Wow! Etiquette lessons in Christiansburg.
For YEARS, citizens have asked for meeting minutes and agendas to be made easily available, to no avail. Last year, council was finally busted for not following FOIA law and things have since changed -- a little.
First changed was providing public notification of meetings, as required. Then it was a public FOIA training session. Then a public notice board was moved from behind a plant to the front entry way. Once a bit of confusion was cleared up, another board was placed outside where citizens could read the information board even when town offices were closed. Then it was eliminating "recesses" for Planning Commission meetings after public hearings and shifting what had been immediate council action to a subsequent meeting.
Now, two meetings in a row, the Town Council agenda is being provided to citizens within the minimum three (3) business days before meetings, presumably at the same time council packets are provided to members.
The latest agenda, for Tuesday, November 18 at 7:30 pm also sports a new format, with instructions on how council is to be spoken to:
"Citizens may address Council during the Public Hearing and Citizen Hearing portions of the meeting and are asked to observe the following: ● Speak at the podium ● Clearly state your name and address ● Direct your comments only to Council ● Speak only once during a specific Public Hearing or comment period."
It mostly makes sense, because often speakers just stand up and talk from the audience. Citizens may not know who a speaker is -- even if that person is familiar to council -- or unable to hear them (council itself does not utilize microphones).
But the "speak only once" decree is problematic. Did the Mayor and Town Manager vet this with their hired legal-beagles? Generally, these types of requirements are prescribed by government via policy manuals -- in this case, that would be the Town Code.
Given the town hired a consultant in the early '70s to draft a Town Code, and because the town hasn't really kept it current since then, this "speak only once" restriction is indeed a concern. Whose job was it to keep the code current, and where are the state regulators?
"Speak only once" would certainly require equal application, meaning if a citizen has already spoken, even council itself shouldn't call on that same person to respond to something later during the same meeting.
That Town Code is outdated is worrisome, too, because its membership to the Virginia Manciple League provided access to resources which should have prevented this disconnection from the superior State Code -- especially since several council and staff members have held leadership roles within the VML, and therefore presumed to be aware of the resources available.
Even more worrisome is that Christiansburg's Town Code has not been kept current with State Code. It requires routine maintenance because when the General Assembly meets, as it is wont to do, it typically takes actions which change the law and impact code or policy (even though it cannot agree to fix bridges or balance a budget). This is one reason most locality's have an attorney -- to watch for these things and work with staff to suggest appropriate revisions and ensure conformity, which the governing body then adopts.
As an example: Kind of like the the first agenda item for Christiansburg Town Council's next meeting, where amendments to Chapter 10, Erosion and Sediment Control Ordinance will bring our town into compliance with previously established state minimums.
Confounded? Surely, any seeming "responsiness" has nothing to do with a referendum which will appear on the November 2009 ballot, asking voters if they want town elections moved .... In the meantime, it might be a good thing if the Mayor and Town Manager check in with an attorney on Freedom of Speech and possible legal ramifications of an obsolete Town Code.