Council unsure on interim appointment, petitions the Court for Nov. 8 Special Election to fill term of Scott Lloyd’s vacated seat

As the last matter of business at a meeting/work session following its joint work session with its Planning Commission and Economic Development Authority on April 11, the Front Royal Town Council instructed Assistant Town Attorney George Sonnett to petition the Circuit Court to certify a Special Election on General Election Day, November 8, 2022. The election is to fill the seat vacated by Scott Lloyd’s resignation effective at the end of the council meeting of March 28.

Council deferred a decision on an interim appointment to fill the seat until the special election is held. Discussion indicated council has 45 days to appoint a temporary replacement, prior to the court taking on that responsibility.

The winner of the Special Election will serve out the balance of Lloyd’s term, which ends December 31, 2024. While council did not seem in a hurry to appoint an interim replacement with the election slightly over six months away, comments by Mayor Chris Holloway indicated a reluctance to see a Circuit Court judge appoint someone not of a council majority’s choosing.

Vice-Mayor Lori Cockrell and Mayor Chris Holloway listen on March 28, as Councilman Scott Lloyd reads a statement on his decision to resign due to potential conflicts of interest between his private work and public service. Royal Examiner File Photos by Roger Bianchini

The general election will see the mayor’s and three council seats – Letasha Thompson, Gary Gillespie, and Amber Morris – also up for grabs. Thompson has not issued a statement on her intentions in the coming election. Morris said she is weighing her options on another run for continued public service. She defeated Bruce Rappaport in a November 2021 Special Election following Jacob Meza’s resignation from his appointed seat filling the vacancy left when then-Councilman Holloway won the 2020 mayoral race.

Gillespie and fellow councilman Joseph McFadden both announced runs for mayor at a February Warren County Republican Committee meeting at the Main Street Mill’s second floor dining room. Announcing runs for council at that February meeting were political newcomer Zach Jackson and current Town Planning Commission member Josh Ingram.

At Feb. 24 WC Republican Committee meeting Gary Gillespie, above, and Joe McFadden, below, announce their respective runs for mayor in the Nov. 2022 General Election.

McFadden finds himself in the advantageous position of running for mayor in a year in which his council seat is not up for re-election. So, unlike Gillespie were he to lose, McFadden can just fill out the final two years of his current council term were he to lose the mayor’s race.

Perhaps fearing “tabloid” coverage of another run for office in the wake of the past two years, Mayor Holloway, also present at that February 24 Republican Committee meeting, indicated he was opting out of a re-election run and politics, at least for a while. However, dare we note the possibility, were McFadden to win the mayor’s race in the November General Election, there would be a vacant council seat needing filling for the next two years – perhaps initially by appointment. And while he chairs the meetings, as I recall from past discussion, technically the mayor is not a council member.

On July 26, 2021, Mayor Holloway shakes Councilman Meza’s hand as he exists council following resignation statement after a controversial 7-month appointed stint.

Uh oh, could we possibly be headed THAT way again …..?

Or that?!!?

But then if he’s bored with his current role as the publicly raging private citizen, there’s always a fallback to Front Royal’s unofficial/official ‘Interim Man’.