HB619: Erosion and sediment control; may assess civil penalty.
This has just passed the House and as with the Health Care bill, has been defanged there (although maybe not as badly as the Health Care bill). Now, it is up to the Senate. Read the rest of this entry »
Are all Montgomery County residents citizens of Christiansburg or Blacksburg? NO!
Are all Christiansburg or Blacksburg residents citizens of Montgomery County? Yes!
The tax revenue to the County go to provide services to ALL citizens of the County whether they live in the County proper, the Town of Christiansburg or the Town of Blacksburg. The taxes revenue to the Town of Blacksburg and/or Christiansburg go to provide services that the Towns provide above and beyond those provided by the County.
A bit simplistic I know, but I hope this gets the idea across. (Following population estimates provided by Google Public Data and Wikipedia)All of the 89,967residents of Montgomery County est. from 2008 , even if they live in Christiansburg or Blacksburg contribute to the tax base of the County through real estate tax or sales tax. This money is used to pay for maintenance of County roads, Schools, General Fire Rescue, Sheriff’s Office, Court, Jail, Garbage, Libraries, Salaries to employees, and a lot of other aspects of just living in the County.
Blacksburg (41,796 **remember there is a large portion of that number who are students as VT has the largest full-time student population in Virginia with over 30,000 full-time students) and Christiansburg (2008 est. of 19,477). The population of the towns provide revenue to cover the cost of such issues as storm water management, water, sewer, garbage, economic development, tourism, town planning, town codes enforcement, salaries to employees, etc.
In order to be fair, you need to remove the 30,000 in student population from the County population and Blacksburg. So population estimates would be something like: County 60,000, Blacksburg 12,000, Christianburg 19,000. Unfortunately, the old census data is way out of date. With the new census data, it will be easier to come up with some more accurate guess-timates of those numbers (if everyone fills out the census forms!). Anybody out there want to challenge the numbers here, feel free just please remember to cite your source. I need to be able to go get those numbers from someone!
Where is all of this going? Well, how about we look at the Old Blacksburg Middle School that is being discussed right now. What are they going to do with the building? This topic has been tossed around long enough it has turned green and upchucked!
For the last 10 years, the Town of Blacksburg has been pushing to have the County give them the property so they can use it as they wish. According to the Roanoke Times Article “Future unclear for old Blacksburg Middle School” people in Blacksburg think it is entirely appropriate for the County to give them property worth $4,400,000.00. Now, this is for property that the taxpayers all over the County paid for so that people in Riner, Elliston, and Shawsville, Christiansburg, Blacksburg (and throughout the County) can say that they paid for part of the building and land.
Now, if the County gives the land and building away, it is a net loss to the County. If the County sells the property, all proceeds are required to go back into the fund for Capital Improvement – stuff like repairing other schools and covering the cost of new schools having to be built as population increases. If you are a taxpayer, you are invested in this process. How do you want your investment returns used? Should they be given away to Blacksburg or should they be sold for the most amount of money? Something in between only makes sense to me if the property becomes commercial and there is a agreement with the Town and County to share the revenues. However, Blacksburg is having a hard time filling spaces these days and that could mean the County would get a portion of nothing equal to nothing!
I think the safest bet is to sell to the highest bidder, then step out of the way and let Blacksburg deal with the purchaser. Of course, that means that Blacksburg can keep the property value dropped as low as possible by not allowing re-zoning.
Maybe you don’t have an opinion right now, but I bet you will have one when property taxes in the County have to go up in order to offset lost revenue from other sources. Who knows, maybe there are a lot of Blacksburg residents who would rather see the property sold with proceeds going back to the County rather than have property taxes at the County level go up.
Guess we’ll have to wait and see. Maybe I need to start attending those Board of Supervisor meetings to see if members are responding to needs of the County or to needs of Blacksburg.
Heck, if Blacksburg wants playing fields, etc. they can pay for them. If Christiansburg can manage to build an Aquatic Center, I’ll bet Blacksburg can manage to maintain a green field for rugby, soccer, dog walking, etc.
One key point I’m hoping to make here is that the population numbers don’t really tell the whole picture. If you’re listening to arguments from either side or somewhere in the middle of all this discussion, be careful to pay attention to which numbers are used. More specifically, the Towns do not ‘own’ the schools. The schools are County property. If the Towns want the benefits of owning such properties, they will have to become Cities and pick up all the costs related to having a school system of their own. EVERY school in Montgomery County is equally important! Every child in Montgomery County is equally important! The decisions made concerning this property will have a long-term impact on the school system and on the children. Hopefully, the right decision will be made.
