An editorial in the Roanoke Times Current section is headlined "Radford U Leaders Must Be Speed Readers." It basically points out how this board of visitors doesn't get reports or materials until they meet.
"Most government bodies -- board of supervisors and town councils, for example -- receive similar packets, but they receive them well in advance of the meetings."
While this may be true for some towns, it isn't the case in Christiansburg. Just six months ago, the town finally began putting "its agenda out in advance, as required by state open meeting law, but the supporting documents arrive at the last minute" holds true for Christiansburg Town Council and other committees, too. So it's not just a problem at Radford U.
Do you want your elected officials to only have the information necessary to lead the town given to them at the last possible moment, and address the agenda items on the fly? These are the folks in Christiansburg who are responsible for determining what equates to $97,500 of public dollars spent every-single-day of the year (this number increases to $142,031 a day when you pull out non-working Saturdays, Sundays and holidays when town offices are closed).
As pointed out in the editorial, changing course after a vote isn't easy. The public doesn't have access to these details before meetings or any votes, nor even for testing their own speed reading abilities at council meetings -- the materials aren't made available then, either (an exception has been draft budget materials this year during the work session and Finance Committee meetings).
Nor are they to be found in the town's website, under the archive section. This is especially irresponsible today, given all documents are created electronically and could be distributed and reviewed without requiring paper or staff time to copy and deliver the documents.
This is how it's always been done in Christiansburg. Only the two new council members elected last May cannot be held accountable for allowing this foolish practice -- but not one council member or appointee is even talking about addressing this problem.
So the "consensus" appears to be all these Christiansburg officials find this practice acceptable?
Christianburg voters, do you?