Recently blogging about legal notices -- those tiny classified ads required by State Code before the advent of the internet -- it appears citizens really can't tell when or where these will run (since there's more than one newspaper or journal serving our political or geographic area). And since they are so small, buried in the classified section, they are easy to miss. Because they come with a cost, they may not provide all the details, either.
Often these notices refer readers who do see them to another source for further details, sometimes at a later date, so it can all turn into a kind of scavenger hunt for citizens trying to keep track of topics that continue to pop up.
Another twist for citizens are the forms of local government. Virginia law override local laws, which have to at least conform with any minimums established by the state (unless expressly excluded by special legislative action which is granted by specific code). Cities and counties have no overlaps, yet towns within counties do. The clearest example of this is found in public schools, which are funded partially by the state and partially by the city or county. Towns don't "do" public education. There are people who will swear Blacksburg has its own school system, even though it is a town and public education is handled at a county level by yet another separate, elected board.
City residents do not pay county taxes, but town residents pay both county and town taxes. These tax sources are limited by the state and the rates vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. The clearest example of this in Montgomery County can be seen in Blacksburg residents not paying personal property taxes, whereas Christiansburg residents do.
Standard operating procedures for these government entities varies greatly, too. For example, the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors and Town of Blacksburg council regularly schedule "work sessions" on issues which will be coming up for a vote. These may or may not include staff and appointed board or commission reports, and provide council members a chance to ask questions. The setting is generally more informal than regular meetings, and with less press or citizens present, staff and elected officials often are more relaxed and speak freely. Work sessions may be separately scheduled meetings, or incorporated into regular yet alternating meetings as seen with the Montgomery County School Board. In Christiansburg, work session are extremely rare.
So if you are a town resident and parent, you are a constituent of the supervisors, the school board and one of the town councils. That's a lot of regular meeting notices to keep track of, regardless of how they are communicated to the public to meet FOIA or other legal notification requirements. Toss in other public bodies such as commissions or boards, and you have a full calendar. This may contribute to a general "they do whatever they want" mentality by a majority of the public and while daunting, government processes should be designed to be deliberately overwhelming or seen as justification for disengagement. Again, citizens get the government they deserve.
One example of why this matters is a meeting today at 11 am in Blacksburg. A June 24 "legal notice" had a long term flash point topic buried within it: Ordinance 1467. This relates to a discussion about the use of STEP/STEG sewer systems, an issue central to the Toms Creek Basin which has been bounced around since annexation decades ago and has been before the state's Supreme Court at least once. The legal notice may have prompted people to visit the Town's website to review Ordinance 1467, yet may have also required a visit to Town Hall to get the full text for residents who receive email alerts.
And this ongoing hot topic isn't included as one of the NRV special section topics, as are the old Blacksburg Middle School or Giles County fly ash project. Having no speakers at a recent Public Meeting seems to indicate people weren't aware the sewer topic was resurfacing. This, even though this issue was had been a driving force in at least one previous Blacksburg town election and a super-majority of members is to be determined at the polls this November.
All this does make it difficult to keep the dots connected. Especially when governments create one document, publish some of it here, edit it for another use, post it in another, publish something else somewhere else and so on.
Since there are also regional authorities or partnerships providing for such critical services as police, fire, rescue 911 operations or water and sewer or landfill management -- and local economies which rely on the health and stability of larger, overlapping communities -- citizens do need to be aware of these organizations and the direction they are heading. It affects our health and welfare, and explains a lot of the taxes or fees we pay, some of which are paid directly by citizens and some that get passed on to us as consumers. One example is the formation of a regional tourism initiative, now under fire. Another example of this can be found in the state established Planning District Commissions (PDC), with the one in the NRV also linked to the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO). The MPO focuses on regional transportation issues -- road and bridge maintenance and construction priorities, public transportation and trail systems, as examples.
This takes us back to that work session in Blacksburg today at 11 am. Another item on this agenda is an update on the Christiansburg bus service by Blacksburg Transit (BT), a department within Blacksburg government. Regular readers of this blog will remember the MPO paid for a survey sent to all Christiansburg residences last fall, which was compiled by VT with results and options presented in April. These scenarios for expanding and improving public transportation in Christiansburg was the subject of one of the only two work sessions held by Christiansburg council in the past year.
So even though this subject hasn't been discussed by Christiansburg council since adoption of the FY 2009-2010 budget, town residents may get to learn more about town bus service by attending at Blacksburg work session. Viewing a recording of this meeting at WTOB isn't an option as they are not recorded, so folks will have to wait for minutes to be published. Or maybe a news reporter will be present who understands the history and connections. Christiansburg council has a meeting scheduled for tonight, but this topic is absent from the published agenda (which could be amended prior to it being adopted at the meeting).
Citizens seem to have "work sessions" anytime our local governments -- town, county, city or school boards -- schedule a public meeting. Not finding more "PR" about these issues on the various government websites doesn't make matters easier, so let's hope elected officials don't complain about "uninformed voters."