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 »
Using the Auditor of Public Accounts Reports again and focusing on the time frame from fiscal years 1996 thru 2009….
Town Manager Contract Survey: It is not just about the contract, but also about the timing where outgoing elected officials are pushing to make the decision now rather than to wait for newly elected officials to take office. The people spoke, quite loudly in the last election, as to who they trust with making such decision. Now, there is an end-run going on to try to push through this contract with the Town Manager without the chosen representatives of the people having a voice. For those who voted for Cord Hall, this means the current Council is changing a decades old pattern in order to exert the last bit of control. Read the rest of this entry »
In case you haven’t heard, the most recent (of many) hot button issues in Christiansburg, VA has to do with a sudden push to get a contract in place for the Town Manager before the newly elected officials of the Town take office in September. It is at that same meeting that, historically, the Council has decided whether or not to enter into another 1 year verbal contract with the Town Manager for his services. Not only has the timing changed, it has now become important to make sure that it is in writing and for a time frame roughly 3 times longer than in previous contracts for that same position. (See these two Roanoke Times articles for further information and ‘the’ sample contract here.) Read the rest of this entry »
As of 1:41 PM, June 22, 2010, there is no notice of the special meeting to be held by Christiansburg, VA at 7:30 PM on that same date on the Calendar provided by the Town of Christiansburg.
The calendar entry still maintains that this is a work session only for the discussion of the budget. On 6/17/10 at 2:10 PM, PR Specialist, Becky Hawke sent out an announcement to some group of people via email. That announcement states the following: Read the rest of this entry »
Well, the first stop to answering that question should be this website: http://www.dcjs.virginia.gov/cple/cpc/ccpcp.cfm (Where you will find, at the bottom of the page, that the “City” of Christiansburg … hmmm…. is one of 14 such certified jurisdictions within the State of Virginia. The website also notes that the “City of Christiansburg’s application is in progress at this time. The webpage was last reviewed on June 14, 2010.) Read the rest of this entry »
While there were a lot of unusual things occurring at the last Christiansburg Town Council Meeting (open discussion, raising of issues, asking questions, paring the budget), there was one event during the last few minutes that captured my attention because it revolved around my personal pet peeve, FOIA (Freedom of Information Act).
During the last few minutes, an event occurred which has not been seen in Christiansburg Council Chamber in decades (if not in forever). Read the rest of this entry »
The Auditor of Public Accounts provides the citizens of Virginia with a way to see what is happening financially, with their specific County, City or Town.
On a website entitled “Commonwealth Data Point: Transparency at Work in Virginia” you can find information about expenses and revenue at the State-wide level or by jurisdiction. For instance, by clicking on the Local Government tab at the top, you get a drop-down menu that allows you to choose from “Expenditures”, “Revenues”, or “Local Comparison Analysis”. Read the rest of this entry »
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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