Marty Gordon
The new year will begin in Christiansburg with two newcomers joining town council, and one incumbent returning to their seat after this past November’s elections.
Tonya Hockett was the top vote getter in the town elections with Christine Waltz and Beth Umberger taking the next two spots.
Umberger has a biology degree from Virginia Tech, is a master gardener, and has worked at the Montgomery Museum gardens. Waltz spent over a decade in the U.S. Navy as a hospital corpsman and moved to the New River Valley to raise a family. This is both Umberger’s and Waltz’ first time on local government.
Hockett is a senior associate at The Cadmus Group. She previously worked as a project coordinator for the Virginia Department of Emergency Management, an emergency coordinator for Virginia Tech, and a safety and training program coordinator for the town of Christiansburg. This will be her second term on council.
All three were given a chance to answer a few questions this past week.
Hockett said she sought re-election because she still cares deeply for our community.
“I still believe that I have critical skills and well-researched perspectives that represent citizen interests,” she said. “I also care about our town staff and want to see us create an exceptional work environment so that we can attract the best team to help us develop and implement a multi-year strategic plan.”
In looking at the biggest challenges the town faces in the near future, she points to balancing timely efforts to address competing priorities.
“Our infrastructure needs updating, sufficient and affordable housing is a concern, and emergency services need to be expanded. It will take careful planning, but I feel sure we can create one, five and 10 year plans that address the way forward for these needs,” she said.
When thinking about goals for the governmental body, Hockett said she would like to make sure council has open debates issues so they can test and validate ideas and improve opinions and, ultimately, decision-making capability.
“I think it’s impossible to make consistently good decisions if you don’t expose them to contrasting opinions,” she said. “I want to do my part to make council a place where those opinions are welcome from the public and thoroughly discussed from the board seats. I also want to serve on an ethically sound and openly honest council. To me, this is more important than any other quality a governing body can have.”
Furthermore, Hockett hopes to be to promote champion exceptional and clear strategic planning efforts and enhance community relationships.
“I am also committed to supporting the reinvigoration of our downtown and balancing growth and services in sustainable ways,” she said.
Umberger said she ran for town council to serve the community and build on the foundation of the work done by those who have served before her.
“The biggest challenge will be well designed growth that provides safe places for people to walk, meet and interact,” Umberger said. “One of the topics brought up the most is the need for sidewalks.”
“I hope to work together with the community, staff and council to find the solutions that best meet the needs of the community,” she continued.
Waltz said she ran to keep taxes where they are.
“I can’t promise to lower them, but my goal will be to keep them right where they are,” she said. “The economic climate is challenging, and my purpose will be to try and keep money in people’s pockets.”
The newcomer supports maintaining a conservative fund balance policy, keeping the unassigned fund balance between 35 to 40 percent.
Waltz said she feels there are several challenges for the town in the new year.
“Citizens hit on affordable housing as one of the areas they want council to focus on and Christiansburg gets its turn in 2027 in some funding to address it, according to the New River Regional Commission, but the one that stands out to me is infrastructure,” she said. “Narrow and poorly maintained streets and no sidewalks seem to be our theme song and is standing in the way of safely approving new developments.”
While on council the next four years, Waltz hopes to keep taxes where they are, while looking at and dealing with infrastructure needs and hopefully help improve communication. She also hopes to address affordable housing through the New River HOME Consortium and believes Community Development Block grant funds can also be used for affordable housing.