May 9, 2008Long meetings in ChristiansburgIn their roundup of Tuesday's Christiansburg Town Council meeting, the Ts over at Think, Christiansburg! make a good point about something that's bugged me since I started attending these meetings. On Tuesday, the meeting opened with a couple of public hearings about some land use proposals. Then the planning commission went into a separate meeting to discuss its recommendations. That took more than an hour, during which everyone else sat around bored. This sort of break in the middle of the meeting is typical. There also is usually another one toward the end of the meeting during which the council kicks everyone out. Afterward, it might just adjourn or it might act on whatever it discussed. The upshot is that Christiansburg council meetings feature considerable downtime that is a disincentive for citizens to attend. Here are two proposals to make it all go more smoothly: 1) Hold public hearings on land use issues before the planning commission at a separate meeting. Perhaps on Monday night before or something. Then the planning commission could hear testimony (council could attend and listen, too) and hold its discussion without disrupting the flow of the regular meeting. As the Ts observed, citizens with requests had to sit around all that time before presenting them on Tuesday. 2) Hold the secret council discussions prior to the regular meeting. If the council has something it absolutely needs to do behind closed doors, it can meet a half hour, hour or whatever it needs before the regular meeting starts and have its discussions. Then it will be ready to do its business in the public eye. These aren't earth-shattering changes. They're just simple adjustments that could make Christiansburg town government a bit more accessible. |
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Comments
[May 10, 2008 10:41 AM]
One of the TsGreat ideas - in the atmosphere of change that the Town is developing, maybe they will fly.
[May 10, 2008 12:44 PM]
Ed S.Can the "secret" discussions legally take place outside of the meeting? Although different, the board at my HOA must sometimes go into executive session to discuss matters. This can only take place during regularly scheduled meetings according to the HOA documents.
[May 10, 2008 1:52 PM]
c. trejbalI'd have to double check on the details, Ed. But even if it can only go into executive session during a regular meeting, nothing prevents the town from scheduling the executive session for the first thing on the agenda with the second item on the agenda the commencement of the rest of the meeting at a certain time. If they finish early, council can recess for a bit.