County Supervisors Name New County Administrator; Reappropriate Library Funding & Hear from Public on Latter

The suspense is over, near the end of its meeting of August 19th, the Warren County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1, Cheryl Cullers dissenting, to appoint former Lower Paxton Township, Pennsylvania Administrator Bradley Gotshall to replace the retiring Ed Daley as of September 11. Daley will continue on staff until around November 1st under the new title of Senior Advisor or Senior Consultant to help orient the new county administrator. While online search did not verify an age, an unofficial consensus indicated Gotshall is believed to be early to mid-30s. More on the administrator choice near this story’s end.

Retiring County Administrator Ed Daley, flanked right by County Attorney Jason Ham, will officially be replaced on Sept. 11. However, he will remain on staff until early November as a ‘Senior Advisor/Consultant’ to newly hired Administrator Bradley Gotshall, former Lower Paxton Township, PA. Township Manager. Below, the FR 12+under Little Leaguers and coaches are proclaimed for their State Championship and Little League World Series Regional performance. Royal Examiner Photos Roger Bianchini unless otherwise noted.

The hiring was one topic of a second Closed/Executive Session the board convened around 6 p.m. following its 5:30 p.m. acknowledgment of a Proclamation recognizing the Virginia State Championship and Little League Regional semifinal appearance of the Front Royal 12+under Little League All Stars.

But most controversially, Tuesday evening was the board’s 4-0 vote, with one abstention by Cheryl Cullers, to reallocate a portion of the $1,024,000 placed in the Fiscal Year-2025/26 County Budget for Public Library services. While the board majority included those funds in its fiscal year budget approved in June, following the withdrawal of the library management proposal of Library Systems & Services (LS&S) selected by the 4-member, anti-Samuels Library board contingent to take over public library duties, it did not commit the money for distribution to any department or partnering contractor.

Its vote on Tuesday specified $240,000 to the Warren County School Board and $75,000 to the Fire & Rescue Department. And while additional funding to those departments is generally supported by county citizens, including supporters of Virginia’s reigning 2024 Library of the Year Samuels Library, often scathing Public Comments Tuesday evening indicated it is not supported by withdrawing it from county taxpayer revenue originally committed to public library funding, which since 1799 has gone to the entity that evolved into Samuels Public Library as Virginia’s second approved public library statewide.

Cullers explained her abstention from the vote beginning at the 1:55:48 linked video mark. “I’m conflicted on this because we had an opportunity to fund the schools at a higher level. And you didn’t think they needed it, when we pretty much knew they did need it,” Cullers said pointedly of her colleagues’ originally stated budget allocation rationales.

At that point, Board Chairman “Jay” Butler cut Culler’s critical preface to her vote off, asserting that the time for explanations was earlier in the agenda item presentation. And while the point was argued by Cullers, citing Supervisor Jamieson’s later amendment altering the amount of the reallocation, County Administrator Daley supported the chair’s argument that detailed overview comment time had ended.

That led to Cullers closing observation:

“I’m going to abstain because I won’t rob the schools and I won’t rob the library. So, I can’t approve either one of these because it’s not right,” the South River supervisor told her anti-Samuels, anti-LGBTQ library content colleagues.

While supporting Public Schools and Emergency Service provider funding, South River District’s Cheryl Cullers called her colleagues out on upping their previous funding levels with citizen tax revenue earmarked for Public Library funding. Below, flanked right by Supervisor Stanmeyer, Cullers remains the lone board supporter of Samuels Public Library, tho that could change post-November election results.

The partially filled meeting room of Samuels Library supporters agreed with Cullers’ assessment of the budget transfers and the continued board majority’s ignoring of the vast majority of citizen support for Samuels countywide was illustrated in the final round of Public Comments beginning at the 2:11:45 video mark. This reporter highly suggests that readers visit the linked County video mark to perceive the degree of public outrage continuing to build toward the November local elections as the supervisors’ majority continues to fan “financial accountability” flames that seem not to have required a substantiated Fire & Rescue response at any funding level.

Other Business: Short-term Rental setbacks

One other item of great public interest was the Public Hearing on proposed Zoning Text Amendments regarding Short-term Tourist Rentals. At issue are setback distances from neighboring homes. The current code cites a minimum 100-foot setback from adjacent homes, with exceptions allowed if the closest neighbors support a decreased distance. Three options were presented by Zoning Administrator Chase Lenz. Those were:

Option-A: Eliminate the setback requirement entirely;

Option-B: Remove the setback waivers entirely;

Option-C: Reduce the setback standard to 50 feet from 100 feet.

