After departing members bid farewell at last meeting of 2022, Council indicates movement on long-floundering ‘blighted structure’ code

It was a sometimes emotional, if brief, and light agenda meeting of the Front Royal Town Council Monday evening, December 12th. With no more council meetings or work sessions scheduled before the end of the year, barring any unforeseen emergencies, it was the last meeting for three elected officials who chose not to run for re-election. Those were Mayor Chris Holloway, a total of eight years of service as a councilman, vice-mayor, and mayor; Gary Gillispie and Letasha Thompson, both of whom are ending their four-year council terms.

All three expressed gratitude for the opportunity to serve their community, commending town staff and their colleagues for their help and professionalism exhibited in helping them grow into the job of municipal governance. See the linked Town video for details of those thanks.

Mayor Holloway expressed relief that terms had been reached on a contract to bring Joe Waltz back to the town manager’s office after a three-plus-year absence. “Glad to see Joe come back. He is a non-controversial individual,” the mayor said, drawing some laughter from his colleagues before continuing – “I mean that, he really is. He’s a great guy, and I think he’s going to do the town great. He’s open, and a sincere individual, and I think he’s going to do great, I really do,” Holloway said, adding a nod to Finance Director B. J. Wilson for his brief, several-day tenure as interim town manager while Waltz’s contract was being ironed out: “And I thank B.J. for the few hours that he served,” Holloway said of Wilson’s interim town manager term, drawing more laughter.

A final ‘team’ photo taken after fond farewells to exiting members, from center-left, Gary Gillespie, Chris Holloway, and Letasha Thompson, flanked at right by Amber Morris, and to left by Wayne Sealock and Lori Cockrell. Below, Finance Director B. J. Wilson, next-to-last public seating row, got a smile when Mayor Holloway acknowledged his ‘hours’ of service as interim town manager – actually, it was 3 days prior to finalization of Joe Waltz’s contract to return to town hall.

With the season’s greetings, farewells, and welcome backs expressed, council got down to its final business of the year. With no public hearings scheduled, not even a short-term tourist rental Conditional Use Permit request – Santa really DID come early this year – the 7 p.m. meeting adjourned at 7:29 p.m. But other than fond farewells and outgoing council members’ promises of continued attention as involved citizens to issues that impact this community, there actually was some business taken care of.

That included approval without dissent (Councilman Rogers absent due to illness) of a three-item Consent Agenda as presented; and appointments to fill vacancies on the town planning commission and a new entity, the Local Board of Building Code Appeals (LBBCA). Those appointments in the order addressed as council “Business” items were Glenn E. Wood to the planning commission; and George E. Cline Jr. and C. Frank Stankiewicz to the Local Board of Building Code Appeals. A comment by Councilman Gillispie offered after the 5-0 vote to approve the appointments indicated movement on a long-floundering (several town elections and several mayoral and council lineups) council initiative to address what have been termed “blighted structures” inside the town limits.

“I’d just like to let our citizens know that this is the beginning aspect of going after some of these dilapidated buildings and things of that nature in our town – a first step. And just be patient and bear with the new council as they will have some work to do yet still on it,” Gillispie observed. Councilwoman Morris added an observation on Gillispie and Thompson’s work on the dilapidated building initiative.

“I’d just like to add that this is one of the many things that this council sitting here tonight has had a very hungry appetite to get done. I know it was something that Gary and Letasha were extremely passionate about, seeing it to fruition. Like Chris mentioned, government is slow-moving. But this is a huge accomplishment to even have the board semi-established at this point in the year. We did move this along very quickly. I think it’s going to be great to the aesthetics of Front Royal, and it’ll address a lot of concerns that a lot of people have had for many, many years. And I can’t think of anyone better than George and Frank to be adding to this board at its inception. They’re both great assets to the community in many ways. And I’m excited to see this through,” Morris asserted of the ongoing process finally coming to fruition.

Cline is a local builder and chairman of the Warren County Builders Association. Stankiewicz is owner/manager of Green to Ground Electrical LLC and a member of the Board of Directors of FREDA, the recently formed unilateral Front Royal Economic Development Authority. His FREDA resume also notes he is “president of a local networking organization.” According to town staff, the LBBCA is a recently formed Town entity to which Cline and Stankiewicz are the first appointees. Three seats remain to be filled.

Consent Agenda items approved included a Fiscal Year-2023 Budget Amendment to allow $40,700 from Auction Proceeds from two used trash truck to be incorporated into the budget to be used for the purchase of a replacement pickup truck for the town refuse department. Also approved was the award of a “task order for CHA Engineering to perform contract administration on the 2022 I&I Abatement Rehabilitation Project totaling $172,000.” It was noted the specific task order needed council approval due to the cost exceeding $25,000, which requires Council’s approval based upon the Town’s procurement policy.” The final Consent Agenda item was approval of a 5-year lease with the Front Royal Volunteer Fire & Rescue Department for use of 1.803 acres of land known as the “Carnival Site” located at Crosby Road and 8th Street. The new lease ends on December 31, 2027.

A third council “Business” action item following the above planning commission and LBBCA appointments – authority to advertise for public hearing a request involving relatives of Mayor Holloway seeking the Town to vacate portions of an alley between 12th and 13th Streets west of Virginia Avenue was removed from the agenda at the meeting’s outset. Vice-Mayor Lori Cockrell made a motion to take the item to a January 9th work session to acquire more information on the proposal by Mr. and Mrs. William Holloway and Mr. and Mrs. Wade Holloway. The agenda packet staff summary indicated that the closest impacted neighbors, including the Church of the Brethren and Wayne and Joyce Woodward, strongly opposed the requested town alley vacation due to property access/egress concerns, and in the church’s case, also public safety emergency exiting access.

Click here to watch the Town Council meeting of December 12, 2022.