By Lori Graham
CHRISTIANSBURG – Christiansburg Town Council’s April 8, 2025, meeting was met early on with frustrations from a citizen pertaining to perceived unethical behavior in light of the meeting’s agenda item discussion and action on town attorney engagement and council decorum policies.
According to the meeting’s agenda at www.christiansburg.org, “Town Council adopted a Town Attorney Engagement Policy on Aug. 13, 2019. With several new members to council, staff requests that council reaffirm the engagement policy moving forward and did so on Jan. 11, 2022, Jan. 10, 2023, Jan. 9, 2024, and Jan. 14, 2025.”
The policy states that “any questions by an elected official, for the town’s legal counsel shall be channeled through the town manager or assistant town manager prior to contacting the town attorney directly.” Exceptions to this rule are with those of the elected body maintaining appointment authority, for example, the police chief, treasurer, clerk of council and others.
The Christiansburg Town Council Code of Ethics, reaffirmed on Jan. 14, 2025, reads, “The citizens of Christiansburg are entitled to fair, ethical, accountable, and effective local government. Such a government requires that elected public officials: Comply with both the letter and spirit of the laws, ordinances, and policies of town government. Be independent, impartial and fair in their judgment and actions. Use their public office for the public good and not for personal gain. Conduct public deliberations and processes openly. Act with respect and civility.”
During the public address portion of the council meeting, Christopher Waltz addressed council members.
“I sent you some stuff that you know, looks like some pretty unethical behavior to me,” Waltz said. “Again, the mayor doing his little cosplay thing on election day at the polling place in a Christiansburg Police Department shirt accusing someone who was running for office of committing a crime, while people are going in and out of the polling station making a huge scene.”
The election day instance referred to by Waltz, according to his Facebook page at Christiansburg FOIA [Freedom of Information Act], provides a YouTube video of an altercation that happened between Mayor Mike Barber and a candidate for Christiansburg Council in 2023, Jeff Akers. In the video, it appears that Barber accused Akers of removing another candidate’s, Wendy Glass, signs from a polling location, considered a crime in the Commonwealth of Virginia. A Christiansburg Police report, dated Nov. 7, 2023, stated the sign “Wendy Glass for Town Council” was valued at $16 with the crime listed as petit larceny.
Council decorum in the process of government business for the town was also a point of discussion for members during the meeting.
“My thing about the town staff is, again there’s a chain of command, and I’m not saying that we don’t have oversight over the staff in the town; however, they all work for somebody,” Vice Mayor Timothy Wilson said. “So, when we go directly to a staff member without going through the proper channel, their supervisor, which is in my opinion, [Town Manager] Randy [Wingfield], we ask staff members for stuff through Randy, because he dictates their schedule.”
“I would like to see council consider each time the town attorney is contacted outside of this policy reimbursing the town for the cost of that service, just for consideration,” Council member Tonya Hockett said. “I really think we’re abusing the town attorney’s contact every time we ignore this policy.”
Hockett also suggested refraining from cell phone use during council meetings, including the recording of closed sessions and committee meetings.
“You can probably trust a lot of these people, but I don’t trust any of you, and so, there you go,” Council member Johana Hicks said.
An additional agenda action item during the April 8 meeting was the Small Business Façade Grant program, which provides opportunities for business property owners to make improvements to the street-facing façade of their buildings and receive grant reimbursement money for qualified applicants. The program was passed by Christiansburg Town Council in a three-to-two split, with one member abstaining. Hicks did not vote due to conflict from her position as a downtown business owner. Council members Kim Bowman and Samuel Bishop voted against the acceptance of the updated Small Business Façade Grant.
During member announcements, Wilson reminded everyone that the time for the Christiansburg Farmer’s Market reopening is coming soon. Applications for vendors and requirements to set up at the market are available at www.christiansburg.org. The Farmer’s Market will be open to the public beginning May 15 and ending Oct. 30, Thursdays from 3-7 p.m., at the Christiansburg Recreation Center parking lot.
