OPINION: Leave it to Matt Tederick to confuse – and council to follow

First, he felt he discovered a $12 million fund that he wanted spent because to him, we had an excess in the budget. If you recall, he referred to those reserves as a “slush fund” and only eventually stopped talking about it that way as folks repeatedly corrected his misuse of the name and pointed to the use of that fund for unanticipated repair purposes.

Then came the water and sewer tap fees which the town has to pay thanks to the help Chris Holloway gave Matt by researching the issue. It turns out that the general public will subsidize new housing construction because the ordinance is written in that form. No one has offered to correct that by a different ordinance which would make it a cost to the builder of doing new housing construction. Chris is a one issue fellow who has made his stand quite clear that he wants to be advantaged when building by his costs being reduced.

The EDA issues also loomed large with the help of Jacob Meza who wanted us out of the EDA while they sort out the financial history of loans. Matt wanted a law firm employed; Council agreed to hire the firm that Matt suggested. Most of us probably understand that accountants would be needed to sort out the story, not lawyers.

Will town council follow, or have they given the direction the interim town manager has chosen to follow in preparation of an FY 2021 budget – an additional $29 million for infrastructure improvements and a gutting of town staff to enable that revenue with a tax cut?

Matt has been evasive in response to questions on the Town’s intent legally and financially toward the EDA at monthly EDA Board of Directors meetings. In contrast, Mayor Gene Tewalt also visited the EDA Board with an interest in cooperation. The EDA Board was most appreciative of Gene’s courtesy. Nothing like the evasion and adversarial approaches that are opposite of the vision many of us worked on for the town up until 2013. The EDA Board thanked Gene and so do I for his work toward community building and common-sense problem solving.

But instead of that kind of common sense and cooperation, the Town filed a $15 million law suit against the EDA, a hypothetical amount of money that had gone from $3 million to $15 million “to protect the Town’s interests,” though without any supporting documentation. And, there is no small issue and cost with Matt’s idea to have a separate EDA.

Does Mayor Tewalt stand alone in favoring cooperative negotiations offered by the EDA, rather than expensive and thus-far unsupported legal claims against it? Time will tell …

This Town Council falls in line with whatever Matt wants, without short term memory of its own mistakes since 2016 involving decisions on EDA financing of Town projects and internal warnings about EDA operations; and without long-term memory dating to the 1998/99 Corridor Agreement and consequent court ruling lessons about the importance of Town control of its own utilities and the Enterprise Funds and reserves that support them.

Why?

Perhaps it is political expediency or a shared ideological belief that reducing the function of government is a good thing.

Whatever the allying factors, Matt has now found a way to accomplish his goal: the town budget. If he eliminates some staff positions, he can claim to save money. He now needs a multi-million-dollar budget for infrastructure, in part because in recent years this council majority has refused to commit Town revenue or resources to some of those infrastructures.

You would almost believe he has listened to the truth that Mayor Tewalt is telling about infrastructure issues and costs. But how do you justify letting go of competent employees and their increasing efforts to develop economic opportunities and success for the Town; while creating a costly legal wall between yourself and a new EDA administration willing to work with both the County and Town to right past wrongs?

And how do you dare to outsource to the Chamber of Commerce our efforts at community development? What credentials are there to do this?

As for Matt’s option of part-time work? How do people support family and self on part-time work?

And with the termination of the key involved Town staff, will the $700,000 Community Development Block Grant be jeopardized because of Matt and a compliant council’s wants?

And if as some believe, personnel complaints have recently been filed by one or more of the impacted employees, is it even legal to terminate them without raising legal issues of retaliatory management conduct?

Only time will tell – and that time begins Monday, February 3rd.

Linda Allen
Front Royal

I work at the will of council,” Interim Town Manager Matt Tederick has rightfully pointed out. But who has taken the lead in directing the future of town government – and to what ends?