Why would people want to know about their government and the decisions that are made by government for them? The answer to that has nothing to do with the FOIA. Rather, the FOIA is something that may have been strongly influenced by the very drive that people have to want to know the answers to questions that they have.
Think about it for a minute. How many times would you return to a doctor who’s responses were “Yes, you are sick but I have some medicine to make you better.” Me, I would have a few little questions to ask: (1) If I’m sick, what is the ‘sickness’ called? (2) Is it a terminal, chronic, or short term illness? (3) Are the symptoms I have now likely to get better or worse? Will I get new symptoms also? (4) What is the prognosis? (5) This medicine you want to give me, how will it affect me? (6) Are there any other treatment options?
When you talk to your doctor, you know that you are talking about things that have a direct effect upon your life and your family. You, quite naturally, want to know a reasonable amount of what the issues are so that you can begin wrapping your brain around how to deal with things. Well, when you talk to government representatives (elected, appointed, or otherwise) about government issues in your area (city, town, county, or country), you are also talking about things that will have an impact upon your life and the lives of your family, friends, neighbors, and other citizens you do not even know.
It only makes sense to me that asking for all the information that you need to feel comfortable with what is going to happen should be a right that you exercise often. In a May 20, 2009 article on the New York Times Opinion Section, Happy Days, The Pursuit of What Matters in Troubled Times, is an blog article by Daniel Gilbert, What You Don’t Know Makes You Nervous.
The author discusses some of the current issues facing Americans and some historical eras that are similar to what is faced today. Then, he moves into addressing what it is that people are ‘really’ upset about. In paragraph 8 of the blog article, he begins to identify the real culprit:
Then in the last paragraph, he sums up this theme again:
This ‘not knowing’ or ‘uncertainty’ can exist in all levels of government. The less people are told, the more they are likely to worry about the possible outcomes. We Americans are a pretty tough group. We have survived bad times, tough economic times, war, internal strife, disease, floods, hurricanes, volcanoes, earthquakes, the untimely loss of some of most beloved citizens, and a myriad of other challenges. I believe we can survive most anything IF WE KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT!
I understand it is not possible for government to give us clear and concise answers on every issue. Where it is possible to do so, then it should be done. Where it is not possible, then simply be honest enough to say that you do not know, but this is what we are doing about the issue.
Keeping people informed helps to keep people grounded in facts NOT in perceptions that may not accurately reflect the facts. Most of us know that elected officials are just as human as the rest of us and can make mistakes. Acknowledging and owning the mistakes allows all of the gossip and rumors to die off and we can all get on with the business of living our lives to the best of our ability.
Most people that know me know that if I am given a few minutes, I could apply Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to eating a tuna fish salad. I am a firm believer in that Hierarchy and the relationship to was I have just discussed is clear.
In Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, there are established levels of ‘Needs’ that most people have in common. These needs begin at a very basic survival level and progress into the very alturistic. The government (whether town, city, county, state, our federal) is directed by the U.S. Constitution to insure certain of these needs: Health, Welfare, Safety & Convenience. (See Wikipedia’s: Supreme Court Case Mugler V. Kansas, 123 U.S. 623 (1887)). (See also: Health, Safety, Welfare & Convenience.)
Citizens not only have a right to know, but it is good for them to know, the good and bad of government. Not knowing leads to uncertainty and fear. Those, in turn, lead to misperceptions, rumors, gossip, and misinterpretations. The more open government is the more likely it will be that citizens will come together and strive to work through any problems that we have. Open government IS good government because it reduces the fear and uncertainty.
Happy Birthday to the Freedom of Information Act! As it has grown, it has now become a tool for everyone, not just the media. FOIA helps to keep government open in much the same way putting a lock on a door protects your home. It serves to keep honest people honest. Just as there will be those who will break into your home regardless of the presence of locks, there will be those who will try to keep things ‘hidden’ from the public. Having some safeguards in place (lock on the door, the FOIA) helps to prevent that scenario from becoming the status quo.
June 30th Bacon’s Rebellion Blog article “Establishing Transparency’s Bottom Floor for Virginia’s Localities” is a good followup on the THOMAS JEFFERSON INSTITUTE’S TRANSPARENCY PROJECT. It brings home the fact that the internet has provided a wealth of opportunity for citizen involvement and for governments to be open and empowering of citizens. The internet has opened doors for people to be involved in government in ways that were not dreamed of only a few years ago. Suddenly, access is available to more people, limited only by governments’ efforts to provide the information.
