Congratulations to Mrs. Bass who was appointed last night as our newest Council member. She will be sworn in on Wednesday evening. I’ve only been involved in two of these proceedings but I thought that this group was a pretty qualified bunch. Thanks to everyone who stepped forward for consideration! I would encourage all to continue their involvement with the City. Also, assuming that everything goes as planned, there will be an opening on the School Board in the near future and we need good people for that too!
June 9, 2009 at 2:49 pm
Sheryl is a very good choice. She has proven herself to be a smart, hard working leader in our community. The Council made a good decision in selecting her.
I am struck by how many talented people we keep finding to help run our town. Every time we promote someone, or someone retires, another impressive person turns up to take their place. I think it speaks well of the job you have been doing that so many talented people would want a seat on the City Council, even in these difficult times. You’ve made it look, maybe not easy, but at least doable.
June 9, 2009 at 8:30 pm
Councilman,
Thank you so much for taking the time to post to your blog on a daily basis. It is so nice to see that our city government can be transparent to it’s citizens. You are providing a creative and personal view of city goverment life that does not get communicated effectively in formal city publications.
Thanks again,
Cory Hall
Bristoe Station Neighborhood
June 10, 2009 at 6:50 am
I too agree Sheryl is a good choice as I have known her since she was the 4-H leader for my two children years ago. Always dynamic, and a thinker. I particularly liked her response to Mr. Randolph when he tossed out his “grenade” about having a two-city library – Sheryl provided an interesting response centering it on the Musuem collection and making it a Civil War research center. Albiet, that would take lots of dollars, but still a creative idea on a subject, that like schools, can get folks “Irish up”.
Most fascinating to watch in the process were the questions asked. Personally, I gained more incite to the Council from listening to the questions, and could see certain trends throughout – such as regional issues, diversity and the shared-services with the School System.
Andy, I think that could almost be a blog item in itself – the Shared Services agreement versus actual programmed budgeting based on identified requirements/needs instead of building on a percentage and working back. Just an idea 🙂
June 10, 2009 at 7:01 am
The thing to remember about the shared services agreement(s) is that they need to be considered in their entireity. If we crack open that agreement to renegotiate one part that we don’t like, our partners may seek to renegotiate a part that we are fond of…:) This isn’t a reason not to move forward with such a notion, just something to consider.
June 10, 2009 at 11:45 am
Ray,
Tossing a “grenade”? That should spice up my public image –
Rambo Randolph?
Anyway, “shared services” with PWC is a regular issue
for Manassas residents and it should be. What is the cost/benefit
of those services and what other options,if any, do we have?
Is what made sense five or ten years ago still valid?
Cheryl and I have talked numerous times about library
services for city residents. She has been the city representative
on the PWC Library Board for nearly a decade and Manassas
is currently billed around 1.4 million dollars a years for
those services.
One option, as she mentioned, would be a branch facility
in Old Town, possibly in partnership with the Museum.
Another topic, has been the rapid growth of IT – the role of
computers and, more recently, “kindle” technology – what
should the library of 2015 look like and how will it function?
This is all still at the discussion level and may well
stay there until the economy improves, but, as always, let
us know what you think.
Please note that Mrs. Bass will be sworn in this evening
at 5:30 in the council chambers in city hall. The public is
invited.
(As a footnote, I’ve noted that Manassas Park is doing a
study of library services in their jurisdiction and found that
of interest, but have never suggested we build a joint facility.)