Take the survey! Rate Your Town Officials
Radford and Christiansburg have very different contract issues for very different reasons.
Radford officials have at the front of their concerns list making sure that citizens are protected by insuring that the position of town attorney is being put out for bid and a new contract developed. An interesting aside to this is “who is writing the contract?” The rfp and contract do not, in any way, exclude the current town attorney from competing for, and winning said contract. It is a far and open process. Radford is simply joining the growing number of jurisdictions who are moving to a dedicated attorney.
Christiansburg, on the other hand, is involved with allowing the Town Manager to compile a contract for him that is in his best interest. The sample document used by the Town Manager is one that is provided at a website that focuses on the needs of those appointed officials, regardless of whether or not it is in the best interest of the Town.
While the contract itself has not become public knowledge, the sample contract used for the C’burg Town Manager contract is available online. Clearly, this is a document written to protect the Town Manager NOT the town. It will be interesting to see if the town attorney suggests modifications that support the interests the town or those of the Manager. It will also be interesting to see which of the ‘elected officials’ are supporting the town’s interest and which support the manager’s interest.
Given the Town of Christiansburg’s history of getting into contracts, discovering that mistakes were made, and then struggling to get out of those contracts (Tourism Development, Blacksburg Transit). It would be silly for them to enter into ANY contract that lasted for more than one year.
As to the Town Manager’s dedication to the citizens of the Town, all one needs to do is to read the original contract he set up with VT for the Aquatic Center, then read the one that was finalized after citizen uproar forced a re-evaluation. The version here shows the changes made in red. Please note that the Town Manger was essentially the only one working up this contract with the Town Attorney reviewing it. He was all but giving the Aquatic Center to VT.
So, in light of the compared progressive and regressive actions of the two jurisdictions, I have a survey that people can take to evaluate the performance of Mayor, Council, and Town Manager in 4 areas:
Your participation will be greatly appreciated.
Awareness Fan
July 5, 2010 at 12:01 am
“….contract…is for consideration..council the option…changes/additions..facts straight”…
The facts are straight. Fact: the Town Manager is trying to get ‘lame ducks’ included in a vote to bolster his future, no matter his continued failures in properly completing his duties. Facts: from ‘water hole’ Aquactics Ctr. atrocities, to long-awaited non-completed storm drain problems in Huff Acres, for example….well, the list of bad decisions goes on.
Enough of the ‘T’ word, PAleez.
Tired of the Bloggers Too Says:
July 4, 2010 at 10:35 pm
And the prevailing attitude of the bloggers seems to be that they should be allowed to become a de facto government based on their opinion on topics about which they have no actual facts. It seems that this very vocal minority will only be satisfied when every decision is made via referendum.
Carol Lindstrom
July 5, 2010 at 10:11 am
You and Tired of the Bloggers seem to have strong opinions, which I respect. However, you consistently fail to present any evidence to counter evidence that is sited here. “no actual facts”? All you have to do is to read the Town’s own Charter and Code, the State Codes, and an occasional newspaper to find the facts. Again I say, cite your source. If you have something solid to present, some reasoned argument, feel free to submit it to the scrutiny of the people by sending it to me.
Matt
July 4, 2010 at 6:08 pm
The prevailing attitude of the current town council (not ALL members, mind you) seems to be that citizens should sit down, shut up, celebrate our right to be governed and when the town council and administrator(s) want our opinion, they will tell us what our opinion should be.
Tired of the Bloggers
July 4, 2010 at 1:26 pm
The contract presented is for consideration. That gives the council the option of making changes to it or additions. Get your facts straight.
Carol Lindstrom
July 5, 2010 at 2:55 pm
Christiansburg Town Council history is one of simply taking what the Town Manager gives them and adopting it. Even the ‘modified final’ version of the Aquatic Center agreement with VT was written in such a way that most of the problem areas were retained. It just gives the appearance of being changed.