Not running for re-election, not to worry; No Tourism Department, look what $600k a year from the private sector can get you …?

Following two Closed Sessions, one beginning at 6 p.m. to open the Monday, January 4, 2021 work session with interviews of candidates for appointment to now-Mayor Chris Holloway’s vacant council seat, the second adjourned to at 8:10 p.m. to discuss that appointment, the newly seated and still Warren County Republican Committee-dominated Front Royal Town Council pulled what would seem a surprise in naming Jacob Meza to that seat during the Special Meeting that followed.

The vote on a motion by Joseph McFadden, seconded by Scott Lloyd, was 4-1, with council’s only non-Republican Committee member Letasha Thompson casting the dissenting vote. However, Thompson lauded Meza’s past and potential future influence on council, saying she had simply wanted to see a “new face” on council at this point. Meza, whose seat was up for re-election last November, chose not to run to retain his council seat.

Above, council was in closed session for about 70 minutes to start their work session, and 90 minutes to end it before getting down to Special Meeting business. Below, despite not running to retain his council seat in November, Jacob Meza essentially has it back following Chris Holloway’s, at right in this file photo, elevation to mayor. Royal Examiner Photos by Roger Bianchini

Monday’s work session/special meeting agenda may have had a hint of what was coming in that council appointment. In two of four action items in the evening’s agenda packet, Meza’s name was included in a list of six council members voting. Those items were the motions into Closed Session that sandwiched the work session, the first for council candidate interviews, the second to discuss the appointment from that field of candidates.

And while the two votes on the Special Meeting Agenda, including the one to fill the council vacancy, didn’t include Meza’s name – THAT would have been embarrassing to have him listed to vote to appoint himself – that the writing was on the wall attracted some pre-meeting citizen attention. This reporter received an email from council and Meza critic Paul Gabbert late Monday morning inquiring what Meza’s inclusion in the voting council membership in that evening’s agenda available on the Town website could possibly mean.

Clerical error or message from beyond were theorized.

No information on the number and identity of the other council candidates was immediately available from Town Hall. However, a press release on Meza’s selection was sent out by the Town’s Public Information Department about 20 minutes after the meeting’s 9:50 p.m. end at the Warren County Government Center. See Press Release

Tourism outsourcing budget

The other Special Meeting action was approval on the Town side of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with Warren County on the contracting of a Tourism marketing company to work with the Joint Town-County Tourism Advisory Board. The initial annual cost of that contract, an “up to $600,000” split evenly between the Town and County – down to $400,000 in a potential second year – raised the eyebrows of two of council’s new members during work session discussion of the item.

Both Joe McFadden and Scott Lloyd questioned Town Purchasing Agent Alyssa Scott on that cost, seeking information on the Town’s return for investment. And as their colleague Lori Athey Cockrell pointed out, it appeared McFadden and Lloyd were seeking something more substantive than “social media hits” that were touted by former Interim Town Manager Matt Tederick to laud the hire of Tidewater area contractor Strategic Solutions by Trish as the initial private-sector replacement for the vanquished Town Tourism Department.

Above, newly seated Joseph McFadden was among those seeking details on the proposed ‘up-to $600k’ Town-County contract with a tourism marketing firm. Below, Town Purchasing Agent Alyssa Scott explained there are termination clauses for and without cause to protect the Town, if not details on ‘performance metrics’ the contractor will be judged by in increasing Town tourism revenue. That was good enough for council.

That more substantive, as in dollars and cents, answer Purchasing Agent Scott explained would come from established “performance metrics” designed to anticipate that cash return on investment. If those “performance metrics” were not met, grounds for termination “for cause” would be shown. A termination “for convenience” option would also be available in the contract, Scott assured council.

McFadden observed that it appeared council was being asked to sign off on a contract the terms of which had yet to be seen, with those “performance metrics” apparently being established by the contracted firm. That firm was identified as “JLL” or Jones Lang LaSalle Americas, Inc., recommended from a competitively bid Request for Proposals. Asked about her not “signing off” on the recommendation by her new colleagues, Letasha Thompson explained she had preferred another bidder, but added that JLL was her second choice.

Despite the outstanding questions on the “performance metrics” and contractual parameters following the work session discussion, during the Special Meeting on a motion by Thompson, seconded by Lori Cockrell, council approved forwarding the MOU to the County by a 5-0 vote.

There was no announcement on the other major topic of public interest in that second work session Closed Session: legal advice “regarding the Afton Inn”. So, it appears the realigned town council remains the lone stumbling block on approval of the EDA’s sale to facilitate redevelopment of the Afton Inn at the head of Front Royal’s Historic Downtown Business District.