Happy Creek questions-answers, farewells and COVID-restrictions mark final scheduled 2020 Front Royal Town Council meeting

It was a mixture of a mutual admiration society group biddings of farewell to outgoing members and council’s “interim man” of the last year and a half-plus, Matt Tederick (there’s a sci-fi movie script to work on in your downtime now, Matt); a tidying up of end of the calendar year business including authorizing receipt of another $88,109 in CARES Act pandemic relief funding to aid qualified citizens with back utility payments; and a final public plea and critique of council and staff’s plans of incorporating a downtown section of Happy Creek into a rock-strewn stormwater funnel as part of its state-mandated stormwater management Inflow and Infiltration (I&I) wastewater system upgrades.

Under the watchful eye of the Royal Examiner camera and FRPD meeting security by Capt. Cline, David Means questions the history, thought process, and cost of the Happy Creek riprap rock bank plan for Happy Creek. Below, Means’ list of questions with handwritten addition made in the hallway prior to the meeting. Royal Examiner Photos by Roger Bianchini – Royal Examiner Video by Mark Williams

During his member’s report after hearing two citizens, Save Happy Creek Coalition principal David Means and long-time council critic Paul Gabbert question the reasoning, cost – Means estimated $100,000 or more – and thought process on the defoliation process tied to the riprap rock stabilization plan, Vice-Mayor Bill Sealock offered a perhaps heretofore missing detail on the plan’s evolution. Sealock pointed to 13 years of neglect, it would seem by council, of upkeep of the bank as one reason for the current plan, observing, “You can’t let this area, if it’s a beautiful piece of our town, you can’t neglect it for 13 years and expect it to remain beautiful. Change has to come about.”

Then he elaborated, adding, “We don’t want to talk about flooding, but the I&I program – this council took it on to do something about I&I. And that is going to save us millions of dollars because we won’t have to change our waste(water) treatment process to accept floodwater anymore.

Above, Paul Gabbert on the big screen joined Means in questioning the wisdom of the Town’s permitted Happy Creek plan replacing the bulk, if not all riparian buffer vegetation with rip-rap rocks. Below, later in the meeting, Vice-Mayor Sealock provided some answers on the evolution of the Happy Creek bank project as part of the Town’s I&I stormwater management plan seeking to avoid ‘millions of dollars’ in upgrades to the Town’s Wastewater Treatment Plant process to manage and treat stormwater flow.

“So, for that and all these accomplishments that all of us had an effort and interest in, thank you,” the vice-mayor said with a nod to his colleagues in his final meeting’s member report explanation of the thought process behind the Happy Creek project.

And if that seeming logic of “we ignored it, so now we must destroy it to save money” wasn’t enough of a sendoff to 2020, just to remind us of what year it is coming to an end, all this occurred under COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic-implemented restrictions on attendance of the meeting held in the expanded, rear-section-opened, main meeting room of the Warren County Government Center (WCGC).

As a result of those self-imposed restrictions, only 10 people in addition to Royal Examiner cameraman Mark Williams, including council and staff were allowed in the large front section of the meeting room. So, with four council members present – Chris Holloway and Gary Gillespie were absent “under the weather” Councilman Jacob Meza commented without elaboration – the mayor and three staff members included, that left room for two members of the public. Those, apparently on a first-come, first-sit basis were Mayor Tewalt’s wife Juanita and Councilman-elect Joseph McFadden. Perhaps 10 or so more members of the public, were they aware, could have sat socially distanced in the table-strewn opened rear section of the room with this reporter and one other citizen. However, no mention of the additional space was included in the Town’s posted meeting restrictions notice.

The Town Facebook page ‘meeting restrictions’ post lacking any mention of additional room in opened auxiliary room area to the rear of the main room; and treating a town municipal meeting as a ‘social gathering’ under State pandemic restriction guidelines that exempt governmental functions. Below, members of the public banished to the WCGC hallway prior to the meeting, including David Means, left, jotting additions against the wall to his 5 questions to council on the Happy Creek project.

The main meeting room restrictions to the Phase 3 novel Coronavirus surge in cases and deaths nationwide appear to go beyond Virginia Governor Northam’s imposed safety guidelines, which Royal Examiner pointed out to town legal staff over the course of the day, exempt government functions and media coverage of them from the 10-person “social gathering” restrictions. Some comments on the Town’s Facebook page where the restrictions were posted shared that opinion, including one from Councilman-elect McFadden. One comment from Melanie Salins even questioned whether the 10-person “social gathering” limit’s imposition on an exempted governmental meeting might cross Constitutional lines in illegally limiting public participation.

Be that as it may, the evening’s two public speakers, Save Happy Creek Coalition’s David Means and Paul Gabbert, were instructed to wait in the WCGC hallway until called in for their turns to speak. And following their remarks they returned to the hallway – and likely the building for a better view of the remainder of the meeting online if they so desired.
See all these developments transpire, as well as council’s other business in the below linked Royal Examiner video.

Remaining members Lori Cockrell and Letasha Thompson present plaques of appreciation to outgoing members, in turn, Jake Meza, Bill Sealock, former interim mayor, and interim town manager Matt Tederick, and in final two shots Mayor Gene Tewalt as wife Juanita films her husband’s farewell to the town government he has served for about 40 years as both an elected official and public works director before that.

Other Business

In that other business, council approved acceptance of an additional $88,109 in CARES Act (Coronavirus Aid Relief Economic Securities Act) funding to assist eligible citizens with payment of delinquent town utility bills. Contact the Town for information on the eligibility process. The County Board of Supervisors had a special meeting at 4 p.m. Monday for the express purpose of approving the allocation of that money distributed through the state government to the Town.

One of two public hearings scheduled was pulled from the agenda at the request of the applicant according to staff. That was the Special Use Permit application of Richard Spiewak for a single-family dwelling on a non-conforming lot in a Residential-1 District.

The other public hearing was on authorization to reduce the membership of the town planning commission from seven to five members. It passed 4-0. A vacancy will be created by McFadden’s elevation to a council seat.

Photographed from the front row of the auxiliary room, Council conducted its final scheduled meeting of 2020 in a big room with a lot of empty space. Including Council Clerk Tina Pressley hidden behind a column on the right, with the addition of a second exempted person, FRPD Capt. Crystal Cline pulling security duty seated by column, 12 people were present upfront, with this reporter and one additional citizen in the auxiliary room in the back.

Council also authorized the transfer of $347,761 from its Fiscal Year 2021 budget to implement the third year of the compensation study recommended town staff salary merit increases.

Also, after some discussion, council approved by a 4-0 vote a Budget Amendment allowing a $50,000 “donation” to the Front Royal-Warren County Chamber of Commerce related to its work in helping the Town implement its CARES Act relief funding. Councilwoman Letasha Thompson sought to have the item removed from the agenda at the meeting’s outset. But her motion for removal died without a second. After being assured services had been rendered and the 2020 donation did not commit similar donations in future years without further authorization, Thompson joined her three present colleagues in voting for approval of the money to the Chamber.

Council also authorized new Town Manager Steven Hicks to accept Deeds of Easement for land for the planned Route 522/340 North Corridor redundant water line and acknowledged Board of Architectural Review (BAR) member Nancy LeHew for her 11 years of service there.