However, there are tremendous differences between how jurisdictions handle this new era of ‘openness’. I have been looking at various websites around the State of Virginia for more than a year now. Some jurisdictions make it incredibly easy for information to be found. Other jurisdictions make finding some information easy and other information more difficult to locate. Still others, offer a lot of self-promotion to encourage the home buyer or business, but the ‘meat and potatoes’ of local government is all but missing in action.
I believe that the last paragraph of that blog clearly identifies some of the opportunities that are before us and within the hands of our lawmakers:
“If all of Virginia’s counties and school boards met these standards we would be a much more informed and aware citizenry, but this is just the tip of the iceberg. Simply following through on these measures, while a significant upgrade over the hodge-podge collection of documents that passes for transparency throughout much of the commonwealth, doesn’t take full advantage of power of the internet. There are a lot of additional things that governments can do that enable their citizens to get much more out of online transparency. From video archives to real time data feeds, innovative governments are making themselves more open and their constituents better informed. Next issue we’ll take a look at what the best practices in this new online world look like.
I am looking forward to that next issue. I have some ideas of my own, first and foremost, that standards should be established for all jurisdictions (state, county, city & TOWN) and that those standards should be developed based, in large part, upon citizen input. Let the people who will be using the devices have a part in determining what is needed, not just the lawmakers. Find out what people want. Oh, yeah. That’s what government is all about anyway, right?
There’s a kewl blog out there that I read called “Bacon’s Rebellion“. There have been a couple of recent blog articles there that relate to my FOIA focus. (It’s not long before the 4th of July, FOIA’s birthday, will arrive and I will be back on topics of local interest….anybody wondering what my I’ve been working on besides FOIA information:)
Anyway, on June 16, 2009, the blog article “Shining a Spotlight on Transparency” was rolled out. I had to check my audio to be sure I didn’t miss a drum roll because it sure deserved one! The opening two sentences set the tone: The legitimacy of government is based on the consent of the governed. As owners of our state government, every citizen of Virginia is entitled to full and complete information about how their government acts and what their Representatives do.”
Wow! That pretty much says it for the backbone of the FOIA at all government levels. WE are the government. Government is not just elected officials and fancy buildings! It is “WE THE PEOPLE”. The government works for us, not the other way around.
The article then goes on to discuss recent events in Federal FOIA and Virginia FOIA. I really like the way that it is pointed out that accessibility to information alone is NOT enough. That information MUST be in a format that citizens can understand. We do not need tools that we can’t use. We need consistently organized, understandable information. Clothing information (or cloaking, if you prefer) in a manner that make it available but not useable is atrocious.
It is further noted, that the THOMAS JEFFERSON INSTITUTE is initiating an awesome project. They will examine the current FOIA practices of jurisdictions and use that data to develop standards and best practices. This concept could bring a degree of uniformity to jurisdictions that would be a tremendous service to citizens. I know that every jurisdiction wants to keep its “individuality” but there is no reason why they can’t do that while still having uniformity in those areas that all jurisdiction have in common. It’s too bad that the study will not include Towns, but perhaps that is coming.
This has particular interest to me as it could apply to the internet. If every jurisdiction used a certain part of their website that was consisten across all jurisdictions but allowed for independence in other parts of the website. It would make it so much easier for citizens. We are becoming such a mobile society, with people moving several times during the course of their lives. If there were some degree of uniformity, it would be so much easier for citizens to access information.
It could also save a ton of taxpayer’s money! Part of the website would be prepackaged saving development costs and making it easier for employees to use. The remainder of the website could be used as the jurisdiction wishes to promote its unique features and events. It would also make it easier and more cost effective for small jurisdictions to have a website.
The article closes with this: By providing usable data governments allow citizens to improve their quality of life and make government more efficient.” What a wonderful concept! Increase efficiency of government while improving citizen access. Sounds like a win-win situation to me.
The 2nd of these 2 articles will be discussed tomorrow.
Just a couple of years ago, I was pretty darned ignorant on the FOIA. I knew it was there. I had heard it mentioned somewhere along the way, but it had no real meaning for me. As I became interested, I started looking around on the internet. I really do not intend to ‘plug’ one resource over any others, but The Virginia Coalition for Open Government website and the help they provided via email and telephone, those have been the best resources for me.
The Coalition for Open Government is a non-profit agency dedicated to keeping government ‘openness’ growing. They do not sit back and assume that what is available is enough. They work to expand the parameters of openness, while simultaneously helping to empower citizens in making the current law work for them. They are also a 501c3 organization so any donations made are tax deductible.
