Speaking of the Planning Commission, where are the minutes?
Looking at the town's website (archive page) one sees pull down buttons for both this commission and council, for only fiscal years 2007-08 and 2008-09. Let's see, we've been using computers since at least the 1990s, so where are the other electronic files?
Council meeting minutes show up once they've been voted on as approved. But there's nothing available for the Planning Commission.
This long awaited tool came with the promise it would continue to grow and expand, before it actually went live on January 30th. How about starting, now, by adding existing documents to the archives?
And while they're at it, how about including the public meeting minutes for other appointed commissions, including Parks & Recreation and the new Aquatic Advisory Board? While the Town Charter doesn't appear to speak to this being a requirement the way it does for council meetings, State Code does (which has superior legal standing to a locality).
Another question. The Town Charter states "2.07. Officers.--Fill More than One Office.--It shall be unlawful for any officer appointed by the council, any committee, municipal board, or the head of any department to fill two or more of the offices whose incumbents are appointed by the council or by any appointing power designated by the council, except as otherwise provided herein. (1954, c. 240; 1968, c. 173).
Take a look a current appointments, and see if this holds true. The question becomes that with a population nearing 20,000 why the candidate pool for committees and appointments is so very limited and redundant. There are very, very few citizen committees established by Christiansburg Town Council, contrasted to localities of similar size and budgets (even some established committees are not active). Perhaps it is harder to bring someone new on board when the history is so fuzzy. Isn't "two or more" more than one?
Until the Town Code is brought up to date, State Code should prevail. Look at the proposed fiscal year 2009-2010 budget, too, to see where the funding for the recodification appears, -- getting this task completed and ask council if there's a plan to prevent this neglect from occuring again.