After 6 Public Hearing speakers (beginning at 1:00:35 video mark) generally opposing the removal or reduction, and some back and forth board discussion, on a motion by Supervisor Stanmeyer, seconded by Ms. Cullers, the board voted 3-2, Butler and Cook dissenting, to reject all three options presented to the board that night.

John Jenkins led off the first round of Public Comments largely in support of Samuels Library by accusing the board majority of an ‘unwarranted abuse of power’ and most present agreed with him. That board majority public criticism took a turn toward the angrier in the wake of the vote to send citizen tax revenue marked for library funding in other directions, even if they are good directions. Below, Save Samuels President Samantha Good gestures toward citizens present who continue to be ignored by their elected representatives. – An unwarranted abuse of power?

So, it would seem back to the drawing board for the Planning and Zoning staff. It was noted that the Planning Commission recommended leaving the 100-foot setback with waivers possible in place as is.

New Administrator

Some online research presented this most recent employment from a posted Resume of new County Administrator Bradley Gotshall:

“Experience:

“Township of Lower Paxton – Township Manager, November 2018 – Present

“Population: 53,000; Annual Budget (2021): $73.3 million; Total Staffing: 141 Full-Time, 200 Part-Time.

“Departments of the Township include Administration, Finance, Community Development, Public Safety, Public Works, Sewer, and Parks and Recreation.

“Selective achievements include: implementation of the first Capital Improvement Plan; creation and implementation of a new mixed-use zoning district ordinance at a key intersection of the Township – working with the land-owner on visioning of the parcels; ending each fiscal year of my tenure with a cash surplus; establishment of the ‘Employee Engagement Committee’; executed two of the Township’s largest bond issues in its history, each worth over $55 million, two years in a row …”

Controversial Departure?

However, another search indicated that Gotshall recently left his Pennsylvania Township Manager position, in June we believe, under some controversy. From an accessed online Vote of No Confidence petition posted at <change.org> with Teresa Gonzalez, listed as “Petition Starter” the following was posted concerning Gotshall’s Lower Paxton Township Manager tenure:

Petition of ‘No Confidence’

“We, the undersigned voters, residents, business owners, and concerned citizens of Lower Paxton Township, hereby submit this petition to formally express our vote of ‘No Confidence’ for the currently appointed Township Manager, Mr. Bradley Gotshall: …

“Whereas, Mr. Bradley Gotshall has demonstrated a sustained failure to engage with community members in a timely and courteous manner;” leading to this related point, “Whereas, Mr. Bradley Gotshall has repeatedly demonstrated a disregard for public concerns, and has substituted his own personal preferences in place of the expressed will of Lower Paxton Township residents and elected representatives;

“Whereas, Mr. Bradley Gotshall continues to lack professional negotiation skills, resulting in increased costs and inconvenience for Township residents, taxpayers, and stakeholders;

“Whereas, Mr. Bradley Gotshall has publicly expressed his contempt for the elected Board of Supervisors and his perception of their lack of strong leadership;

“Whereas, Mr. Bradley Gotshall has created a culture of fear and hostility among Township employees and first responders, in addition to perpetuating the disparate treatment of women in leadership roles; …”

The newly hired Warren County Administrator from Pennsylvania’s Lower Paxton Township, pictured on his social media page, perhaps referencing the Watergate era of American politics. Was Brad Gotshall pressured out of his PA. community manager’s position for legitimate reasons or personality conflicts with a portion of his employer’s constituency? Time may tell. Photo Brad Gotshall Social Media page

And while the above is the perspective of petition signers, obviously not in the Brad Gotshall fan club, Gotshall himself publicly asserted his departure was due to outside government “political characters,” as perhaps illustrated in the above social media photo, appearing to reference the “Watergate” era in a parking garage.

We asked Supervisor Cullers about her lone “no” vote on the Gotshall hire.

“I didn’t feel like he was the person to meet my expectations. Are my expectations high? We’ll see. But I didn’t have a good gut feeling he was the right fit for me,” she told us.

Will he be the right fit for Warren County, Virginia? Time will tell. And let’s give him a chance to surpass those lofty Supervisor Cullers expectations.

Click here to watch the Warren County Board of Supervisors Meeting of August 19, 2025.