Meeting colors

OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD

Record of Proceedings

Blacksburg Town Council Meeting - January 27, 2026

Town Council — Tuesday, January 27, 2026

BodyBlacksburg, Virginia

SessionTown Council

DateTuesday, January 27, 2026

StatusFILED

Video Record

0:00 / 42:29

Transcript — VerbatimClick a timed line to jump · ⧉ to share it

0:29

The council come to order and will the clerk please call the roll.

0:32

Anderson, present.

0:34

Campbell?

0:34

Present.

0:35

Oliver.

0:36

Here.

0:36

Board?

0:37

Here.

0:39

Here.

0:40

First up this evening, we have the consent agenda.

0:43

There are two items on the consent agenda.

0:45

The first is the town council minutes for January 6th, which will be approving tonight, and second is the Blacksburg Fire Officers and Blacksburg Rescue Squad Officers for 2026, which we will also be confirming tonight.

0:56

I thought I would just go ahead and read the names of those.

0:59

So for the fire officers, that would be Chief Drew Smith, Assistant Chief Mark Smith, Captain Susanna Radcliffe, Captain Colin Colver, Captain Parker Walters, First Lieutenant Wayne Myers Jr., Second Lieutenant Wayne Myers the Third, Second Lieutenant Shane Smith, Second Lieutenant Matthew Massey, and for our rescue squad officers, we're considering the Deputy Chief of Field Operations, Christian Long, the Deputy Chief of EMS operations, Scott Davis, the Deputy Chief of Tactical Rescue, Merjan Hamand, and the Deputy Chief of Support, Laura Latanzi.

1:35

What is council's pleasure on the consent agenda?

1:38

I move approval of the consent agenda.

1:40

Second.

1:42

We have a motion and a second.

1:43

Any discussion?

1:44

Seeing none, will the clerk please call the roll?

1:46

Campbell.

1:47

Yay.

1:48

Oliver.

1:49

Aye.

1:50

Ford.

1:50

Aye.

1:51

Sutfin.

1:52

Aye.

1:53

Anderson.

1:54

Aye.

1:55

Okay.

1:56

Now we move on to public hearings, which there are none tonight, which takes us to citizen comments.

2:02

Um as usual, please come to the podium, state your name and address, direct your comments only to the town council, and limit your speaking time to three minutes.

2:09

Um I'll just note that the remaining agenda items on tonight's agenda are not public hearings, so we'll be voting on those.

2:16

There might be council discussion, but this tonight, the citizens' comment section, that's your opportunity to speak on any and every topic in front of involving the town of Blacksburg.

2:29

Anyone Elaine Jenkins, 202 Mathears Circle, Blacksburg.

2:41

I had hoped that after the January 20th town council meeting that full information on all persons considered or interested in the open town council seats would be shared with the public.

2:51

Yet here we are on the night of your vote with no information.

2:54

I can still only conclude that the reason for this lack of transparency is that you prefer to hand pick your appointees, which does result in them being political appointees.

3:04

I still believe you simply don't want anyone on your council who may think differently from you.

3:10

We need to have electric public services servants with diverse voices, backgrounds, and experience serving on town council.

3:17

Your comfort or de discomfort with them is irrelevant.

3:21

I would love to know the process you went through to land on your chosen appointees during your closed door meeting.

3:28

But given you have chosen not to be transparent about that process beyond the limited discussion at your work session, I thought I'd share my thoughts.

3:36

Pete Masito received 5,555 votes from the citizens of Blacksburg in the 2025 mayoral election.

3:44

That's only 18 fewer votes than you received, Mayor Suffon.

3:47

Yet the Blacksburg Town Council has decided that he is not qualified to fill the seat.

3:53

Pete received more votes than any one of you received for town council other than Susan Anderson.

3:59

If Pete isn't the best choice choice to appoint to one of the seats, I seriously don't know who is the voters spoke, but you're choosing to ignore those voters.

4:09

Joel Goodhart received 4,852 votes from the citizens of Blacksburg in 2025.

4:15

And you have decided that he is qualified to fill that seat.

4:27

And you have decided that he is not qualified to fill that seat.

4:35

Nevertheless, once again, you choose to ignore these voters.

4:39

And let's not forget that Rick Johnson received 2,397 votes from the citizens of Blacksburg in 2023.

4:47

Only 38 less than the fraudulently elected Liam Watson.

4:51

Yet you have decided that Rick is not qualified to fill the seat that he actually should have been in all along.

5:00

You could finally do the right thing and appoint Rick to one of the seats.

