Here's a copy of a letter I sent the Mayor and Council about moving the elections again:

Mr. Mayor and Council members:

I hope that this finds you well.  I know that some of you are new to the job and some are returning.  I congratulate Mssrs. Aveni, Elston and Mrs. Bass on your recent election!  I hope that you all work together to make the city a better place!  Before I left the Council I was asked about my thoughts on moving the local elections again – to odd-numbered years but still in November.  Since then, I've been asked by others about this topic and I'd like to share my thoughts with one and all.

When this topic came up some years ago my thought was that moving the election from May to November was a bad idea.  It would make running for office much more expensive and difficult.  Indeed, our own Mr. Randolph lamented that he was likely the last Independent to be elected in the City of Manassas.  In the extreme, that change could put local office out of the reach of "citizen legislators" and into the hands of those whose sole interest was political office and advancement therein.  May elections have obviously not precluded this outcome either but they did make the office attainable by most folks willing to knock on several hundred doors.  In any event, a referendum was held and the idea prevailed, moving our elections to November.  The people spoke and changes were made.  The most recent change (changing the year but not the month) being considered evidently does not require a referendum and only a vote of the Council to ask the General Assembly to amend our charter.  

I'm not troubled by the proposed change.  Getting local elections out from under the presidential election is a great idea.  It would give local elections more visibility and help keep costs down.  However, what does trouble me is that sitting Council members would be voting to both move the elections and extend their own term in office.  This is unseemly.  Current office holders shouldn't be voting to extend their own terms.  In addition, that most sacred voice – the voice of the people via the ballot box – moved the elections to their current date and time.  That voice must be respected.  

I would ask that you defer action on this item until next year and put a non-binding resolution concerning this matter on the ballot this fall.  In this way, the people still have a voice.

Regards, 

Andrew L. Harrover

President, Matrix Computer Consulting

The real, real, real, real – and I mean it – real – last meeting of my Council tenure was last Tuesday.  In that meeting a consultant presented his report on a "Citizen Satisfaction Survey" that the City Manager had commissioned.  My general thought on the survey is that it was well conducted and the guys that did it really seem to know what the hell they're doing.  It's a great value for the City as well as the contract allows us to send them queries about the results for up to a year and they will produce another report at no additional expense.  This is great as there is a new Council and they are going to go on a strategic retreat soon and more questions may come from that affair (hopefully this retreat produces actual strategic thinking and not a laundry list).

I think there are 3 distinct take aways from the survey presentation:

1.  The citizens are pretty happy with the services the city provides.  Many of our services, especially our public safety services, score well above a "best practices" level.  The only soft patch amongst services the City delivers for more than a year appears to be how Community Development is handling zoning enforcement.  Not sure what's going on there.  Last I checked we had four inspectors so either they just aren't getting it done or they're being used for something else.  That's happened in Neighborhood Services the past several years.  Since we dont have Parks & Rec, one of our 2 staffers in that department spends a lot of time managing the pool and the fields….and not on neighborhood services.  However, overall scores are really impressive.

2.  There's something in the results for everyone.  The "Steady staters" who believe the City should spend ever less on government and schools will see validation in the level of satisfaction with our existing services.  Those who want to see progress will agree that basic services are well executed but they will want to see more done along the lines of Parks & Rec., etc.

3.  To my mind, the most important takeaway is that Manassas is being judged by her residents based on what they see in surrounding jurisdictions.  Lack of Bike / Ped lanes and no Parks & Rec department have been noticed by our existing residents and they'd like to see something done about it.  They also rank our Economic Development efforts as sub-par.  Our ED director has been on the job less than a year but it's getting to be time he articulated a path forward.  If our existing residents cite these things as being important what does that mean to potential residents?  The Council has the stated goal of attracting well to do residents and business owners.  Given where we are, those individuals are likely to come from Fairfax and/or Loudon.  What are these folks likely to think about the City's current infrastructure and amenities?  Given that we have that goal and the fact that those people aren't moving here I think we all know the answer.  The Council needs to articluate a strategy to make that happen if it is to remain a goal and hope isn't a strategy….

The other takeaway from the survey is that folks really want the schools to improve.  I share that sentiment – a high performing school system would be a real game-changer for the city.  However, I feel as though the schools are heading in the right direction and we should start to see improvements.  They had a very deep hole to dig out of and have been making the difficult decisions to change things.