Scothorn may resign if Board of Supervisors change meetings back to 9 a.m.
Valley District Supervisor Mac Scothorn
The Board of Supervisors has potentially changed its opinion to continue the 2 p.m. meetings that have been in effect now for several years. Supervisor Terry Austin said, “It would be of benefit to the local weekly paper The Fincastle Herald as well as the county administration to go back to the 9 a.m.”
Austin said, “No one was coming except those who had to be there.” However, the room was full earlier in the meeting during the Eagle Rock community center public hearing and the speech by Carolyn Slaughter about the Blue Ridge School. For the past several years that has been more of the rule rather than the exception.
Mac Scothorn who is a local ophthalmologist said he may have to resign if the meetings move back to 9 a.m.
The changes will be enacted in the January 2013 meeting. After the meeting, Supervisor Jack Leffel would like to get comments about the proposal.
Please feel free to comment here on the Botetourt View.
December 20, 2012 - 5:00 PM
I am one of those who attend every Board meeting. I firmly support the 2pm – 6 pm schedule as one that best meets the needs of the public. With a 2pm start time one can only lose 1’2 of a days work, whereas a 9am start time means you lose a whole day. That would mean we could lose a man like Mac Scothorn which would be a great shame. We need more participation at these meetings, not less. The important items are mmost often handled by 4pm which means the Fincstle should be able to handle them. One Board member suggested that if we had a 9am start time the Board members could eat lunch as a group and be seen by the public between sessions. A 2pm start time gives them this time for luch and at 1100am to 130pm they would have a better chance of being seen, but that is just a silly reason to change the meeting time. I could go on but enough…leave the meeeting schedule alone and worry about how to deal with the school situation, a much greater problem.
I’m always amazed at the judgement, or lack there of, from so many of our elected officials. If you really want the average citizen to participate and provide input at meetings, schedule them at a more convenient time in the evenings when most constituents are not at work. Furthermore, it would be a shame to lose one of our best elected officials from shortsighted leadership. Do we really want to revert back to the days of our previous leadership in the Valley District?
Neither the 9 am nor the 2 pm start times are conducive to the working public. There are many Botetourt residents who work 8-5 jobs outside of the county. We would like to attend the BOS meetings, however cannot because of the aforementioned times. IF the BOS is serious about wanting more public participation (from both residents AND supervisors), then meeting times need to be at times when most of the county citizens can attend (ie, after 5 pm.) An after 5 pm meeting time also has the added benefit of allowing those daytime workers the chance to run for local office if they are so inclined. But to continue the daytime meetings: #1 disenfranchises the very citizens that help this county function and #2 discredits any beneficial outcomes the board may be working on due to excluding working board members. As for the local news outlets (print, TV, radio), they are here to serve us, not the other way around.
Suggestion: Post video of the Board meetings on county web site… simple and inexpensive.I beleive the Board approved on line audio in 2010 or 2011 but it never happened. Early evening meetings would best serve the general public..not to mention the working Supervisors.
Seriously? The reasons for switching would be (A) more people will come at 9 a.m. than 2 p.m., (B) it would be better for the county administration, and (C) it would be better for a community paper??? Let’s consider each of those arguments. (A) I’m betting more folks would be able to make a 2 p.m. meeting than a 9 a.m. (B) Silly me. I thought the administration worked for the Board, not vice versa. (C) You are really wanting to accommodate a newspaper deadline? Let the paper change its print/distribution schedule. I could not care less whether the Board meets at 9 a.m. or 2 p.m., but these reasons for considering a change are a bit off-the-wall.
Who is going to be able to attend a 9am meeting? Probably no one who works a 9-5 job. I am totally against moving the time to 2pm. I have attended a few meetings and that is dependent on my work schedule. The 9am start would be even worse. As for getting the board info into that weeks Fincastle paper that’s a poor excuse. Either the press can be held once a month till the board results are in or we can read about it in the Roanoke Times. It’s also budget time so the 9am start would definitely keep folks from attending. Mac is a very effective leader for his district and this would be a huge blow to lose him. Terry the 2pm time needs to be kept as not everyone, board members included has a job they can just up and leave at any time.