City Council is considering creating a second community dialogue focused exclusively on the needs and challenges of the dysfunctional family.
At-large Councilman Scott Garrett suggested the sequel endeavor during early budget talks held Tuesday.
“I know it’s a complex thing and it’s not unique to Lynchburg, but we have to face it,” he said, calling the issue the greatest challenge facing the city.
Garrett, a member of council’s finance committee, had also broached the issue earlier in the day during committee deliberations about the mounting cost of providing services for troubled and at-risk children.
He noted that while a myriad of agencies — government, schools, nonprofits, churches — attempt to tackle this difficult topic, there is too little cooperation and cohesion between their efforts.
“Where’s the glue?” he asked. “What’s the umbrella going to be?”
Mayor Joan Foster, an advocate for children’s issues, expressed support for the idea, but emphasized the need for any future project to produce results.
“We don’t want it to be a never-ending tale,” she said.
Other members said they would need to hear more details about how the new program would work before they could commit.
Staff plans to come up with a proposal and bring it back for discussion in January.
Officials indicated they would model their plan on the city’s earlier race dialogue, which was widely regarded as a success, drawing more than 1,000 participants.
City Manager Kimball Payne noted they would likely come up with another name for the new program to distinguish it from the race dialogue, which is still ongoing.
Garrett made his suggestion during talks about the upcoming budget process, which is expected to be highly difficult due to the financial crisis and state budget deficit.
The councilman listed a family dialogue as one of the initiatives he would like to see prioritized in the city manager’s budget proposal, which is expected to be released in March.
City staffers had asked council to provide some early input as they begin the months-long budget process.
Other ideas brought up included reserving federal community development grants for city infrastructure projects.
Ward I Councilman Mike Gillette suggested redirecting those grant funds could take some of the pressure off of the city’s construction budget.
Ward III Councilman Jeff Helgeson said he hoped no tax increases would be proposed, and also said officials would need to “get our hands around” the school system’s budget, which had some concerning findings in a recent audit.
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