The parking garage beside the Amtrak platform has been closed since April, when city officials deemed the structure unsafe.

Roanoke property owners are seeing an average 8 percent increase in their real estate tax bills this year, a historically high but downward-trending assessment.

The city failed to budget enough money for youth programs run by The Foundry, leading to discord and lost revenue, an audit found.

Valmarie Turner, Fairfax’s deputy city manager, becomes Roanoke’s next city manager next month, replacing Bob Cowell.

Members of the Youth Athletics Review Board were caught off guard last month after the city attorney floated a proposal to do away with the recently formed group.

A recent reassignment of duties at the top shows Roanoke’s interim city manager, Lydia Patton, is not content to carry on the status quo.

It wasn’t immediately clear why City Council was considering disbanding the athletics board, or how that would fix a problem it’s seeking to solve.

Other Roanoke developers expressed mixed feelings about Bob Cowell’s departure, with a couple saying it was time the city manager moved on.

The action was a change from a last-minute meeting Friday, when City Council voted to institute a full $20,000 pay bump next year.

Bev Fitzpatrick served three terms on Council beginning in the 1980s and was later executive director of the Virginia Museum of Transportation.

Lydia Pettis Patton will succeed Bob Cowell in an interim capacity over the next four months, Roanoke leaders announced

Bob Cowell's contract says the city must pay him a year's salary and benefits under a "no cause termination" clause.

In the wake of toxic workplace claims, City Manager Bob Cowell resigned and Council installed Mayor Sherman Lea as an acting city manager.

City Council members on Monday rebuffed any effort to reduce property taxes this year, but expressed sympathy with exploring that option in the future.

Tasha Burkett, who became chief deputy in March, says she intends to run for the office next year as an independent.

Brent Robertson, who also served as finance director, was stripped of his titles just as city leaders are finalizing a $379-million budget.

City treasurer since 2003, Evelyn Powers will retire with a 43-year career in Roanoke government.

“I would like to see us investigate how this information was leaked,” the mayor told Roanoke's city manager.