County, Town inch toward CARES Act relief reimbursement resolution

With the distribution arrangement for a federal-state, multimillion-dollar coronavirus pandemic relief funding package on the line at dueling 7 p.m. special meetings across the Town of Front Royal Tuesday evening, September 8, perhaps it was naïve to think some public indication of a resolution would be heard somewhere within the halls of local governments.

But with scant public discussion and no post-closed sessions statements forthcoming on either side of town, the only clue from the Warren County Government Center was Interim County Attorney Jason Ham’s explanation of his request to table public meeting discussion of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Securities (CARES) Act issues with the Town. That explanation was that after County-Town administrative and legal staff conversations over the past week, a “sticking point” remained.

The sticking point was that nothing had changed following Interim Town Manager Matt Tederick’s September 1 statement to Ham and the county’s elected officials that he found a County request for documentation of the Town’s approval process on distribution of about $970,000 of the Town’s $1.2 million share of $3.5 million in first-round CARES Act funding “onerous” and an unacceptable burden on the Town’s CARES process.

While Jason Ham, above, and Matt Tederick, below, pictured during Sept. 1 confrontation over the County’s CARES Act documentation request, may still not be seeing eye to eye, Tederick says the Town will comply with that request to assure CARES reimbursement for nearly a million dollars already distributed by the Town. Royal Examiner Photos by Roger Bianchini – Royal Examiner Videos by Mark Williams and Mike McCool

“The Town wants the money up front without having to provide documentation,” Ham told the supervisors on September 8, essentially repeating Tederick’s September 1 comments to him and the county board. See related story:

UPDATE: Tederick, Ham debate requested CARES funding documentation

But would it be possible that the “sticking point” had changed following the Front Royal Town Council’s own Special Meeting and Closed Session on the CARES Act topic at Town Hall that night? Initially it seemed not.

The only public action by council regarding the CARES funding was a unanimous vote to approve a fiscal year 2021 budget amendment of just over $1.2 million to accommodate receipt of funds from the County related to the second round of CARES Act Equitable Distribution. Members present included Mayor Eugene Tewalt, Vice Mayor William Sealock, and Councilmen Letasha Thompson, Lori Cockrell, Chris Holloway and Gary Gillispie. Councilman Jacob Meza was absent.

Prior to the vote, the mayor opened up the Town Hall conference center room for a Public Hearing on the amendment but there were no citizens present to address the topic. The public hearing closed, Councilman Holloway made the motion for approval of the amendment, seconded by Councilwoman Cockrell. The motion passed without dissent.

And following a closed session at the end of its special meeting adjourned to in part to discuss “using CARES Act funds” and “specific legal matters requiring the provision of legal advice” no motions or announcements were made.

However, contacted by Royal Examiner Wednesday afternoon about where the Town stands if it receives a request from the County for documentation on the CARES Act funding prior to the Town being reimbursed for the money it has distributed, Tederick shed light on how things may proceed.

“The Town has the documentation for what has been spent, in abundance — we are in the business of properly maintaining records,” Tederick wrote in an email, adding that “because the County wants this documentation before cutting the check(s) to us, which the CARES Act DOES NOT require, we are complying regardless. In fact, Town staff are taking the time to make duplicate files for the County, so that it may review the documentation well before the December 30^th deadline.”

On September 1^st Tederick told county officials the Town had the documentation on its distribution of an estimated $970,000 of CARES-enabled benefits it was fronting to in-town businesses, leading Ham to wonder “what the issue is” with provision of those records.

In his September 9 email to Royal Examiner the interim town manager gave a hint at his perception of what the issue is. “It’s really unfortunate that the County is taking this position because it takes away all flexibility for the Town citizens and the Town government to address pandemic costs or issues in October, November and December.”

Regarding the Town Council’s related budget amendment vote last night, Tederick said that it deals with the 2^nd round of CARES Act funding. “We plan to handle this round the same as the first. So, we see no issues other than the County going outside the scope of what the CARES Act requires,” he wrote, adding that “the County has until September 30, 2021 to submit records, so it’s ridiculous they are subjecting the Town citizens to this process, but again, we are complying.”

Back across town

And across town on September 8, with somewhat less intrigue the county supervisors with all members present unanimously approved two motions authorizing the Front Royal-Warren County Chamber of Commerce to distribute a total of $250,000 in additional CARES Act funding to qualifying businesses, non-profits and individuals outside the town limits. Of that total, $200,000 will go to qualifying businesses and non-profits for COVID-19 related losses and $50,000 to individuals to pay back utility bills related to pandemic revenue shortfalls. The funds to keep individuals current with essential utility services comes from a CARES Act revenue stream of $413,020 committed to that use a staff summary indicated.

The authorization will be completed when the Chamber signs the presented draft Agreements prepared by the County legal staff. Interim County Attorney Ham told the supervisors that Chamber board and staff officers had reviewed the drafts and there appeared to be no issue with the draft agreements.

The county supervisors navigated a lengthy and multi-faceted special meeting and work session Tuesday night.

As Royal Examiner has noted in previous CARES Act funding coverage, as recipient municipalities, county governments are responsible to see that any money distributed to sub-jurisdiction municipalities is distributed by those municipalities according to federal guidelines. If it isn’t, the County is held financially liable for any funds found to have been distributed outside those federally prescribed pandemic impact guidelines.

Go to the video

So while there wasn’t much to see in open special meetings Tuesday night regarding the dispute over CARES Act funding documentation, see these Royal Examiner videos of what DID happen in open session with the Town and County. On the County side that included the Chamber CARES Agreement votes and discussion of potential adjustments to the public speaking portions of meetings.

Beth Reavis introduced incoming WCDSS Director Jon Martz to the board. The duo then explained social services costs, benefits and work loads in a power point presentation and Q&A.

At a post-closed session work session, the supervisors met incoming County Department of Social Services Director Jon Martz, introduced by Interim and former WCDSS director Beth Reavis. The pair gave a detailed power point presentation on the DSS budget, staffing and programs in support of Reavis’s recent plea for upward staff salary adjustments to come into line with other regional DSS professionals in what can be an emotionally and workload-heavy job.

County Treasurer Jamie Spiker briefed the board on a mail scam attempting to utilize a County bank account to defraud citizens with the promise of an unexpected refund check from the county. She said thanks to the help of the bank it appeared no money had been lost as a result of the scam effort.

And during the work session, County Voter Registrar Carol Tobin introduced Assura Inc. CEO Karen Cole. Assura is handling growing voting cyber security issues in the run up to the November election – more on this story as information and time make available. The board also discussed formation of a Broadband Committee to deal with countywide wireless connections as remote learning becomes increasingly important during the Coronavirus pandemic crisis; as well as issues with Norfolk Southern Railroad on blocked county road-train track intersections.

Sheriff Butler addressed road enforcement issues in the Linden Heights subdivision after Assistant County Attorney Caitlin Jordan’s summary of the evolution of those issues dating to the subdivision’s split from the sprawling Shenandoah Farms Sanitary District.

Also discussed were issues with roadway law enforcement in the Linden Heights subdivision due to the absence of a “highway” designation on its private road system.

See all these discussions in these Royal Examiner videos: