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Radford and Christiansburg have very different contract issues for very different reasons.

Radford officials have at the front of their concerns list making sure that citizens are protected by insuring that the position of town attorney is being put out for bid and a new contract developed. An interesting aside to this is "who is writing the contract?" The rfp and contract do not, in any way, exclude the current town attorney from competing for, and winning said contract. It is a far and open process. Radford is simply joining the growing number of jurisdictions who are moving to a dedicated attorney.

Christiansburg, on the other hand, is involved with allowing the Town Manager to compile a contract for him that is in his best interest. The sample document used by the Town Manager is one that is provided at a website that focuses on the needs of those appointed officials, regardless of whether or not it is in the best interest of the Town.

While the contract itself has not become public knowledge, the sample contract used for the C'burg Town Manager contract is available online. Clearly, this is a document written to protect the Town Manager NOT the town. It will be interesting to see if the town attorney suggests modifications that support the interests the town or those of the Manager. It will also be interesting to see which of the 'elected officials' are supporting the town's interest and which support the manager's interest.

Given the Town of Christiansburg's history of getting into contracts, discovering that mistakes were made, and then struggling to get out of those contracts (Tourism Development, Blacksburg Transit). It would be silly for them to enter into ANY contract that lasted for more than one year.

As to the Town Manager's dedication to the citizens of the Town, all one needs to do is to read the original contract he set up with VT for the Aquatic Center, then read the one that was finalized after citizen uproar forced a re-evaluation. The version here shows the changes made in red. Please note that the Town Manger was essentially the only one working up this contract with the Town Attorney reviewing it. He was all but giving the Aquatic Center to VT.

So, in light of the compared progressive and regressive actions of the two jurisdictions, I have a survey that people can take to evaluate the performance of Mayor, Council, and Town Manager in 4 areas:

Your participation will be greatly appreciated.