Renter Protections, Joint Utility Subsidies to ‘Community Partners’ Among Items Addressed by Town-County Liaison Committee

Elected and staff representatives of the county’s two municipal governments, Warren County and the Town of Front Royal, met at Town Hall Thursday, January 18, for a quarterly Liaison Committee meeting. The Town-County Liaison Committee is designed to clarify and update representatives of both governments on projects and questions of mutual interest. With the Town hosting the initial meeting of 2024, Front Royal Mayor Lori Cockrell chaired the meeting, which began an hour early at 5 p.m. in an attempt to get ahead of the predicted winter weather forecast for that evening. Other committee members present included county board Chair Cheryl Cullers, like the mayor, the county board chair is a permanent member, and Councilwoman Melissa DeDomenico-Payne and Supervisor John Stanmeyer, as the two rotating members. In addition to various staff members present as observers were Councilman Josh Ingram and Supervisor Vicky Cook.

The 4-member Liaison Committee, from far left of the table clockwise, is Councilwoman Melissa DeDomenico-Payne, Mayor Lori Cockrell, County Board Chair Cheryl Cullers, and Supervisor John Stanmeyer. Participating staff and other elected officials present are, for the most part, seated in the gallery at the right, except for Town Manager Waltz, Council Clerk Presley, and County Administrator Daley, at the end of the table.

The Liaison Committee faced a seven-item agenda, three submitted by the Town, three by the County, and one jointly, the latter being an update on the operational status and a path forward for the joint Transportation Subcommittee created at the impetus of the Liaison Committee in recent months.

Below is a full list and summary of the Agenda Items in the order presented following action number 1, the mayor’s convening of the meeting:

2. Town’s Speed Cameras Installation and Enforcement – (Submitted by Town) Summary: Police Chief Magalis is to give an update on the Town’s Speed Cameras being installed around four specific school areas.
3. Delay of Mailing Tax Bills – (Town) Summary: per minutes of the last meeting, both the Town and County were to review their codes and further discuss changing the due date and other options as needed.
4. McKay Spring – Potential Division to Separate the Water Source Area from Development Site – (County) Summary: Continued Discussion for a potential division to separate the water source from the development Site. [documents are attached]
5. Town and County Tenant and Landlord Enforcement – (County) Summary: Several calls have been received by tenant constituents about living conditions and lack of enforcement of Virginia laws and local building ordinances. It is requested to begin the discussion of how the Town and County can address and resolve these complaints.
6. Town Commitments to Share Utilities Costs with Community Partners – (County) Currently, the county subsidizes leased building facilities and utilities to help offset costs for community outreach organizations and programs such as RON, Front Royal Little League, Front Royal Midget Football, Warren County Sunfish, etc. Develop a cost-share program between the town and county for providing facility utilities (water, sewage, electric) to support these outreach programs.
7. Transportation Subcommittee Update/Proposed Alternative Access to Shenandoah Shores Mission Statement and Policy – (Town/County) Summary: This was an action from the last Liaison Committee meeting to develop a policy for this subcommittee. [draft policy is attached]
8. Avtex Conservancy Update – (Town) Summary: per minutes of the last meeting, the application was submitted, and the EDA was currently awaiting the results. ARPA funds had been linked to that and was subject to change depending on the results. December 31st was the deadline to obligate the ARPA funds, and June 30th to spend and receive all goods.

Of particular interest to citizens, particularly financially vulnerable ones on both sides of the Town-County boundary line, may have been item 5.

Renter and Landlord oversight

Regarding item 5: “Town and County Tenant and Landlord Enforcement”, when Mayor Cockrell asked if the County had received calls about issues inside the town limits to make the issue of concern for the Liaison Committee (36:10 video mark), County Administrator Ed Daley noted that Fork District Supervisor Cook had brought the issue forward for inclusion in the evening’s agenda.

“I get calls from both,” Cook responded, adding, “Just a quick history. I get calls from people from the town and the county complaining about the living conditions that they live in, they’re renters. So, they’ve got mold issues and they’ve got water damage. And these are single moms who are taking care of young kids and that kind of thing …”

Cook continued to explain that many of the stories brought to her include a negative response when taken by the tenant to the landlord. Estimating five such calls recently, Cook observed of some landlord responses, “They either ignore the requests or they threaten to evict them, which I have a problem with.” Cook added that in some situations where a tenant is struggling financially, they face homelessness if evicted by the landlord.

Staff and guest elected official observers, including Supervisor Cook, far left, middle row, wait their turns to provide input to Liaison Committee discussions.