If you have never made a FOIA request before, and would like someone to help you through the process, you will find all the resources that you need right here at the Virginia Coalition for Open Government website.
Rather than recreate the wheel, you can use their frequently asked questions (faq) section for some explainations and definitions in plain English (very little ‘legalize’ is used). On the page with the FOIA itself, there is even a copy of the form for carrying your request on to district court if need be (directions for filling it out are also there).
The FOI Citizen’s Guide is where I really got my start. This document pretty well takes you through the process of learning what your rights are under the FOIA. Basically, it provides information on what it is you are entitled to and how/when the government agency is required to respond. It also provides information on what your rights are as pertains to public meetings.
One of the links on their pages will take you to their bank of newsletters. You can find a lot of information. They work hard to provide you with information concerning recent FOIA related events, evaluations of the FOIA process, bills that may be coming up concerning FOIA, FOIA bills in the legislature, and some of the not-so-good things that have happened relative to FOIA.
What would happen if you went to the Town/City/County in Virginia where you live and you asked for certain documents, and you were told that the they could not give you the documents that you requested.
Let us assume you make the decision to get some research done before you invest any money in attorney fees. You take the steps to contact either #4 or #5 above, giving them ALL of the information you can on your situation. Either one (or both) come back with information that reveals that you do not have the right to access to what you have requested. Now, you at least know what you can or cannot do, and it has cost you no more than a little time.
On the other hand, if #4, #5, or both of them advise you that you do have the right to that information, you may now wish to proceed to an attorney and pursue legal actions to obtain the records that you request.
There is one very good reason to do your homework before you jump into a ‘writ of mandamus’ seeking a Court order to have your jurisdiction give you the requested information (provided at the Marion Brechner Citizen Access Project website):
Definition: Attorneys’ Fees, Requestors (Public Records)
If a court finds a public body violated the open records law by denying the inspection of a record, the requester of the record shall be entitled to recover “reasonable” attorney’s fees from the public body. The fees are to be awarded if the requester “substantially” prevails unless special circumstances would make an award “unjust.” A court may, among other things, consider the reliance of a public body on an opinion of the attorney general or a decision of a court that “substantially” supports the public body’s position. VA. CODE ANN. § 2-3713.D (2007).
In other words, if the jurisdiction has violated FOIA, you have the right to have the jurisdiction pay your legal fees. The Court does have the right to evaluate those fees and, if you have gotten a bit exorbinate, hiring Benjamin A. Civilette, whose rate is $1000.00 per hour, I think you can count on the Court reducing the awarded amount substantially.
By using the Virginia Coalition for Open Government website’s Opinions section, you can find out if there are any cases similar that the jurisdiction could be basing their argument on, thus finding out if there are any cases where the jurisdiction was “substantially supported” in a similar case.
Doing these things will certainly not guarantee that you get your legal costs reimbursed, but you can increase the likelihood of that happening. A little bit of homework could save you a lot of money!
The Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory Council is a State of Virginia agency that focuses on Freedom of Information Issues. This source is available to individuals, public officials and the media. They also serve by providing advisory opinions which are published and are a searchable internet resource for anyone with a FOIA question.
Their Advisory Opinions section can be viewed in chronological order or in a searchable database. The chronological order is a good way to review recent trends (if any) while the searchable option allows you to look for a specific topic. Using searchable, I checked under the word “erosion” and found this neat bit of information indicating that when an investigation is performed related to land-disturbing activities where the ‘owner’ has violated some form of the erosion and sediment control laws, the name of the complaintant does not have to be released by the investigating agent. That information can be withheld as part of the records causing the investigation.
Another interesting find there was under the search for “Planning Commission”. This involved the presence of Town Council members at a Planning Commission Meeting who participated in the discussion about business upon which they would likely have to act in the future. In this case, the meeting should have been advertised as a Joint Public Hearing. Another part of the question answered dealt with the appointment of Town Council Members on Planning Commission Subcommittees. Some interesting discussion is found in the document, and some good ideas of what is and is not allowed to happen in public meetings.
