Lead off Liaison Committee meeting of 2023 tries to outline a path toward improved Town-County joint efforts

Front Royal Town Council and Warren County Board of Supervisors members met at the first Town-County Liaison Committee meeting of 2023 at 6 p.m. Thursday evening, January 19. Newly-elected Mayor Lori Athey Cockrell chaired the meeting at the Town Hall second-floor meeting room. Vicky Cook joined Cockrell in representing their respective boards for the first time as non-rotating Liaison Committee members from their respective chairman’s seats.

And whether the Liaison Committee should continue in its established six-seat format, each board’s chairman and one rotating member from the town and county’s elected bodies (Morris and Cullers, respectively, this time), with staff support from the town manager and county administrator, was one of an 11-topic agenda tackled over three-and-a-half hours.

Noting continued efforts to restore more positive inter-municipal cooperation in the wake of hostile civil litigations launched by the town council, circa 2019/2020, in the wake of the joint Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority financial scandal, Mayor Cockrell suggested perhaps including more members officially, perhaps the entire elected bodies. Expanded membership, the mayor reasoned, would keep all members directly involved in matters of common interest to both municipal governments. That might be especially important on her side, Cockrell noted, with four and soon five of council’s six seats occupied by new members seated by election or appointment since November.

Town-County Liaison Committee members from the near left at table: Town Manager Joe Waltz, Council member Amber Morris, Mayor Lori Cockrell, County Administrator Ed Daley, County Board Chair Vicky Cook, Supervisor Cheryl Cullers, and at near right, Town staff support from Council Clerk Tina Presley. At left other elected officials present, including from far left down the front row of public seating, Councilmen Skip Rogers and Bruce Rappaport, Supervisor Delores Oates, and Councilman Josh Ingram’s legs.

That discussion during the meeting’s first topic – “Review of Liaison Committee Meeting Policy,” was eventually followed by one directly related matter: “Front Royal-Warren County EDA Negotiations/Next Steps,” and a number of others on matters that can evolve into either mutual or dueling self-interests.

Those included:

• Community Water Capacity Update
• Disposition of the McKay Springs Property
• Town and County Comp Plan update
• The resurrection of Youth Activities/Reinstitution of Youth Center
• Tourism Business/Marketing Plan Update and Next Steps for DMO (Destination Marketing Organization), the 501-C6 organization created to head a joint tourism effort by the town and county governments known as “Discover Front Royal.”

One unasked question on that latter front was: “If it is a joint tourism effort, why isn’t the DMO called “Discover Front Royal and Warren County?” That would seem particularly true since many of the natural resources that draw tourism to the community and related businesses found in and around national and state parks are outside of town, in the county.

Be that as it may, at least “improved communications and cooperation” are on the table now. A disconnect on that front became apparent when that previous council lineup, circa 2019/20, ignored the advice of then-Mayor Eugene Tewalt to forego hostile civil litigation against the joint EDA over disputed liabilities in favor of “good faith negotiations” between the Town, County, and EDA. Interim Town Manager Tederick soon brought the Alexandria-based law firm of Damiani and Damiani to council’s attention to handle that civil litigation on the Town side.

Be that as it may, at least “improved communications and cooperation” are on the table now. A disconnect on that front became apparent when that previous council lineup, circa 2019/20, ignored the advice of then-Mayor Eugene Tewalt to forego hostile civil litigation against the joint EDA over disputed liabilities in favor of “good faith negotiations” between the Town, County, and EDA. Interim Town Manager Tederick soon brought the Alexandria-based law firm of Damiani and Damiani to council’s attention to handle that civil litigation on the Town side.

That same level of cooperation continues despite the still unresolved civil litigation may have been indicated by compliments from officials on both sides of the liaison table to the efforts of Town Finance Director B. J. Wilson for his work on tracking EDA-related expenditures as the County and its now unilaterally run EDA (in the wake of the Town’s decision to create its own unilateral EDA) attempt to assist auditors in finalizing reports on the final years the alleged financial misappropriations occurred.

Mayor Cockrell noted that it was difficult to negotiate an out-of-court settlement of the EDA financial issues without those final annual audits tracing the movement of EDA, Town, and County resources. But it would appear that financial accounting movement in that direction is occurring, and it would seem in good faith and out of court.

Click here to see the full Liaison Committee meeting discussion of the above-cited topics and the rest of the agenda in the Town video. The full agenda, in order of scheduled discussion with the municipality that brought the topic to the table noted, were:

1) Review of Liaison Committee Meeting Policy – Town
2) Review of MOU for Use of Board Meeting Room – Town
3) Tourism Business/Marketing Plan Update and Next Steps for DMO – Town/County • MOU between Town and Discover Front Royal
4) Water Capacity Update – Town/County
5) Town and County Comprehensive Plans Update – Transportation -Town/County
6) Alternate Access to Shenandoah Shores Road and Mary’s Shady Lane Town/County
7) Front Royal-Warren County EDA Negotiations/Next Steps – County
8) Report from Front Royal/Warren County Anti-Litter Council – County
9) Disposition of McKay Springs Property – County
10) Discussion of Youth Activities/Reinstitution of Youth Center – Town
11) Joint Towing Advisory Board – Town