Town moves toward reduced public meetings, one-reading action item approvals

In its meeting agenda action items of February 8, the Front Royal Town Council passed the first of two currently required readings of its proposed Town Code change to allow it to reduce the numbers of meetings and work sessions from two to one a month of each. Some debate, initiated by Scott Lloyd, was heard against the portion of the Code change reducing the number of readings required to approve action items from two to one. Lloyd wondered if the reduced public meeting exposure might not give citizens enough time to become aware and submit comments to council on matters of import to them.

Scott Lloyd worried shortening council’s approval process on action items might not give citizens enough time to respond with their viewpoints on proposed council actions. A majority of his colleagues did not agree. Royal Examiner Virtual Meeting Photos by Roger Bianchini

However, a majority countered that work session discussion and the advertisement to authorize public hearings and votes on such matters should suffice to keep the public abreast of the planned actions of the town’s elected officials. Lloyd’s amended motion to remove the one-reading portion of the proposal failed by a 4-2 vote, with only Joseph McFadden joining Lloyd in support of maintaining the two-reading code requirement. Letasha Thompson’s original motion to approve the code change as presented, seconded by Gary Gillespie, then passed 5-1, with only McFadden dissenting.

According to the staff summary, the single monthly meetings will occur on the fourth Monday of the month, except for December, when it will be on the second Monday to accommodate holiday schedules. The lone work session will occur on the second Monday of the month. The meetings will continue to be at the Warren County Government Center and the work sessions on the second-floor meeting room of Town Hall.

Council continues to move toward once-a-month meetings and work sessions. Little, if any, discussion has been heard about how that move might impact the length of those meetings and work sessions. This reporter recalls early to mid-1990’s elected School Board meeting/work sessions going from 7 p.m. to occasionally as late as 2 a.m. due to log-jammed agendas, particularly during budget cycles.

Other business

Unanimously approved by voice votes were an amended agreement with Warren County to extend the COVID-19 Municipal Utility Relief Program to December 31, 2021; and a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) allowing a Budget Amendment in the amount of $104,000 to be received from Warren County for the procurement of Wayfaring signs for county-directed “wayfaring” destinations.

A five-item Consent Agenda was approved without discussion on a motion by Vice-Mayor Lori Cockrell, seconded by Letasha Thompson. Prominent on the Consent Agenda was adoption of a resolution of support of code text amendments proposed to ease the permitting process and council issuance of Special Use Permits (SUP’s) for larger multi-family, apartment unit structures in the Commercial-2 Downtown Business District. Is a large apartment project proposal for the East Main Street old Murphy building site, or somewhere else along East Main, on the horizon? Stay tuned.

Also approved on the Consent Agenda were budget amendments to allow:

1. a bid on a new refuse truck at a price of $181,204;
2. receipt of a $2,500 grant from the Virginia Department of Wildlife for the bear-proofing of Town trash containers;
3. a bid of $2,500 on multiple types of concrete from Rockingham Redi-Mix; and
4. authorization to receive $2,000 from the Norfolk Southern Foundation’s Local Discretion Grant Program “to be used for community goodwill, diversity and safety awareness”.

See this and other business, as well as public comments addressed in related stories on the linked Town meeting video.