Another good one I found deals with Committee Meetings (notice and minutes) and FOIA violations that occurred involving this. The discussion is thorough and sites relevant FOIA laws concerning notice requirements of all committees. It further clarifies that any committee or group formed to perform a delegated function or to advise the town is subject to FOIA. Regular meetings, special, and emergency meetings all require notices. That notice time frame is a minimum of 3 WORKING days (excluding the date of the meeting as well as holidays and weekends) for regular meetings, and at the same time that members of the group are notified of special and emergency meetings. In addition, anyone who has requested notice of meetings should have been noticed. Requesters of notices can be contacted through email or telephone if the requestor agrees to this. (So if you are someone who wants to be noticed, you can get it through the mail, or you could ask the town to call you instead – it is not required that they provide this service but it may be something they will consider for people who do not have internet access but have requested notification and the timeframe is such that mail service just would not work). It also clarifies another question that I have been asked recently. The committees themselves are not required to take minutes except where membership of the committee includes a majority of the governing body.
So there ya have it. A great resource to look up information on FOIA that may be of particular interest to you. If you have a question about the way a meeting was conducted, whether or not you were allowed to be in the meeting, what documents you have a legal right to obtain or view, here is one good place to find an answer.
This bit of information comes from something called the Sunshine Review‘s SunshineOnline webpage – The My Government Website Project. This is a wiki-based project where information is available on government WEBSITE transparency for states but including county, city and school districts. It is a work in progress, with more data coming in all the time. It encourages citizen participation by having citizens do the evaluations (available on their website). It is a fairly simple process and is fully explained. Although they place the State of Virginia within the top 10 states for open government, DO NOT assume that status holds for all jurisdictions within the state.
Interesting information about Virginia Counties includes based upon this sites evaluative criteria:
Only 3 counties do not maintain an official website: Craig, Lee, and Mecklenburg.
Of the 95 counties and 39 city counties (which are included at this source)
Budgets: 35 post full, 32 post partial, and 25 post no information
Public Meetings Notices: 42 include all notices of public meetings, 42 provide partial information, and 8 provided no information.
Information on elected and administrative officials: 74 provide all information on both sets of officials; 14 provided only partial information on elected officials, and 17 only partial on administrative officials. Only 1 county provided neither.
Permits and zoninginformation: 77 provided all, 5 provided partial, and 10 provided none.
Audits: 38 provided all information, 10 provided partial, and 44 provided none.
Contract with county vendors: 13 provided full information, 26 provided partial, and 53 provided none.
Disclosure on taxpayer-funding lobbying membership: 19 provided full information, 0 provided partial, and 73 provided no such information.
How to request public records (FOIA): 6 provided full information, 12 provided partial, and 74 provided none.
Tax information: 66 provided all, 9 provided partial information, 17 provided none.
A table providing information on each individual county for the above parameters is available at one of their links. A quick look and I saw that the data might not be current. One of the recent changes to Virginia State Law is that jurisdictions with a website are now required to post budgets online. If you live in or work for one of these jurisdictions, it may be worth the effort to go to the site where you can update information. As I noted previously, this is a work in progress and is being updated. YOU can be a part of the process.
All of these are based on those documents which are part of the public’s right to know and are covered under the FOIA. If you wish access to any of these documents, a FOIA request should provide it for you. Given that each FOIA request cost taxpayer time and money to receive, research, and produce the request, and the fact that most jurisdictions barely have the staff to handle routine business, it would seem that more jurisdictions would put forth a dedicated effort to provide these documents on their websites, saving money and reducing staff workloads for other projects.
They do not provide information on towns in Virginia, but I have a very reliable source indicating that there is something similar being developed for the Towns of Christiansburg as well. However, would it be needed at all if the State Legislature would simply develop standards that denote these basic documents be posted on all websites. One little statute would end the problem, save money, and free up worker time.
You can go to my citizen website and click on the link to see the panel discussion that was held on March 30th. It was hosted by the League of Women Voters of Montgomery County. Christiansburg officials showed up in force with 4 Council Members (Barber, Showalter, VanHoozier, and Wade) and 1 Planning Commission Member (Huppert), and both Nichole Hair and Randy Wingfield from the Planning Department.
I hope they gained as much from the discussion as I did. What I heard was that we already have something good in our downtown areas and that we must work to keep it and improve it. The progress that both downtown areas have made is significant. What is needed now is to make a concerted effort to keep that momentum going.
Anyone who participates in a sport will tell you that you have to continue to train, continue to try out new techniques, or else you go stale and lose what you had to begin with. “Body building” the downtown areas is much the same. Throwing money at them for improvements, then turning away will result in failure sooner or later. I hope that both Towns will take some serious looks at what can be done to keep that “conditioning” in place.
Hope you enjoy the video.
By Carol Lindstrom On April 9 at 12:39 AM
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