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OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Blacksburg Town Council Regular Meeting – August 25, 2026

Town Council — Tuesday, August 25, 2026
BodyBlacksburg, Virginia
SessionTown Council
DateTuesday, August 25, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 9:24

Original source
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0:26

We will go ahead and get started.

0:27

Will council come to order and will the clerk please call the roll?

0:30

Anderson present.

0:31

Campbell is absent.

0:33

Coliber?

0:34

Here.

0:34

Board is absent.

0:35

Goodhart.

0:36

Here.

0:37

Cassov.

0:37

Present.

0:38

Set Finn.

0:39

Here.

0:40

We will move on to the consent agenda.

0:42

We have a light agenda tonight.

0:44

The only item on the consent agenda is the town council minutes from August 11th, 2026, which we will be approving.

0:51

What's council's pleasure on the consent agenda?

0:54

I move approval of the consent agenda.

0:56

Second.

0:57

Any discussion?

0:58

We have a motion and a second.

0:59

Will the clerk please call the roll?

1:01

Oliver.

1:02

Aye.

1:02

Goodhart?

1:03

Aye.

1:04

Cassoff?

1:05

Aye.

1:05

Set Finn.

1:06

Aye.

1:06

Anderson.

1:07

Aye.

1:08

The motion passes.

1:09

We'll move on to public hearings, but we have no public hearings tonight.

1:13

So then we will move on to citizen comments during this section of the meeting.

1:17

Please come up to the podium, state your name and address, and direct your comments to town council with a maximum speaking time of three minutes.

1:26

This is the section of the agenda where anyone can speak about any topic of interest.

1:31

So we are now in citizen comments.

1:33

Would anyone like to speak?

1:46

Good evening.

1:49

I live up on Brush Mountain.

1:50

Do you need an exact address or uh just generals fine, general locations fine?

1:54

Okay.

1:54

Um I'm just coming here to see how the meeting goes.

1:58

Nobody's here and nobody's saying anything.

2:00

So just seeing how things are going and about um if I want to make a petition to the town, how would I go about doing such a thing?

2:11

And I guess this isn't the time question and answer thing.

2:14

So I'll be happy to I'll be happy to talk to you after the meeting.

2:18

Awesome.

2:18

Thank you, sir.

2:19

Thank you for your time.

2:21

Thank you.

2:22

Anyone else?

2:23

We are still in citizen comments.

2:28

Seeing none, we will go ahead and close citizen comments.

2:31

I will move on to appointments, and we have one appointment tonight.

2:35

This is an appointment of Brad St.

2:36

Clair as a jointly appointed board member to the New River Valley Emergency Communications Regional Authority effective September 1st, 2026.

2:44

Um I did want to mention that this is a joint appointment with the Blacksburg Christiansburg, Montgomery County and Virginia Tech are all involved in making this appointment.

2:51

Um and Brad St.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Community Engagement████████████████████████████████████████████44%
Procedural█████████████████████████████████████37%
Technology and Innovation███████████████████19%
Summary of Proceedings

Blacksburg Town Council Regular Meeting – August 25, 2026

The Blacksburg Town Council held a regular meeting on August 25, 2026, at 6:30 p.m. in the Roger E. Hedgepeth Chambers. The meeting was brief, lasting until 6:39 p.m., and featured a light agenda including a consent agenda item, one citizen comment, one appointment vote, and council reports. Councilmembers Darryl Campbell and Jerry Ford, Jr. were absent.

Consent Calendar

  • Town Council Minutes (August 11, 2026): Approved unanimously on a 5–0 roll call vote (Vice Mayor Anderson moved, Councilmember Colliver seconded; all present members voted yes).

Public Comments & Testimony

  • Matt Connelly (Brush Mountain area resident) attended to observe the meeting process and asked about the procedure for submitting a petition to the Town. Town Attorney Lawrence S. Spencer offered to discuss the process with him after the meeting.

Discussion Items

  • Appointment of Brad St. Clair: Mayor Sutphin presented the appointment of Brad St. Clair as a Jointly Appointed Board Member to the New River Valley Emergency Communications Regional Authority, effective September 1, 2026. St. Clair is retired from the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office and served as interim director of the authority. The appointment fills the remainder of the term of retired Virginia Tech Chief Kevin Faust and is a joint appointment with Blacksburg, Christiansburg, Montgomery County, and Virginia Tech. The motion to approve passed 5–0 (Vice Mayor Anderson moved, Councilmember Colliver seconded).
  • Council Reports:
    • Councilmember Colliver noted an upcoming Fire and Rescue presentation from the Montgomery County Economic Development Authority at a September work session.
    • Councilmember Kassoff reported on the stormwater advisory group’s progress, including learning from other municipalities and evaluating the stormwater utility fee structure through December.
    • Councilmember Goodhart updated on a Parks and Recreation survey (to be released in September) designed to gather community input on investments at Winfrey and Kipps soccer/baseball fields and the old Blacksburg High School track.
    • Vice Mayor Anderson reported on the New River Valley Regional Commission’s upcoming bylaws update and a draft artificial intelligence (AI) use policy for the commission, noting it may serve as a model for other organizations.
    • Mayor Sutphin reported on the Blacksburg–Virginia Tech Liaison Group (discussed fall semester start and enrollment: 7,480 incoming students) and the Blacksburg Partnership Board of Directors (presentation on midtown development by Ian Friend of SAS Builders; planned “Shop Blacksburg Saturday” event on October 3, 2026).

Key Outcomes

  • Consent Agenda Approved (5–0).
  • Appointment of Brad St. Clair Approved (5–0).
  • Upcoming Meetings Announced: Work session on Tuesday, September 1, 2026 at 11:00 a.m. (Blacksburg Motor Company Conference Room); Regular meeting on Tuesday, September 8, 2026 at 6:30 p.m. (Council Chambers).
  • The meeting was adjourned at 6:39 p.m.

Meeting Transcript

We will go ahead and get started. Will council come to order and will the clerk please call the roll? Anderson present. Campbell is absent. Coliber? Here. Board is absent. Goodhart. Here. Cassov. Present. Set Finn. Here. We will move on to the consent agenda. We have a light agenda tonight. The only item on the consent agenda is the town council minutes from August 11th, 2026, which we will be approving. What's council's pleasure on the consent agenda? I move approval of the consent agenda. Second. Any discussion? We have a motion and a second. Will the clerk please call the roll? Oliver. Aye. Goodhart? Aye. Cassoff? Aye. Set Finn. Aye. Anderson. Aye. The motion passes. We'll move on to public hearings, but we have no public hearings tonight. So then we will move on to citizen comments during this section of the meeting. Please come up to the podium, state your name and address, and direct your comments to town council with a maximum speaking time of three minutes. This is the section of the agenda where anyone can speak about any topic of interest. So we are now in citizen comments. Would anyone like to speak? Good evening. I live up on Brush Mountain. Do you need an exact address or uh just generals fine, general locations fine? Okay. Um I'm just coming here to see how the meeting goes. Nobody's here and nobody's saying anything. So just seeing how things are going and about um if I want to make a petition to the town, how would I go about doing such a thing? And I guess this isn't the time question and answer thing. So I'll be happy to I'll be happy to talk to you after the meeting. Awesome. Thank you, sir.

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