Fight Club... when the music stops

The Taxpayer loves a good fight. The first rule of Fight Club is “Don’t mention Fight Club”. The second rule is “Don’t allow your surroundings to be used against you”.  Well I'm not sure it is in the movie; however, the Taxpayer is trying to make a point.

The Taxpayer has taken a hard look at the proposed comprehensive plan and how it shapes future discussions and decision making; more than what the plan says; but, how it frames the conversation.

Looking into The Taxpayer funded crystal ball, we can catch a glimpse as to how future actions by the technocrats will always be one step closer to their view of utopia because “Hey, it’s in the comprehensive plan and “This action is supported by the comprehensive plan…” Ad nausem…

The Taxpayer screams, “Stop the music!!” Okay who doesn’t have a seat at the table? Well lookie lookie who doesn’t get a cookie… Why am I, The Taxpayer, always left standing up?

Ok… so what to do? BOTTOMLINE The Taxpayer needs a seat at the table.  To make it a fair fight, where The Taxpayer has a shot at assisting our elected officials beat back the onslaught of waves of electronic PDF pages thrown at them every two weeks by "Staff", we have to change the process and adjust the framework.

Here are a few ideas to make the implementation of the comprehensive plan transparent, accountable, and appropriately vetted by informed citizens and our elected leadership. We love technocrats just as much as the next Taxpayer; but, we don’t like the expensive, redundant fiefdoms they create and we love our property rights more. So without further ado, here are today’s specific recommendations from the silent majority:

1. The board should remove the implementation action matrix from the comprehensive plan. The code of Virginia states "The comprehensive plan shall be general in nature, in that it shall designate the general or approximate location, character, and extent of each feature, including any road improvement and any transportation improvement, shown on the plan and shall indicate where existing lands or facilities are proposed to be extended, widened, removed, relocated, vacated, narrowed, abandoned, or changed in use as the case may be. “ On page 9, the plan states “the code states of comprehensive plan is a guide" and it goes on to say "this comprehensive plan provides fundamental guidance". Since this comprehensive plan shall only provide guidance, the Board should not formally adopt any part of the action matrix as it would take a step beyond what a comprehensive plan should actually accomplish. Instead, we recommend that a framework be established by the Board of Supervisors within the Comprehensive Plan. The Taxpayers are concerned about a common ploy used by the administration to rush actions through without proper vetting. This resolution system will address that concern. It also prevents the camel's nose of the comprehensive plan entering The Taxpayer’s tent.

a. All actions found within the action matrix and any other implementation steps should remain in the administrative component of government. When a specific action is ready to move forward, it can be advanced by the administration in the form of a resolution.

b. Each resolution should contain only one topic and focus on an action from the matrix.

c. We recommend that this resolution contained the following key pieces of information to allow citizens, through their elected officials, to have input into the process, to vet the proposed action, to protect their private property rights, and to create a more transparent administration.:

i. a specific explanation to the citizens of what is planned for that action,

ii. the benefits and any potential liabilities (specifically negative effects on property rights),

iii. the cost, and

iv. the proposed timeframe.

2. As part of the implementation process, an internal audit should be conducted annually regarding each proposed action. The audit would contain three performance measurements.

a. The first would be was the cost estimate and timeframe accurately stated and adhered to.

b. The second would check to see if the proposed action approved in the resolution was the same action promulgated by the adopted resolution.

c. Finally, the third performance measure would focus on the impact on private property rights and set up of monitoring system to track potential property right infringements and any compensation required.

3. Finally, unless the online technical support documents can be proactively managed by elected officials, these should be eliminated. (By the way, these documents currently are not found online.)

REMEMBER Unelected bureaucrats do not necessarily represent the same principles shown by our elected officials.

REMEMBER Unelected bureaucrats should not be in a position to change administratively, the intent and reach of the adopted comprehensive plan through administrative means.