Facing litigation Front Royal Town Council authorizes refund of building department fees on unissued or unfinalized permitting

Following a two-hour-twenty-minute closed session convened at the outset of a 6 PM Special Meeting called by Mayor Chris Holloway late last week, the Front Royal Town Council approved one action item in the reconvened open meeting. That action taken shortly before 8:30 PM Monday evening, April 18, directed the town manager “to authorize and process” the refunding of what the local building community considered exorbitantly high permitting and inspection fees submitted with applications for permits that were not yet issued or were issued for permitting not finalized before the council agreed to abandon its Building Department initiative after just 2-1/2 controversial months. LINK “Council changes direction on Building Inspection Department – will it be a permanent change back to County control?” Town Manager Steven Hicks, who though uncertified for the task served as the Town’s chief building official during the department’s brief tenure, was not present at Monday’s Special Meeting.

Following a lengthy closed session the current 5-member FR Town Council, below, unanimously approved a refund of building department fees for unissued or unfinalized permitting. Asst. Town Attorney George Sonnett, present with other staff for consultation on the matter, is at near right of meeting table. Royal Examiner Photos by Roger Bianchini

On March 15, the Warren County Board of Supervisors approved an adjusted Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the Town to retake building inspection and permitting authority inside the town limits. The Town launched its building department on January 3. The adjustment requested by the Town and agreed to by the County removed a 10, then 5-year minimum timeframe for the County to have the in-town building permitting and inspection authority. The agreed-upon MOA allows either side to withdraw from the arrangement with 60 days’ notice. At its current population of over 14,000, by Virginia State Code the Town is responsible for providing a building inspection function internally or by contracted service.

The topic of “probable litigation” surrounding those Town building fees was added to the evening’s agenda by a required unanimous vote of approval at the outset of the meeting on a motion by Gary Gillespie. The topic the Special Meeting was initially called to address – the “assignment, appointment, promotion, performance, demotion, salaries, disciplining or resignation of specific public officers, appointees, or employees of any public body” – resulted in no action or public comment by council.

Concerning the action taken on the building permit refunds, Letasha Thompson, who seconded Amber Morris’s motion on the matter, said, “I’m just glad to see that we’ve come to a resolution of sorts to get this worked out and to get everybody made whole. I think that was very important to all of us and I’m glad that we were able to do this tonight.”

Members of the WC Builders Assn. linger outside a previous closed session on issues surrounding the Town Building Department, following a Special Meeting/Work Session, this one on March 14.

Councilman Joe McFadden added, “Obviously it’s very important – we heard from the builders quite a bit about this process and I think this is a good way forward. We probably could have concluded this at the end of our last meeting but obviously, we didn’t. And so we’re trying to rectify that today and make sure we say thank you to the ones that brought this to the table and take the initiative to get it fixed.”

Town staff present for the Special Meeting included Council Clerk Tina Presley, Assistant Town Attorney George Sonnett, Planning Director Lauren Kopishke, Finance Director B.J. Wilson, IT Director Grant Autry, and Police Chief Kahle Magalis. Presley was present for the initial open meeting record keeping; Sonnett, Kopishke, and Wilson were in the closed meeting for the initial discussion surrounding the building department fees. Autry was called in to record the open meeting action item motion and vote at the meeting’s end. And Magalis was present for security, spending the duration of the closed meeting with this reporter in the second floor Town Hall hallway limiting any potentially illegal raiding of the staff snack room.

Staff on call for Monday’s Special, mostly Closed Meeting, prepare for council’s motion to enter Closed Session shortly after 6 PM Monday night. From far left, Planning Director Lauren Kopishke, FRPD Chief Kahle Magalis, IT Director Grant Autry, Finance Director B.J. Wilson, at near head of table, back of chair to camera Clerk Tina Presley, and for the most part out of frame at extreme right, Asst. Attorney George Sonnett. Magalis pulled the toughest staff assignment of the evening, keeping the press present from decimating the Town Hall snack room over the course of the nearly 2-1/2 hour closed session.

Chief, LOOK, a grouse!!!