Thursday, June 24, 2010

Augusta County BOS meeting: Staggered terms shot down

Augusta County resident David Karaffa was the lone speaker at Wednesday's Board of Supervisors meeting, addressing the board to say he agreed with the staggered terms proposal put out by Supervisor Tracy Pyles. He spoke with WHSV TV-3 afterwards ... video here.

By staggering the terms, three supervisors would be voted in and two years later the other four would be voted onto the board, all to serve four year terms. This method is used by almost two-thirds of the localities statewide and most governing bodies in the Shenandoah Valley with the lone exception of Augusta County.

Quite frankly, I am surprised there is such resistance to this from the board. Wednesday night's vote was simply to let the issue be presented in a public hearing so the residents of Augusta County could weigh in on it but four of the board members were adamant they did not want to go that route.

The supervisors most vehemently against staggered terms appear to be afraid of what they may hear from the public. Excuses like "they can speak at these meetings" don't cut it. By drawing attention to a specific issue, it allows folks to be more aware.

As a result, the issue was voted down and Supervisor Pyles proposed circulating petitions to get this issue on the ballot in 2011 to let the people decide.

The Waynesboro News Virginian covered it as well as WHSV TV-3 and Stuanton News Leader. Also David has a post up at the Augusta Conservative blog.

No comments: