Something rotten in the ‘State of Happy Creek’ – but where is the accountability?

Several days ago, Mr. Bianchini wrote another accurate yet sad summation of another fiasco. No, it wasn’t the Afton Inn fiasco; No, it wasn’t the Police Station Fiasco (both of these caused by Town Council petty childishness); No, it wasn’t even about our favorite scandal – the EDA embezzlement. It was about the insane decision to bypass or ignore highly competent, trained professionals – UFAC and the Tree Stewards (along with nearly a dozen other available conservation groups). They did this by ignoring Town Statutes and destroying a portion of Happy Creek. Although Mr. Tederick may view riprap as “beautiful”, the decision process was incredibly described by Mr. Sealock basically stating: Well we hadn’t done anything to it before, so we decided to replace trees with rocks now. – Why would we ask anybody in the field of tree and stream management if that was a good idea?

Last week’s flooding downstream at Eighth Street – Courtesy Photo

But put all of these missteps, fumbles, back door decisions together and one thing becomes painfully apparent. There is no accountability within the Town Council. You can pretty much say or do anything and sit back and complain that “people are calling you a crook” – Sorry Mr. Meza, your impression of Richard Nixon was somehow lacking.

Who was responsible for approving the Police Station construction, then trying to out bargain the EDA on a payment plan? Who crafted and forwarded a letter for the County and EDA to sign that said the Town had no moral or legal responsibility to pay for its police station? – What happened to them?

Who was responsible for dragging the Afton Inn around and around in circles, including the recent sophomoric act by the Town saying “you can’t sell it unless we say so” although the Town has previously fought that the EDA owns and is responsible for it. Besides, the Town quit the EDA, didn’t it?

What happened years ago when one developer wanted to raise the Afton’s height so it “towered” over the courthouse by ten feet! Holy Cow! That certainly was a deal breaker. I wonder how much higher the eye sore of the Power Plant is? But wait, they want another water line, why not let them pay for it or is the water line being built for something else – like further development?

As Mr. Tederick tried to defend the decision behind the Happy Creek mess, he said “we had a very experienced engineering firm recommend this action”. So was the engineering firm, who bungled the permits, punished in any way? No, instead they were chosen to be the engineers for the backup water pipe. The mind drifts to all sorts of conspiracy theories here. Wonder where Mr. Tederick will find his new six figure employment–Hmmm? I wonder who will be in charge of the Town EDA? – But didn’t someone already publicly ask that question, leading to laughter and a denial of interest by the interim town manager? But everyone’s entitled to change their mind, aren’t they? – After all, when your council calls you answer out of civic responsibility, don’t you?

Meanwhile, none of the rotting eye sores around town have been touched despite a new code to allow Town-mandated fixes.

But no accountability, none. Heck, we can’t even get Jennifer indicted. Nothing to see here but the good ole boys in action.

But Mr. Bianchini has said it best with the following:

“… over 20 years later that balance of proactive preservation of the town’s rural setting while accommodating thoughtful growth seems to have shifted to non-communication and outright amnesia of such matters, coupled with efforts focused on avoiding State-imposed financial sanctions or mandated upgrades for the consequences of recent infrastructure neglect.

“So, what appears to still be in motion through this 2020 holiday season at year’s end is a Town Council-endorsed plan to turn this formerly heavily treed section of the Shenandoah Greenway Trail and adjacent Happy Creek bank into a rock-strewn high-speed, hard-surface dumped stormwater management “sewer” headed, not only downstream toward some Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, formerly Department of Game and Inland Fisheries-stocked trout, but eventually into the Shenandoah River without a detour through the Town’s Wastewater Treatment Plant.” (emphasis added)

So what happened during the recent heavy rains? It flooded, right where the Tree Stewards predicted. But I can guarantee you that nobody on the Town Council got wet.

F. Schwartz 
Warren County, Virginia