Tederick takes the helm as interim mayor of Front Royal

Interim Mayor Tederick follows pre-meeting media instruction to pretend to be chairing the work session for a staged photo op. Royal Examiner Photos/Roger Bianchini

On Monday, May 3, Matt Tederick chaired his first meeting as interim mayor of Front Royal. At the 7 p.m. work session at Town Hall on East Main Street council discussed several pending actions and received staff updates on projects already underway.

With lengthy experience in chairing Warren County Republican Committee meetings, Tederick did an admirable job in managing the work session, moving council toward consensus decisions on whether to move forward to final meeting votes or further work session review, getting himself up to speed on aspects of town business without undue delay, and giving council members present the opportunity to chime in with opinions or questions about the matters at hand. Jacob Meza and Gary Gillespie were absent, the former due to a previous commitment, the latter due to a medical procedure according to the mayor.

Among pending matters were consideration of a special use permit request to place a dog training facility with a small kennel aspect for some “doggie boot camp” overnight stays close to residential and commercial buildings at 650 West 11^th Street; legal staff action on and council adoption of a code allowing a more aggressive pursuit of delinquent utility accounts, particularly larger commercial ones; and an update on the associated policy on the write off of bad debts deemed uncollectable.

As for updates on things already in motion, progress on the Inflow & Infiltration (I&I) Abatement Program designed to keep the Town from receiving a State Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) mandate for costly system-wide upgrades was presented by Robert Boyer of the Department of Public Works; and Town Manager Joe Waltz briefed council on additional pedestrian safety measures included in the Fiscal Year 2020 Town Budget.

Graphics from the Inflow & Infiltration power point presentation by Robert Boyer of the Public Works Department

Council consensuses were reached to:

• move the kennel permit request forward with advertisement of a public hearing during which public health issues related to dog waste or any other lingering questions will be addressed;
• continued tracking of legal efforts to collect certain delinquent utility accounts and receipt of any additional staff recommendations on tweaking of the related town ordinance as seen necessary so that code change can be implemented as soon as possible;
• and coming meeting action to allow the write-off of 59 delinquent utility accounts totaling $27,756 deemed uncollectable after five years without activity.

On that latter matter the staff agenda summary noted that Fiscal Year 2018 collection and write-off statistics indicated the Town Finance Department was collecting about 99% of accounts billed before write offs as uncollectable were being made. Council adopted a revision of its bad debt policy in March and has included quarterly review/approval of debts facing write-off status.

Town Finance Director B. J. Wilson presents info on movement on the bad debt collection effort and ordinance development

As for the delinquent account collection process, staff reported that it is “currently processing the first round of utility accounts to obtain judgments and continues to work to streamline the process.” As Town Attorney Doug Napier reported during the work session that first round of legal maneuvering is in its early stage with judgment decisions forthcoming.

Also under consideration for the code adjustment are raising the minimum deposit from $125 to $150; obtaining a personal guaranty on business accounts, particularly from LLC (Limited Liability Corporation) operations; and a Proof of Income statement of some kind from new account applicants. Of those latter two options staff noted that while they “should help reduce the Town’s bad debt expense” they will “make the utility application process more cumbersome for applicants.”

The agenda item summary cited “approximately 2,000 new utility accounts opened each year” with “approximately 240” subject to bad debt write offs after five years. And as noted above during the last fiscal year the dollar amount declared “bad debt” after five years was equal to “roughly 1% of the dollar value billed.”

Also during the meeting Councilman Eugene Tewalt raised the issue of code and permitting exceptions for the Workforce Housing Project council granted to the EDA at the request of former Executive Director Jennifer McDonald in November 2016. Tewalt said he would like to discuss rescinding those permitting exceptions because the Town was lied to about who the actual developer of the property would be.

Mayor Tederick actually chairing the work session – his first action was a call for a moment of silence in memory of former Sheriff Daniel McEathron, whose funeral he and Police Chief Kahle Magalis among many others attended prior to Monday’s work session, as well as for the victims of last week’s Va. Beach municipal building shooting.

Matt Tederick – taking the helm of town government until a special election is held in November