Council unenthusiastic about ITFed query to Goodlatte

Egger stands alone in seeking assurances about 1^st Avtex site client

Near the end of Monday night’s (Nov. 21) Work Session, Front Royal Councilwoman Bébhinn Egger queried her colleagues about their willingness to sign her draft letter to Congressman Bob Goodlatte, 6^th Dist-R, seeking assurances about the economic viability of ITFederal LLC.  Egger said she was open to suggested changes to gain general Council support and signatures.  She suggested the letter to Goodlatte at a recent meeting due to what she believes are unanswered questions about the company.

Bébhinn Egger’s Town Council colleagues, including Gene Tewalt at left, do not appear to share her concern over the ability of ITFederal LLC to achieve promised economic development and job creation at the former Avtex Superfund site in Front Royal.

Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority Executive Director Jennifer McDonald has credited Goodlatte with bringing ITFederal, an IT Solutions contractor, to the EDA as “an economic development opportunity” in 2015.  McDonald also told this reporter that Goodlatte had pushed for what she admitted was a premature June 2015 announcement that ITFederal would be the first commercial client to invest in the planned 147-acre Royal Phoenix Business Park at the former Avtex Superfund site in Front Royal.

The response to Egger’s request for feedback on her draft letter was general disinterest.

“I don’t think the Congressman can endorse this company any more than he has,” John Connolly said of Goodlatte’s role in bringing the company to the EDA, then returning for the October 26, 2015 ceremonial groundbreaking.  “I’m not interested in signing this,” Connolly concluded.

Connolly also said he agreed with Bret Hrbek that Council should not create the impression the Town is directly “involved” in bringing the company here.

“But we are involved … it’s in Town; we can’t just put our heads in the sand,” Egger replied of what she said are snowballing questions about the company after 15 months of inaction at the Avtex site.  That is 15 months of inaction despite a $10-million construction loan rushed into the company’s hands once the “sale” was announced by the EDA in September 2015.  As Egger noted in a series of questions to McDonald on October 24, during that inaction at the Royal Phoenix site, ITFederal CEO Truc “Curt” Tran has been busy elsewhere, purchasing the 70-plus acre Millennium Lotus parcel off Happy Creek Road for development as a non-IT-related business, described online as an Agricultural Training Center and cattle ranch.

Hrbek also questioned whether it was Council’s role to explore the economic viability of the first commercial client at the site that for 40 years or more housed the largest private employer in Town.  Hrbek suggested the media take on that responsibility.

Eugene Tewalt questioned the advisability of interfering with the EDA’s role in bringing the company here – “I have a problem with this – Jennifer (McDonald) said everything is going well … it takes time,” Tewalt reasoned.

“We sold them a bunch of land for a dollar …” Egger began.

“For the trade off of jobs,” Jacob Meza injected.  Egger’s reference was to the one-dollar “sale price” the EDA agreed to on a 30-acre parcel valued at $2,010,000 after three months of negotiations on ITFederal’s investment at the site.  It is an investment the EDA has said will create 400 to 600 jobs at Royal Phoenix.

“And over a year later it seems like 2+2=5 – it looks bad,” Egger said of what has been promised; what has been given; and what has been achieved by ITFederal at the Avtex site.  “If they promise to build an IT company that will bring in hundreds of jobs – are they going to do that? … When have we ever had a (ceremonial) groundbreaking without zoning permits issued?” Egger wondered of the illusion created in October 2015 that construction was about to begin with $10-million of Town money hurried into ITFederal’s hands.

The most positive feedback Egger got was Meza’s suggested “re-formatting” of her draft, apparently a softening of its tone, which he said he feared might not garner a response from the Sixth District Congressman.

In his last public meeting before leaving for employment with the City of Manassas, Town Manager Steve Burke pointed to a potential middle ground.  Burke said that prior to leaving for vacation, McDonald told him she had forwarded Egger’s request for a written assurance about the viability of ITFederal to Congressman Goodlatte, and “anticipated she would get a reply – I suggest we give Jennifer the benefit of the doubt,” Burke said of the potential of getting a reply from Goodlatte without direct Council action.

Mayor Darr observed the consensus appeared to be to tread water and wait till the next Council work session to see if McDonald had, in fact, received a written endorsement of ITFederal LLC from Congressman Goodlatte.

At one point, expressing her frustration, Egger told her colleagues, “If no one wants to sign it, I’ll sign it myself.”