backer who ran unsuccessfully for the council in May, told the group that he believes its discussions are moot unless it first determines - through an extensive independent engineering study - whether the 63-year-old facility is in good enough shape to be refurbished.

Committee member Greg Feldmann, who works for a Roanoke financial firm, mentioned the daunting task the group faces and said it should develop a work plan with specific goals to ensure that it stays on course.

The 14-member committee - 11 men and three women - decided to ask the city for as much documentation on the stadium as possible so the group can quickly immerse itself in numbers and background before its next scheduled meeting Sept. 1.