Divided Council approves $100 ROW sale; defeats ‘Headhunter’ manager search

As part of a heavy Monday evening agenda, the Front Royal Town Council acted on two items that have been divisive during recent work sessions.  They were:

• A 3-2 approval of the permanent sale of a 675-foot Right of Way encroachment on 15^th Street to the Cool Harbor Motel for $100;
• And perhaps most surprisingly, the 4-3 defeat with Mayor Hollis Tharpe breaking the Council tie, to NOT authorize a $21,000 contract with Springsted to conduct the search for a new Town Manager.

Town Attorney Doug Napier responds to questions about the Town’s $100 ROW sale on 15th Street. Photos/Roger Bianchini

If divided on those two votes, Council was unanimous in approving:

• A $25,750 consultant expenditure for a Town staff Classification and Compensation Study;
• $400,000 to be transferred from various General Fund sources to facilitate the slurry seal patching on the town’s secondary road system;
• And after a Closed Session discussion of four bids received on the Town’s old Electric Department headquarters at 520A Sixth Street opened earlier in the meeting, approval of the $200,000 bid of Adventure Enabler, also known as Rev 3 Adventures.

Among the other bids on the Sixth Street property was a $275,000 bid from a trio of business, including Pike Construction, Arctic Air and a plumbing company; and the offer of a trade for the “non-commercial” portion of VFW Post 1860s property near the river at the end of North Royal extended.  The fourth bid was from B&P Land Holdings at $150,000.

Morrison’s impact

Newly-appointed Councilman and former Planning Commission member Chris Morrison’s presence was VERY apparent in the two divided votes cited above.  Morrison abstained from the vote on the 15^th Street ROW sale allowing a 3-2 majority (Connolly, Meza, Egger) to hold sway.  But perhaps most surprisingly, Morrison voted against John Connolly, who nominated him for the Council appointment, as well as Jacob Meza and Bébhinn Egger in defeating the “headhunter” consultant contract in the Town Manager search.

From left, John Connolly, Jacob Meza and Chris Morrison react in varying ways to Monday-night agenda debates.

We later asked Morrison about his vote creating the tie that allowed Mayor Hollis Tharpe to side with him and Council’s older generation supporters of a staff-driven search, Eugene Tewalt and William Sealock.  Morrison replied that he felt a consultant-driven hunt, perhaps stretching from coast to coast as Connolly had suggested was preferable to find the best candidate, was more likely to bring “CEO” type selections forward.

“We’re not there,” Morrison surmised of the town’s positioning for that style of town management.  And after his first Council meeting, Morrison exhibited a certain media savvy in hinting that perhaps Council didn’t really need to look that far in seeking the most qualified candidate – that, that candidate might be staring them in the face each week.

Renter protections

During a work session following the meeting and closed session, Council received a summary of a proposal to institute a Property Maintenance and Rental Inspection Program.  Assisting Town Planning Director Jeremy Camp in briefing Council on the proposal was County Building Official David Beahm.  The two explained the parameters of a town-wide Maintenance Code focused on exteriors, but with interior inspections allowed based on filed complaints; and the Rental Inspection Code that allows arbitrary inspections of the interior of rental properties, without complaints being filed.

The proposal presented matched the portion of the town to be subject to the arbitrary rental inspections to the Town’s designated Historic District.  Camp explained that the State does not allow a Rental Inspection area to be comprised of the entire town, only a designated area based on number of rental units and potentially blighted or deteriorating units.

A map of the proposed Rental Inspections District stretching along both sides of Royal Ave. and closely matching the Town’s designated Historic District.

Several councilmen, led by Tewalt wondered at the lack of protection offered town-wide by the limited Rental Inspection area proposed.  However, once Camp and Beahm explained that complaints filed in the broader Property Maintenance Code area WOULD allow the Town to conduct interior inspections, all seemed satisfied the proposal could be a working solution for an ongoing problem impacting both tenants with neglectful landlords, and landlords with neglectful tenants.