Input will help with consolidation

Tom Underwood / Culpeper Star Exponent
Published: February 13, 2008

In a recent Star-Exponent article it was stated that the Town-County Interaction Committee  ("Lawyer will help guide consolidation," Jan. 31) recommended that both government bodies agree to hire an attorney. The committee did not vote to hire an attorney itself. TCI merely does legwork and is a filtering mechanism for the desires of both the BOS and the Town Council. TCI does not have a budget, nor does it have authority to hire an attorney.

I suggested before hiring an attorney that we read the four pages of relevant law and discuss it. The language is straightforward, and I am hopeful that the council and board could agree to the basics of consolidation without disagreement. If not, or even if anything was unclear, we could decide what was unclear and then consult an attorney. My belief was that if we could study the text and provide a little context as to potential contentious issues, we could further the process and perhaps save taxpayers a little money along the way.

In the meantime, the BOS unanimously decided to ask for a letter from the town's attorney regarding the process. If the county attorney and future county attorney agree with the parameters of the town counsel's letter, we'll have an outline of the constructs of consoli-dation before the next TCI meeting. I believe that we are off to a good start toward developing the outline of a consolidation plan for Culpeper voters to consider.

As a member of the Board of Supervisors, I'd like to help develop the plan that residents charged their officials to create, and I'd like to see Culpeper residents have a chance to decide if they believe consolidation is in their best interest. I sincerely appreciate any views on consolidation. I and others will learn from community input. Once a plan is ultimately developed, it'll receive full public vetting and then go to referendum of both town voters and county voters.

In my opinion, the more press and editorial coverage given to consolidation, the better the chance of local government and residents getting it right.