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Tag Archives: charter

A 3 year contract for the Town Manager was considered, but was it simply a diversion?

10 Jul

Something I have been waiting to see addressed in relation to the 3 year contract for the Town Manager is a part of the Virginia State Code.

§ 15.2-1503. Tenure of officers and employees; suspension or removal.

A. All appointments of officers and hiring of other employees by a locality shall be without definite term, unless for temporary services not to exceed one year or except as otherwise provided by general law or special act.

B. Any officer or employee of a locality employed pursuant to subsection A of this section may be suspended or removed from office or employment in accordance with the provisions of §§ 24.2-230 through 24.2-238, if such sections are applicable. Otherwise, any such employee may be suspended or removed in accordance with procedure established by special act or by the governing body, if any.

C. In case of the absence or disability of any officer or employee, the governing body or other appointing power may designate some responsible person to temporarily perform the duties of the office.

(1997, c. 587.)

This rather makes it appear that the Town Charter and/or Code would have had to have been changed before said 3 year contract could have gone into effect. The other localities that I found to have gone with a longer contract for Town Manager, have specifically generated ordinances/charter changes in order to support those. My guess is that the reason for that was this state code.

So, should the town council have been looking at such a contract without having first established that there was such a need as to warrant Charter and/or Code changes. I never heard of any discussions concerning those changes except for some mumblings on how they could enter into the contract first, then change the  Charter/Code afterwards. Maybe there are some lawyers out there who have a better understand of the intent of this State Code and would care to comment.

Is it possible that the 3 year contract was merely a ‘smoke screen’ simply to get people riled up so that they wouldn’t see what was really going on. If so, then you have to wonder who the ‘they’ is in this situation. Certainly with Showalter and Carter being the last to find out anything, they are ruled out.

Of course, the town attorney was in the meetings so if this was actually an issue, one would expect it to have been raised.

Fortunately, the State Code also makes sure that the public will know the full extent of the severance packages of any individuals to which they have or shall be awarded. If it is consistent with the document read by Mr. Barber, there are some pretty vague places that I hope will be clarified before the deal is finalized.

§ 15.2-1510.1. Public announcement of severance packages for certain officials.

Severance benefits provided to any departing official appointed by a local governing body or school board shall be publicly announced by the local governing body or school board, respectively, prior to such departure.

(2006, c. 254; 2007, c. 257.)

It sounds like the details should be pretty specific to me, but I am sure that someone can argue that the Letter of the Law was met in Mr. Barbers statement. However, I wonder if it will truly meet the Spirit of the Law. After all, it is the citizen’s money being used for any such severance benefits.

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Posted by on July 10, 2010 in Christiansburg, VA, Citizen Participation, Local Government, Your Tax Money

 

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Christiansburg: Filling the Town Manager’s Shoes (Town Charter Style)

08 Jul

While I certainly hope the Town of Christiansburg takes the opportunity to take a close look at what is needed in a Town Manager for a town this size, the more immediate concern is what happens as of August 1 when the current Town Manager is out of office. It looks like the Town Charter will make it interesting:

Here’s what the Town Charter says: Read the rest of this entry »

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Posted by on July 8, 2010 in Christiansburg, VA, Citizen Participation, FOIA, Local Government, VOTE, Your Tax Money

 

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Easier to use copy of the Christiansburg Town Charter, but be warned things are not what they seem.

10 Jun

I took the existing copy of the Town Charter, inserted a copy of the Governor’s markup for the section changing the vote to November, then setup bookmarks for the pdf that match the table of contents. Well, it sorta matches the table of contents. There are a few places where the Town’s table of contents for the charter doesn’t match what is actually in the charter. Read the rest of this entry »

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Posted by on June 10, 2010 in Christiansburg, VA, Citizen Participation, Local Government, VA government, Your Tax Money

 

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Conduct Unbecoming: Disorderly Behavior of Christiansburg Town Councilmembers

