(Revisiting the past: this blog article was originally published on 4/27/08. Things haven't changed much. When changes have been suggested, they have either been shot down or shifted into the "Let's study it until it dies!" file. Visit
http://myvaresources.com/blogs/depotdazed and look at the list unter "Hot Topics" on the right hand side. There you will find the results of some of the searches I have done of the Minutes, Town Code, Town Charter, and Comprehensive Plan concerning some of the "Hot Topics" in the Town of Christiansburg.)
A very informative forum for Town Council candidates was held at Town Hall recently by the League of Women Voters.
While a lot of good information was provided, it was accompanied by several statements that set off some major alarms for me.
The one that caused me the most concern was that several of the candidates implied that they did not need to check into things because the Town Manager knew what he was doing, and it was the Town Manager's role to give them the information needed to make good decisions.
This puts a lot of power in the hands of the Town Manager while simultaneously removing a great deal of power from the hands of citizens. Furthermore, who should you call if there is a problem? Do you call your elected official who simply passes the information on to the Town Manager and then thinks no more about it? Or, do you call the Town Manager directly bypassing the Council member?
Maybe I am wrong but I thought the role of Town Council was to evaluate information provided by the Town Manager and to make informed decisions using multiple other sources of information including citizen input. I do not believe the goal is to simply implement whatever the Town Manager tells them to do.
In fact, I thought the reason for having a Town 'Council' was so that a variety of ideas and viewpoints could be brought to the table as a means of determining the best possible solution.
Guess I have another agenda for my research list now. Do Council members simply accept the word of Town Manager or do they do independent research to determine if there may be any unintentional bias associated with those recommendations? Do the Town Council members actually read and understand the documents they are provided or do they take one person's interpretation of those documents as the single determining factor in decision making? Do the Town Council members actively pursue citizen input through the formation of committees, work groups including citizens, current surveys and studies, and the timely posting of meetings (with enough detail to truly inform the citizens) that are scheduled? Or, does the Town Manager dictate the dance?
Statements made by candidates during the forums are, by necessity, required to be short and concise. It may well be that a wealth of additional research is performed by Town Council but due to limited time for answers, that fact was not brought up. What I do know is that my own searches for information have been very frustrating, time consuming, and costly. Those searches will continue far past any elections so that I can better understand how our Town Government works.