“When I get calls like that … they tell me I’m like the last resort. They call up (Governor) Youngkin, they call up (Attorney General) Miyares, they call the building inspector, they call everyone and everyone just says, ‘We’re sorry, we can’t do anything for you.’ So, I don’t know what the answer is. I’m hoping we can put our heads together and maybe have an ordinance or something.” Cook pointed to what she termed “a Landlord-Tenant Act” in Virginia that codifies parameters of that relationship from both sides. And here Cook observed that sometimes it could be a disgruntled tenant that might cause damage to a rental property – “So, I’m not picking on landlords,” she asserted unless, of course, they respond to legitimate issues with threats and intimidation of their tenants.

“So, we have this code, but yet somehow locally we can’t help these people who need some type of enforcement … I don’t know what the solution is, but I think it is a Town and County issue,” Cook said in putting her issue before the Liaison Committee.

As the discussion progressed, Town Planning Director Lauren Kopishke and Property Maintenance Official Monica McClure took to the podium to explain parameters and possibilities from their side. Kopishke explained that on the Town side, due to code and departmental structure, they were complaint-based only, leading to scheduled inspections by McClure. If repairs are needed requiring a building permit, at that point, the matter is turned over to the County, where it would seem Building Official David Beahm and his department would take the point on follow-up.

Town Planning Director Lauren Kopishke, right at the podium, and Town Property Maintenance Official Monica McClure explain code and personnel limitations in their department’s ability to directly address rental property issues beyond a certain point.

In the end, it was decided to put the two municipalities’ relevant departments and personnel in contact to work towards some sort of local solution to prevent rental abuses from either side of the equation. Queried on a path forward, Town Manager Joe Waltz told the committee, “My thought is this is a real problem. And I think when it was added to the agenda and when I talked to staff, they said it was a good idea. So, I think if you let our staff get together, we can collaborate with the County, and whatever we need to do to facilitate a better process, we can come to both boards and have a solution. But I think this is a great idea, and it’s a great starting point.”

Jointly funded community initiatives

As to agenda item 6: “Town Commitments to Share Utilities Costs with Community Partners” — the recent hang-up on resolving joint funding regarding the Reaching Out Now (RON) plan to re-establish a community-wide Youth Center and Activities space in the former Santmyers Youth Center on 8th Street and Commerce Avenue in town appeared to have brought the item forward. After Mayor Cockrell introduced the County-initiated topic (1:01:10 linked video mark), she offered some personal perspectives. “To actually exempt somebody or give a break to somebody, it’s not like the Town would really be able to do that. It would be asking the customers to actually bear the burden of paying a higher price to be able to give another organization a discount … The same electric customers are already part of the County subsidizing those organizations,” Mayor Cockrell reasoned.

It would seem the mayor was, perhaps indirectly, revisiting the issue of double taxation of town citizens for services offered countywide that was resolved by the Voluntary Settlement Agreement of the late 1990s. As part of that agreement, the County took over operational control and sole funding of Fire & Rescue, Parks & Rec, and Samuels Public Library, all of which town citizens had previously been taxed as both county and town residents to support.

In fact, the Memorandum Of Agreement (MOA) the Town submitted in support of its proposed financial contributions to the RON overseen Youth Center that was rejected by the County seemed particularly drafted to make it clear the Town’s initial contribution to the Youth Center operations was voluntary and would be reviewed annually to see if it would continue on that voluntary basis.

See the back and forth between Mayor Cockrell and Supervisor Cook, who noted she had brought this topic to the liaison agenda, not realizing how complicated an issue it would turn out to be, at the 1:18:36 video mark as the discussion wound down. The discussion concludes at the 1:22:45 video mark.

Among the other agenda items, several revisited issues broached at liaison previously, some at intervals over time, sometimes for years, as in the case of the McKay Springs water source property owned by the Town and its surrounding County-owned parcels earmarked for eventual development of some kind.

FRPD Chief Kahle Magalis, at podium, opened the liaison presentations by revisiting the setup and eventual enforcement processes during drop off and pickup times in establishing Speed Cameras in four public school zones in coming weeks. Below, media present, yours truly, informed Chief Magalis that he would be providing food security at the Town Hall meeting room press table.

The meeting adjourned at 6:47 p.m. The Front Royal-Warren County Liaison Committee will next meet at 6 p.m. on April 18, that time hosted by the County at the Warren County Government Center.

Click here to see all these discussions in part or their entirety, in the  Town “Liaison Committee” video.