10 Jun

I have been working on a modification to the copy of the Christiansburg Town Charter (my copy even includes the 2010 Amended 2.01 concerning voting in November). This modification will provide bookmarks for every section and subsection of the Town Charter. Why? Because there are quite a few people who are reviewing this particular document who have asked for the various sections to be easier to find. Read the rest of this entry »

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Posted by on June 10, 2010 in Christiansburg, VA, Citizen Participation, Local Government, VOTE, Your Tax Money

 

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Town of Christiansburg Moving Elections will shorten some terms:

16 Dec

According to the State Code: found on LIS (see below) terms of existing Town Council Members or Mayor are not to be shortened except as noted in Section D below which states:

D. In any city or town that elects its council biennially or quadrennially and that changes to the November general election date in odd-numbered years from the May general election date in even-numbered years, mayors and members of council who were elected at a May general election shall have their term of office shortened by six months but shall continue in office until their successors have been elected at the November general election and have been qualified to serve.

This shortening of some people’s terms (those who were elected in May of 2008) will mean that those people will need to run again and be elected in the November election.
There is one apparent hitch in this ‘get-along’ in that the shortening is restricted to 6 months. Given that the Town of Christiansburg elected officials don’t take office until September (rather than in July as other jurisdictions do) it appears there will need to be some overlap.

Is it possible that for a 2 month period we could have more than 6 Town Council Members? Suppose the 3 incumbents ran in November and were defeated, could we possibly have a situation where for 2 months we would have 9 Town Council Members?

What a mess? Well, the Town of Christiansburg set their starting dates in September while State Code says they state in July (§ 24.2-222. Election and terms of mayor and council for cities and towns. Apparently, this date was established in the 1954 Charter for the Town of Christiansburg. Since one of those council members affected has put forth that he will be seeking legal recourse to the shortening of his term, it may be that things will get interesting…again.

(Town Council Videos of this meeting should be available later today at myvaresouces.com.)
_________________________________________________

§ 24.2-222.1. Alternative election of mayor and council at November general election in cities and towns.

A. Notwithstanding the provisions of § 24.2-222, the council of a city or town may provide by ordinance that the mayor, if an elected mayor is provided for by charter, and council shall be elected at the November general election date of any cycle as designated in the ordinance, for terms to commence January 1. No such ordinance shall be adopted between January 1 and the May general election date of the year in which city or town elections regularly are scheduled to be held therein.

B. Alternatively, the registered voters of a city or town may file a petition with the circuit court of the city or of the county within which the town is located asking that a referendum be held on the question of whether the city or town should elect the mayor, if an elected mayor is provided for by charter, and council members at the November general election date of any cycle as designated in the petition. The petition shall be signed by registered voters equal in number to at least ten percent of the number registered in the city or town on the January 1 preceding the filing.

The court, pursuant to § 24.2-684, shall order the election officials on a day fixed in the order to conduct a referendum on the question, provided that no such referendum shall be scheduled between January 1 and the May general election date of the year in which city or town elections regularly are scheduled to be held therein. The clerk of the court shall publish notice of the referendum once a week for the three consecutive weeks prior to the referendum in a newspaper having general circulation in the city or town, and shall post a copy of the notice at the door of the courthouse of the city or county within which the town is located. The question on the ballot shall be:

“Shall the (city or town) change the election date of the mayor (if so provided by charter) and members of council from the May general election to the November general election (in even-numbered or odd-numbered years or as otherwise designated in the petition)?”

If members of the school board in the city or town are elected by the voters, the ballot question also shall state that the change in election date applies to the election of school board members.

The referendum shall be held and the results certified as provided in § 24.2-684. If a majority of the voters voting in the referendum vote in favor of the change, the mayor and council thereafter shall be elected at the November general election date for terms to commence January 1.

C. Except as provided in subsection D, no term of a mayor or member of council shall be shortened in implementing the change to the November election date. Mayors and members of council who were elected at a May general election and whose terms are to expire as of June 30 shall continue in office until their successors have been elected at the November general election and have been qualified to serve.

