Delegate in the ‘House’ – 29th’s Collins gets hero treatment in Front Royal

Front Royal’s mayor and some members of council seemed almost giddy that 29^th District Delegate Chris Collins showed up at their work session Monday night, July 17.  But after years of being ignored, some have even felt derailed, on desired charter or code changes by their other two state delegates perhaps that excitement is understandable.

Delegate Chris Collins is greeted by Vice-Mayor Gene Tewalt prior to the slightly-late (5 minutes) start of Monday’s work session. Council had 15 minutes set aside per interview of the final 4 candidates to replace Bébhinn Egger at a 6 P.M. closed session. Photos/Roger Bianchini

“That wasn’t a fantasy – our delegate was here, promising to help us on some things,” Mayor Hollis Tharpe observed after Collins left to head back to his home base of Winchester.  Collins was there as a result of a letter from Town Manager Joe Waltz informing him Front Royal’s town government was reaching out to him as their best legislative option to seek charter or code changes at the state level.

That help is being sought as part of the Town’s effort to shore up its enforcement ability regarding derelict structures and property maintenance codes, both of which were on the evening’s agenda.  However, Vice-Mayor Eugene Tewalt suggested bypassing the agenda item at which Collins was introduced – ongoing discussion of proposed changes to town codes on a building and rental inspection program – to get straight to a Town Charter change the General Assembly would have to approve.

That change is to give the Town of Front Royal, and perhaps all or a larger group of town governments, the same authority as counties and cities in forcing the hand of owners of derelict structures to repair or tear them down.  Tewalt said once the charter changes are enabled, council can return to the task of establishing a code or codes to broaden its enforcement powers on a broader range of targets.

“Twenty-five miles away they are taking care of it; and people say ‘Why aren’t you?’ ” Mayor Tharpe said of the difference in enforcement authority between a city like Winchester and towns like Front Royal under existing state codes.

“Forget about the property maintenance code – we want the same rights as cities; and it should be very simple to do because it is already in the state code for cities.  A property maintenance code is a whole different ballgame,” Tewalt said of blighted building enforcement versus forcing property owners to maintain building or rental properties not yet at that irreversible stage of not being worth the expense of repair.

From left, William Sealock, Mayor Tharpe and John Connolly listen as Chris Collins, R-House 29th, says he will carry the Town’s sought charter changes forward as they are presented to him – something Front Royal had past difficulty with from its 18th and 15th District representatives.

Tewalt also noted that the Town needed to make other changes to its charter simply to bring it up to date.  Town Attorney Doug Napier pointed out Front Royal’s charter was written in 1937.  The vice mayor observed that housekeeping the charter could eliminate policies for “trading chickens for services” (though with the Town’s new urban agriculture codes, he may be jumping the gun on that one).  Another example cited later by Tewalt was “you can’t sell coal on Sunday” – “we need a charter that reflects today, not 100 years ago,” the vice mayor told his colleagues.

“Give me what you want – I have no problem moving the ball forward for you,” Collins told Front Royal’s mayor and council.