RADFORD -- With two of its five members absent, Radford City Council put off discussions and decisions and took some things under advisement during its first post-election meeting. But the council members who were present did raise a series of fees -- mostly building permit fees -- and promised discussion of some persistent issues at their June 9 meeting.

One of those discussions will be about when council elections are held.

"To have that few people turn out to vote does not speak well of democracy in the city of Radford," resident John McCandlish said from the audience, touching off the longest discussion of the evening.

A little more than 13 percent of the city's registered voters voted last week in the city election for council and school board.

McCandlish suggested that council consider, again, moving its elections to November. That might increase participation, he said. And, if anyone's worried that city elections would get lost on a ballot that includes presidential candidates, McCandlish said, Radford could follow Blacksburg's example and schedule elections in nonpresidential years.

Mayor Tom Starnes, a consistent supporter of November elections, said he had intended to bring up the issue but put it off because Councilman Dick Harshberger and Vice Mayor Laurie Buchwald weren't there.

Starnes, who first ran for council 34 years ago, lamented the decrease in participation by both voters and candidates. In his first election, 17 candidates ran for council. Four elections ago, 30 percent of registered voters went to the polls. That was bad enough, he said, but it was considerably better than this year.

Councilman Bob Nicholson, who was re-elected last week, said he had tried to encourage someone to organize debates among the three people who competed for two council seats. No one and no group seemed interested, he said. Christiansburg, he pointed out, had four debates.

"We need to look at something to energize voters," Nicholson said, because the decisions of five council members affect all 16,000 Radford residents.

Starnes promised to bring up the issue at the next meeting, when he expects a full council.

That's also when council will take up a proposed ordinance that would limit people to two yard sales per year. Council also plans to hold a work session originally scheduled for Monday evening. The session will cover a rental housing inspection program. Council established a pilot program that ran from March 1 until April 4. Council will be discussing whether the program should become permanent and, if it does, how it will be staffed and funded.