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Radford and Christiansburg have very different contract issues for very different reasons. Read the rest of this entry »
Tag Archives: council
Where did the Town Manager Contract Come From? Maybe here?
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 »
Another Christiansburg Mystery – FOI Advisory Council Information
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 »
Christiansburg a Certified Crime Prevention Community. What’s that mean?
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 »
FOIA and Guesswork about Town Council Meeting
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 »
Information Sources for the Budget-wise People.
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 »
Easier to use copy of the Christiansburg Town Charter, but be warned things are not what they seem.
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 »
Conduct Unbecoming: Disorderly Behavior of Christiansburg Town Councilmembers
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 »
Christiansburg Town Council: Spending YOUR money before they get it.
Revisiting a re-visitation of the Meals Tax increase is on the agenda on the Tuesday, June 8th, Special Meeting of the Christiansburg Town Council. Rather than go through all the gory (although sickly humorous) details of why this is necessary, read the editorial at the Roanoke Times.com: Editorial: Christiansburg’s budget shenanigans. You can always watch the video at MyVAResources.com’s Videos of Public Meetings page, Part 5 on the 6/1/10 Town Council Meeting is the key element. On another note in the same sad song: Read the rest of this entry »
What Campaigns can tell you about Candidates (also, new Aquatic Center Documents online)
First a brief word from our sponsor..over at myvaresources.com on the Town of Christiansburg page, you will find links to the Lionberger Contract with the Town and Change Orders to that contract. (http://myvaresources.com/Town%20of%20Cburg/CburgAquaticCenter.htm)
Now, I am sure that all of you have probably seen more campaign information this year than ever before. What does this tell you? Well, obviously there are people who really, really want to win. Maybe they want to win badly enough to spend lots of someones money on ‘advertising’.
What it tells me is that there are those who are scared, for perhaps the first time, that the status quo will not be maintained. Or, maybe there is concern that if new eyes come into local government, things will become public that have not become public before. After all, Christiansburg only discovered the Freedom of Information Act about 3 years ago (although it has been around for about 40 years now).
Now, how are they treating their opponents. There are a lot of distortions and lies going around. Campaign signs have been stolen. All of that seems like a much harder way to prove you are the best candidate than simply showing what you have done.
How people run their campaign can also show you how they are likely to treat people who do not share their goals, values, or beliefs. Are they likely to discuss issues with you logically, offering the data to support their positions, or are they just going to stand in defiance and demand that they have their way?
Is raising or not raising taxes more important that irresponsible spending? Is making promises that are never fulfilled what you want in a candidate? Do you want leadership that takes credit for the work of others and places any blame squarely on anyone else they can find to blame?
Stop and listen to the candidates. Are they answering your questions or are they dodging them. During the candidate forums, I heard a lot of “mistakes were made” comments but I never once heard the comment “I made mistakes, but I have learned from them.” Of course, there is no evidence in the minutes of Planning Commission or Town Council to indicate that mistakes were acknowledged or that steps were taken to prevent those mistakes from happening again. In fact, the minutes show the same mistakes being made over and over again.
***another word from our sponsor FOIA*** If you were present at the Candidate Forum you heard Mayor Ballengee note that he did not know what urban sprawl meant. Well here are a few definitions for future use:
- an unplanned, disorganized growth of housing etc on the edge of a city
- Slang term for the growth of cities in an unplanned and often wasteful manner.
- the unplanned uncontrolled growth of urban areas into the surrounding countryside.
- The unplanned and often haphazard growth of an urban area throughout a larger geographic area.
The Town of Christiansburg, VA page at myvaresources.com has a LOT of documents and audio/video recording links where any citizen can take a look at what government has been doing in Christiansburg for the past decade. You will see from meeting minutes that budgets are discussed early in non-election years and late in election years. You will see a pattern of issues coming up before the election and then not being supported or addressed until time for the next election. In short, you will find all of the political games that you see at the State and National level, right here at your own doorstep.
As always, check out the information for yourself. Sometimes change is about going back to the way that things use to be, where elected officials represented all the citizens not just special interest groups.
You might also want to remember that the same Comprehensive Plan that set the stage for the Aquatic Center includes a goal of having a Civic Center. Is that what’s next on the agenda? Will it happen the same way, behind closed doors without citizens being informed?
Please take the time to do a bit of research on candidates before you cast you vote on May 4th at the Armory.