5:03

Yet you are implicitly still supporting the fraudulent election of Liam Watson.

5:09

The candidate, the Blacksburg Town Council recruited to run against Rick in 2023.

5:16

Andrew Cassov received zero votes from the citizens of Blacksburg because he has never run for town council.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting

Community Engagement█████████████████████████████████████████████50%

Personnel Matters████████████████████████27%

Procedural████████████████18%

Water And Wastewater Management█████5%

Summary of Proceedings

Blacksburg Town Council Meeting – January 27, 2026

The Blacksburg Town Council met on January 27, 2026 at 6:30 p.m. in the Roger E. Hedgepeth Chambers. The meeting included approval of the consent agenda, public comments on interim appointments, adoption of the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) for FY2027–FY2031, and the appointment of two interim council members. The meeting adjourned at 7:11 p.m.

Consent Calendar

Town Council Minutes: January 6, 2026 – Approved.
Blacksburg Fire Officers and Blacksburg Rescue Squad Officers for 2026 – Confirmed. Fire officers included Chief Drew Smith, Assistant Chief Mark Smith, Captains Susanna Radcliffe, Colin Colver, Parker Walters, First Lieutenant Wayne Myers Jr., Second Lieutenant Wayne Myers III, Second Lieutenant Shane Smith, and Second Lieutenant Matthew Massey. Rescue squad officers included Deputy Chief of Field Operations Christian Long, Deputy Chief of EMS Operations Scott Davis, Deputy Chief of Tactical Rescue Merjan Hamand, and Deputy Chief of Support Laura Latanzi.
The consent agenda passed on a roll call vote (5-0: Campbell, Colliver, Ford, Sutphin, Anderson voted yes; none opposed).

Public Comments & Testimony

Elaine Jenkins (202 Mateer Circle) expressed disappointment with the Council's selections for interim appointments, asking that Rick Johnson be appointed. She criticized the lack of transparency and argued that the process ignored the votes received by certain candidates in recent elections.
Steve Gillespie (201 Fairfax Road) stated the procedure was legal and sound, expressed confidence that law was followed, and noted that any dissatisfaction could be addressed in the November 2026 election.
Pete Macedo (502 Lee Street) was disappointed with the timing of the appointee selection. He compared the process unfavorably to the Town of Christiansburg's approach, noting he had not been asked about his interest and that the Council had made its decision in nine days rather than the available 45 days.

Discussion Items

Capital Improvement Program (CIP) Adoption – Resolution 1-E-26

Councilmember Colliver discussed a citizen's concern about water main breaks and reported that staff provided details: in 2024, 800 feet of water mains were replaced on Locust Avenue; in 2026, 1,300 feet of water main is planned for Highland Circle; and in 2027, another 1,000 feet plus a 350-foot section. She expressed confidence that core services are being addressed.
The resolution adopting the CIP for FY2027–FY2031 passed unanimously on a roll call vote (5-0: Colliver, Ford, Sutphin, Anderson, Campbell voted yes; none opposed).

Town Council Interim Appointments

Mayor Sutphin read a statement explaining the statutory process: vacancies arose from his move to mayor and Liam Watson's resignation; state law requires appointments within 45 days, a public hearing, and a special election in November 2026. The proposed appointees (Joel Goodhart and Andrew Kassoff) were announced at a January 13 public hearing.
Council discussion included concerns about transparency and process. Councilmember Campbell expressed discomfort with the lack of public input and called for a process similar to Christiansburg's. Councilmember Colliver defended the appointments, noting Goodhart's service on the housing board and Kassoff's track record on the planning commission. Vice Mayor Anderson supported the picks, citing Kassoff's empathy and Goodhart's vote totals from the recent election. Councilmember Ford framed the selection as a hiring decision for a 10-month term.
A motion to appoint Joel Goodhart and Andrew Kassoff to the interim terms passed on a roll call vote: Ford, Sutphin, Anderson, and Colliver voted yes; Campbell abstained; none voted no.

Key Outcomes

Consent Agenda approved (5-0).
Resolution 1-E-26 (CIP Adoption) approved (5-0).
Interim appointments: Joel Goodhart and Andrew Kassoff appointed (4-0-1, with Campbell abstaining).
The appointed members will serve through the November 2026 special election, after which voters will fill the seats for the remainder of the original terms ending December 31, 2027.
Upcoming meetings: Work session February 3, 2026; Regular meeting February 10; Council retreat February 12.

SUMMARIZED BY OPENPUBLICA AI

TRANSCRIPT VIA PUBLIC VIDEO
openpublica.com