Local builders say trust must be earned after Town fast-tracked mayor’s subdivision request

As noted in a related story, at the invitation of Front Royal Town Councilman Gary Gillispie Warren County Builder’s Association President George Cline was invited to speak to council members at the Tuesday, Feb. 15 work session. On the agenda prior to Cline addressing the group was a presentation by Town Manager Steven Hicks on the Town’s recently created Building Permits and Inspections Department.

Hicks told the builders the department was created to offer “one-stop shopping” and more efficiency overall. He also stated that the Town of Front Royal could not address blighted property without a building inspection department, which Cline noted appears to be untrue according to Virginia Code.

Gillispie, who works as a professional plumbing and gas inspector for Loudoun County, stated Tuesday evening, “We’ve got all the tools we need to take care of the blighted properties right now. – Period, as long as council has the appetite to do it.”

Local builders are no doubt concerned about what they perceive as Mayor Holloway getting special treatment from the town manager last year in fast-tracking a non-conforming six-unit subdivision request for the mayor’s company, Chris Holloway Construction, LLC.

An investigation late last year by former Town Attorney Doug Napier suggests that while no laws were broken, Hicks did assist Holloway in getting his subdivision approved outside normal processes, more quickly. Napier wrote in the report, “In this case, it is clear from all staff reports that the Town Manager in effect personally ‘carried the ball’ for Mr. Holloway’s application making sure that the Planning and Public Works Departments and their staffs knew that the Town Manager was overseeing the re-subdivision application for Mr. Holloway, and the Town Manager wanted this application expedited as quickly as possible.”

When Cline addressed council on February 15, minus the mayor who was not in attendance, he referred to an email sent to him on January 26 by Hicks, asking why questions Cline emailed to council members were not sent to him instead.

“Town Administration beats Planning Commission to punch – releases report on Holloway LLC’s subdivision approval process Wednesday afternoon”

Cline stated,” I didn’t answer that question right away because I wasn’t sure how I was going to answer it. It was emailed to me. I’ve taken some time and I’ve thought long and hard about it because I really wasn’t sure how I wanted to answer it or if I wanted to answer it, but over the last couple of weeks, I’ve decided I know how to answer it.

“And this is my answer: The town and county’s taxpayers and citizens have suffered greatly from the lack of everyone’s transparency and accountability in this area in the last several years. There is no need to rehash what or why or because – everybody sitting here already knows why. It is truly sad that one individual cannot ask the town manager, a county administrator, or a department supervisor a question and know for sure he or she is getting the correct answer, with full transparency and accountability. Instead, we have to show up in groups of two or more, as you can see, so we have witnesses of each conversation.

“We have to do so much nonsense – things such as FOIA requests to know if the right decisions have been made with the citizens’ well-being put first and foremost. We have to research every decision and every approval to ensure that everyone is given the same process the same ordinance and the same treatment.

“The town council, board of supervisors, town manager, county administrator are all positions that we citizens should have the utmost respect and trust for. (They are) positions that integrity means everything. But because of the info and the documents that I have received in the last couple of weeks we now have no trust in our Town. We cannot send questions to just one person, we cannot send emails to a single address and be confident that we are truly getting the correct and fair answer. And this, Mr. Hicks, and the town council is why we do what we do”.

Cline said after the meeting that the distrust some builders felt would not be easily repaired. “They’ll have to earn our trust back,” he told Royal Examiner.

Following Cline’s address, there was some conversation between the council members and the group of builders who showed up for the meeting. Several of them expressed concern about the town’s building department, including the fact that several of them were about to get permits, but did not want to do so until a solution was implemented.

Click here to watch the Front Royal Town Council work session Tuesday evening, February 15.

Local builders voice concerns about new Town Building Department