D. In any city or town that elects its council biennially or quadrennially and that changes to the November general election date in odd-numbered years from the May general election date in even-numbered years, mayors and members of council who were elected at a May general election shall have their term of office shortened by six months but shall continue in office until their successors have been elected at the November general election and have been qualified to serve.

(2000, c. 1045; 2002, c. 30.)

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Posted by on December 16, 2009 in VOTE

 

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MOVE THE VOTE! Charter update required, a good opportunity to fix some problem areas!

03 Oct

One benefit of moving the Town of Christiansburg, Virginia elections from May to November is that it will require an update to the Town Charter. This provides town government with a great opportunity to update some other things as well.

For example, in the Town Council Meeting Minutes for 2003 the following can be found from the November 4, 2003 Minutes’s Town Manager Report Section:

MANAGER TERPENNY asked for Council approval to ask Delegate Nutter to sponsor a Charter amendment allowing Town purchases to follow State Code guidelines. He explained that Town Charter has never been changed egarding Town purchases and is currently way below public procurement laws. Currently, Town Charter requires bidding for purchases over three thousand dollars ($3,000.00); State law requires bidding for purchases over fifty thousand dollars ($50,000.00). Councilman Barber made a motion to allow Manager Terpenny to proceed with the request for sponsorship of a Charter amendment allowing Town purchases to follow State Code guidelines, which was seconded by Councilwoman Carter. Council voted as follows: AYES: Ashworth, Ballengee, Barber, Carter, Lester, and Weaver. NAYS: None.

Unfortunately, we are now almost 6 years after this issue was reported to Town Council and Town Council voted to approve the Charter change and no such change has occurred. I did check the Legislative Information System data for changes in Charter throughout the State and this change did not appear in list of passed, failed, or in any pending/committee lists. Unless, of course, some reason was found to indicate State officials did not think this was a good idea. (No evidence of that was found either.)

In other words, it appears that a problem was identified, a solution was found, and the ball was dropped. No further reports were documented in the Meeting Minutes to indicate if Del. Nutter had been contacted or not. One would have to assume, based upon any lack of updates to this, that it was at the Town level that communications fell apart.

If the referendum to move the vote is passed, the Town will need to update the Town Charter to reflect the new date and starting dates for candidates. This would be a good time to make an effort to go through the Town Charter looking for other issues that should be addressed and making sure that all needed updates are made. I certainly hope that the town would not plan on take 6 or more years to update the Charter for the new election date.

If the referendum fails, maybe it is still a good time to look at fixing issues that were identified 6 years ago! Either way, there needs to be some method for making sure that things are followed through on after they are presented to and voted upon by Council. Believe me, there are plenty of other such “ball dropping” events filed throughout the Minutes. But, don’t take my word for it, look for yourself …. at least until I finish my report:)

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Posted by on October 3, 2009 in VOTE, Your Tax Money

 

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Christiansburg Town Charter on the topic of erection of public buildings

17 Apr

Town Charter:
5 7.01. All contracts for the erection of public improvements and buildings
within the jurisdiction of the town where the estimated cost thereof exceeds three thousand dollars, and in all cases where practicable, shall be let to the lowest responsible bidder, all things considered, and the party to whom any contract is let shall give bond as the council may require, but in no event shall any contract be let to any member of the town council, nor shall any member have any interest in such contract. (1 954, c. 240; 1968, c. 173)

The most recent application of this section of the Town Charter would have been the Aquatic Center. However, I am sure there are other projects that meet the above criteria.

The purpose of the criteria is to prohibit any misuse of taxpayer funds by way of deals arranged by the Council Members where a perceived conflict of interest would exist.

Just something to be thinking about. Sorry, but I’m still tied up on some big projects and don’t have much time to offer more. Here’s hoping some of you pick up the ball and run with it:)

By Carol Lindstrom On March 12 at 12:00 PM

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Posted by on April 17, 2009 in Citizen Participation

 

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