Council reconsiders Happy Creek work and weekend walking mall extension

The Front Royal Town Council policy rollercoaster indicated a change of direction on two major fronts after hearing from citizens during opening public hearing comments at its Monday evening meeting of November 23. Those directions were first, a compromise on Happy Creek work originally slated to remove all vegetation from its bankside and naturally formed riparian (natural vegetative growth) buffer flood shelf to be replaced by large so-called riprap rocks from South Street to Prospect Street; and second, a reversal of the recent decision to extend the weekend closure of East Main Street to vehicular traffic through the end of the calendar year.

The downtown weekend walking mall topic was added to a work session following the meeting after three of four downtown business owners addressing the issue criticized council’s recent reversal of a plan to reopen East Main to vehicular traffic early this month. And following a somewhat dizzying work session discussion it appeared that without any permitted events scheduled for East Main in the next two weeks, the reopening to cars would begin this Thanksgiving Day weekend.

Above, work session discussion of weekend E. Main St. traffic closings; below, Mayor Tewalt and Vice-Mayor Sealock may be thinking, ‘Maybe Letasha knows what they’re trying to say.’ Royal Examiner Photos by Roger Bianchini – Royal Examiner Video by Mark Williams

The openness to a change of direction along Happy Creek at a prominent stretch of the Shenandoah Greenway Trail off Commerce Avenue on the town’s southside came after 11 of 11 speakers, many with environmental and natural landscaping professional backgrounds, belabored the council-approved plan enacted under the leadership of Interim Town Manager Matt Tederick.

Personnel announcements

And speaking of the interim town manager, following a closed meeting to discuss personnel matters it was announced that as of this coming Pearl Harbor Day, December 7th, after over a year Tederick will be interim town manager no more. It was a development Tederick hinted at earlier when he observed this might be his last meeting as town manager. It was an observation that drew a smattering of cynical applause from some present. Tederick has served as interim town manager since November 9, 2019.

Matt Tederick eyes the crowd after hinting that Monday’s meeting might be his last as interim town manager.

The first announcement out of a 33-minute closed session was the hiring of Steven Hicks as town manager, effective December 7 when council’s next meeting, a special meeting/work session, is scheduled. A press release on Hicks hiring and credentials was read into the record by Councilwoman Letasha Thompson. That release in its entirety is available on the Royal Examiner website. It was observed that council interviewed 80 candidates, rejecting an entire first round of candidates, prior to its decision to hire Hicks.

The second personnel matter addressed out of closed session was by Front Royal Police Chief Kahle Magalis. Referencing a social media controversy around the Twitter postings of an FRPD officer, Magalis announced that after a thorough investigation of the officer’s posts “corrective and punitive action” had been taken. But citing the officer’s clean personnel record and absence of complaints of a prejudiced nature in the exercise of his law enforcement duties over a lengthy tenure on the force, he will be retained by FRPD, likely with a defunct Twitter account.

FRPD Chief Magalis addresses the resolution of the officer Twitter account investigation as a critic of the department’s handling of the matter Samuel Porter appears to be recording with his cell phone in row three. Despite FRPD’s published statement to this media outlet regarding the seriousness with which it undertook its personnel investigation of the matter, Porter berated council due to his perceived lack of public information on the matter. Informed of the FRPD release to the media following his remarks, the FR Unites(?) principal lashed out at this reporter, ‘Not in the paper, put it out in the public like I just said – you heard me!’

About Happy Creek

In Tederick’s farewell meeting appearance as interim town manager, following the negative public comments on the Happy Creek project he repeated his November 9th meeting defense of the creek work based on the credentials of the CHA Inflow and Infiltration (I&I) consulting firm. However, that defense appeared to fly in the face of factual information on the project application and aftermath presented by environmental and landscaping professionals. Tederick did repeat blaming a town contractor for the cutting of trees over four inches in diameter, a contractor he noted had been terminated.

However, as has been commented in at least one Royal Examiner letter to the editor, some feel the contractor is being scapegoated for following vague or miss-stated directives from town officials on the project’s parameters.

Vice-Mayor Bill Sealock, who attended the Saturday informational “Save Happy Creek Coalition” meeting-protest at the impacted stretch of the creek bank set the tone for council’s apparent willingness to reverse course on what was called a misguided, counterproductive effort to repair the creek bank and improve flood control and hard-surface stormwater distribution into the creek.

‘I think we need to listen to these people,’ Vice-Mayor Sealock, above, said directly to Interim Town Manager Tederick and Public Works Director Boyer, sandwiching Town Attorney Napier below.

“Somebody asked me why did you go down (to Saturday’s “Save Happy Creek Coalition” event)? Well, I wanted to find out for myself. So, Mr. Town Manager and Mr. Boyer (Public Works Director), I’ve got one concern. I think we need to listen to these people. I think if we need an extension (of Dec. 31 deadline for completion of the project) then we should take care of that – let’s listen,” Vice-Mayor Sealock told involved staff and his colleagues of environmental concerns over the direction of the project.

Councilwoman Lori Cockrell added the town attorney to the creek controversy mix, saying she thought he should have informed council of town codes requiring consultation with advisory groups like the Tree Stewards and Urban Forestry Advisory Commission on Town work targeting the Town’s Tree City-based environment.

Sealock’s colleagues, save the absent Jacob Meza, generally appeared to agree a revisiting of the project was in the Town, its citizens’, and the future of the community’s Appalachian Trail-related tourist industry’s best interest.

Of the general lack of environmental expertise on council toward the Happy Creek work, Cockrell noted, ‘Some people think it’s pretty; some don’t.’ Below, Tom Dombrowski obviously falls into that latter group. Dombrowski told council of his overseeing similar work in Prince William County, that he would be ‘tar and feathered’ for undertaking such work without a major public informational and feedback period preceding it.

Other meeting and work session business

In the meeting’s two agenda action items, council first approved by a 5-0 vote the second and final reading of an EDA rezoning request on 62.7 acres of land adjacent to the Happy Creek Technology Park at the end of Progress Drive from Residential-1 to Industrial-1. The request was made to improve the state tier ranking and marketability of the property.

Also, by a 5-0 vote, council approved a Fiscal Year 2021 Budget Amendment of $31,732.15 to receive funds from the Virginia Risk Sharing Association to reimburse the Town for expenses incurred due to a water break on the Route 522 North Corridor near Fairgrounds Road.

In the scheduled work session agenda item, following a presentation by conference call from Finance Director B. J. Wilson, council agreed to authorize staff to initiate the process to apply for a state exemption to the ban on utility disconnections due to financial hardships from the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic. Wilson explained that the Town meets the exemption of being able to show delinquent accounts receivable in excess of 1% of its utility’s annual operating revenues.

In order to make the application, council authorized the advertisement for a public comments period on the exemption request. Mayor Tewalt suggested the advertisement meet the seven-day advance public hearing standard, even though as a non-public hearing, public comments opportunity, staff indicated a three-day advance advertisement should suffice. That public comments period will be added to a Special Meeting added to the scheduled December 7th work session at the Town Hall second-floor meeting room.

See all the public comments, council and staff discussions at both the meeting and work session in these Royal Examiner videos:

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