Headlines in the local news:
Historic district task force group - Christiansburg's Town Council did assign a task to its appointed Planning Commission two years ago, to report on historic district overlays. Preservation can equal jobs and increase real property values according to federal sources, yet expect dismal response rates to a recent survey about existing historic districts because it has only received tepid attention from Council. It is treated as something separate and apart from economic and tourism development and downtown renovations when it could instead be another component of those initiatives.
Capital plan work session - The Christiansburg Planning Commission is charged with creating and maintaining this 5-year plan for identifying and working toward large, future expenses. Capital plans are one component of the overall, annual budgets that localities must adopt each year and which go into effect July 1. During the 2009-2010 "preparation" of the capital budget, the chair of this committee is on record stating "
I'm not really sure what we're supposed to do" with the numbers placed before the commission. So the document was taken home to be studied by each member, and was then unanimously approved at the next meeting without discussion.
So were these headlines relative to Christiansburg? Nope.
There have been a few vague references made during a couple of public meetings implying some financial information is being passed between some staff or Council members. A past complaint, however, was not just that Council was called in two-by-two, but that a concise, consistent message was not provided to every Council member. One primary responsibility of each Council member is to have a comprehensive understanding of public monies being collected and spent.
Reading past these headlines, Christiansburg residents see it is just a tease as it is reporting what other localities have done to inform citizens and publicly engage those responsible in this annual process. To defend this 11th hour approach, Christiansburg Council and citizens have been told they "get a better picture by waiting." Would you accept a once a year statement, from anyone else? Why then can other localities proceed and refresh data as necessary -- keeping on top of financial conditions or changes all year?
Voters should have an idea of where the town stands financially, particularly seeing dire news from State and County levels. Voters should know how well the current budget has performed and plans for the upcoming year. This should have started, in the open, well before the campaign season began.