The Community Dialogue Meeting

I attended one of the Community Dialogue Meetings, Dec. 2, at Hayfield Secondary School. I had already viewed the PowerPoint presentation online, but I hoped to learn more about the county's efforts to combat the $491.6 million budget shortfall.

It was a rainy night which might have dampened the turnout. After entering the school, I walked the long hallway to the cafeteria--and both sides of the hallway were lined with Hayfield Secondary orchestra students, wearing their black concert attire and holding their instruments in a silent protest. Two at the front held up posters about the proposed budget cuts.

Inside the cafeteria, before the meeting began, I struck up a conversation with the two people sitting nearest me. One young man was wearing a black shirt with white writing on it, and I asked what the abbreviation meant. (I don't recall the abbreviation it mentioned.) It's his job title. Before the meeting began, five people arrived wearing the same shirt, and another person mentioned she'd forgotten to wear hers. So this group of school employees with matching shirts did the smart thing--they sat together on the front row to give their slogan the most visibility to the county's speakers, and when we broke into small discussion groups they split up so they'd have a voice in each group.

At first I was disappointed that the PowerPoint presentations didn't seem to have changed since they were posted online. However, the people presenting the slides added commentary that kept my interest.

I had hoped the small group discussions would be productive brainstorming sessions. Instead, they quickly fell into advocacy opportunities. When one lady commented that a school she had visited seemed to have too many "bells and whistles" several other people quickly disagreed with her, drowning her comments with their own insight into what the schools were lacking. It took a full five minutes or more for someone to point out that while some of the county's public schools have gross needs, others seem to have more opportunitites than the average university.

Several people voiced concern that teachers might next year be asked to work at several different locations. When I pointed out that due to last year's budget cuts many librarians already must work in several locations, I was immediately labeled as a librarian. (While I am on the Friends of Kingstowne Library, I am also involved with several other county agencies, including seasonal employment with one, not the libraries.)

In the past month, in my "spare time," I've tried to learn more about Fairfax County's budget. Needing to dive more deeply into one area--or risk frustration at the lack of information about other areas--I tried to read everything available on the public libraries (FCPL). Since that is the budget area with which I have the most familiarity, it's no wonder they mistook me for a librarian. At one point, hoping to open the conversation up to revenue opportunities, I brought up a bit of the Virginia Code that seemed (to my uncertain eyes) to say the county has the right to establish a tax dedicated to funding the public libraries. At least three people quickly explained, "No, no, no, the Dillon Rule won't allow it." I've heard of the Dillon Rule, but I had hoped that if something was in the Virginia Code, that meant it was allowable without examination through the Dillon Rule. A very intelligent person from the county's budget office more politely added that the current county tax structure already covers this part of the Code--meaning the library's funding is tied into the current taxes and not actually listed out as a specific dedicated funding source. (I really do mean she was intelligent. She gave the county's side of the PowerPoint presentations, and I admired her method of explaining variance reporting in response to a question from the audience. I picked this small group knowing she'd be our county representative.)

The small groups' feedback to the full audience was a bit rushed. It left me with the sense that the Community Dialogue Meetings were a good idea but were not to be the fertile field of imaginative solution finding I had once envisioned.