Town Council covers a lot of ground before adjourning to closed session

A now post-special election full complement of the Front Royal Town Council, with Amber Morris taking Jacob Meza’s vacated position and Gary Gillespie present by remote phone hook-up, plowed through a series of budget amendments, ordinance amendments that will require public hearings, proposed operational or contractual agreements, along with some routine annual business at a work session Monday night, November 8, before adjourning to a five-item closed session.

The lead of this story, had it not been a closed session item, would likely have been topic four of five behind closed doors. That topic was “Consultation with legal counsel … concerning an existing agreement the Town is already a party to which has become problematic” about which the Town “wishes to consider its legal options”. WILD GUESS – the half-century-old, jointly-created Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority. As readers will recall, the Town has withdrawn involvement with the old EDA after initiating what became dueling civil lawsuits related to its EDA-financed business as the EDA financial scandal was developing from around 2014/2015 to late 2018. That litigation was launched by council during the tenure of Interim Town Manager Matt Tederick over the objection of Mayor Gene Tewalt, who sought to sit down with a new EDA board and staff in a good faith effort to trace exactly who was owed what as a result of the EDA financial scandal. That as yet largely unresolved scandal included the alleged misdirection of EDA assets totaling somewhere between $26 million and $62 million during the tenure of former executive director Jennifer McDonald.

‘I can’t talk any sense to them’ – then Mayor Eugene Tewalt may have been telling then EDA Board Chairman Ed Daley, now WC Administrator, at December 2019 EDA Board meeting. Royal Examiner Photos by Roger Bianchini

But alas, that topic is JUST a guess, not having been a fly on the wall inside the second floor Town Hall meeting room during that closed session. So, in summarizing the 70-minute open meeting we will highlight a few of the open session topics.

Those included movement toward a Town code for short-term tourist rentals and how that code might or might not match the County code, which Councilman Joseph McFadden suggested from a past applicant contact, might be too harsh and/or too confusing.

Short-term tourist rentals

McFadden pointed to a conversation with a woman he had while volunteering at the Visitors Center, whom he said had been “yelled at” by County staff during her application process due to confusion over taxing issues. “It sounded like a nightmare for her, at the same time she’s just trying to make a little extra money for she and her family,” McFadden reasoned. “They were telling her she needs to collect the tax; she thinks it’s the State that’s supposed to be collecting the tax from the Air B&B she’s renting through … They told her to stop renting immediately until she collected the tax,” McFadden said of the situation described to him.

“Not only that for her, one thing she talked about was that economically she pooled her money with somebody else to buy a small cabin up on Blue Mountain to turn it into this rental … And that $400 dollars (one-time application fee), that’s a lot of money to her … It sounds like the County is still struggling a little bit with this. So, I’m hoping that we can learn from some of those mistakes, maybe … If we have a $400 fee I just want to make sure it’s a clearer process,” McFadden told his colleagues.

Town-County Liaison topics

After Town Manager Steven Hicks introduced a preliminary list of carryover topics for the December 2^nd Liaison Committee meeting, he asked if council wanted to add any new ones. Letasha Thompson suggested discussion of making use of the 15^th Street football field at the old middle school site that is now the County’s Health and Human Services Complex, free of charge to the Midget Football League. Vice-Mayor Lori Cockrell noted a previous presentation by the County in response to the issue in which those charges had been explained related to associated costs to the County.

“I just don’t understand why they’re charging a couple hundred dollars if the kids want to practice or have a game there when they’re not incurring any expenses. The teams carry their own insurance, they’re spending thousands of dollars. So, they’re (the County) just collecting this fee for the sake of collecting a fee. What else is going to happen at a football field? – Nothing,” Thompson asserted.

The 15th Street football field under scrutiny by at least one councilwoman for costs charged by County Parks & Rec for Midget Football use. Field maintenance, drainage, chalking, lights for night use, security – how much could it cost? We should know by Dec. 2.

While agreeing liaison was a good place to continue the discussion, Vice-Mayor Cockrell observed, “I’m just saying they did a presentation and parks & rec discussed every one of their facilities and what they’re usage fees went for. And honestly I don’t remember what they said about the football field.”

New member Morris then entered the fray, noting costs related to field maintenance and marking the field for play. Lighting for night games or practice could be added to that list of costs. But Thompson was undeterred. “But if it’s $600 a game, that’s excessive,” she insisted.

Town Manager Hicks said he believed there were at least minutes from that previous County presentation on parks & Rec costs and fees, which could be pulled to review prior to the December 2 liaison committee meeting. Thompson asked who would represent the council at that meeting. Hicks said that the rotation system in use indicated Councilman McFadden and Lloyd would join the mayor. But he noted that other members could attend to observe. The next recently reinstituted Front Royal-Warren County Liaison Committee meeting is slated for December 2, at 6 p.m. at the Warren County Government Center.

The vice mayor suggested that in the future, whoever is the recording clerk for the hosting municipality, circulate the liaison minutes to all members of both elected bodies.

Other business

During open discussion Councilman Lloyd reminded his colleagues of his recent query about expanding the number of chickens town residents can keep in their respective “barnyards”. Town Manager Hicks said he believed there were state guidelines on Residentially-zoned area keeping of animals for what are generally considered farm uses that would need to be checked before expanding from the current number. A check with Town Planning Director Lauren Kopishke set that current number at six per Front Royal household, with an Urban Agriculture Permit and management plan in place, the conduct of which is slated for annual review by the Town.

Also during the meeting Mayor Holloway noted that if a discussed federal mandate requiring all public employees to be COVID vaccinated or tested on a weekly basis were passed, he would not sign such a mandate into town code were it approved by council.

WC School Board member Melanie Salins, talking to mayor after greeting new council member Amber Morris behind her, departs work session with husband Mike and children in tow as council prepares to go into closed session.

Council also agreed to amend its current code to reduce the number of town officials, staff or committee appointees who have to file Statements of Economic Interest and Real Estate Disclosures to those required by State Code to do so. Included in those required to disclose financially and/or real estate in an amended draft ordinance are the mayor and town councilmen, the executive director and board members of the Front Royal Economic Development Authority (FREDA) currently in development, as well as the town manager, members of the planning commission and the Board of Zoning Appeals.

Recommended for forwarding to the November 22 Consent Agenda for approval were a Boy Scout Troop 52 request for a waiver of a license tax to sell Christmas trees; another in a long list of annual requests for a one-year extension of the HEPTAD/Swan Estates development plan; a $130,000 contract with water-sewer Inflow & Infiltration System consultant CHA-recommended subcontractor Hydrostructures (recently acquired by Dukes Root Control) to perform extensive system CCTV inspections involving approximately 18,000 feet of sewer mains and 120 sewer lateral inspections; a $33,000 contract to CHA for a State-required Preliminary Engineering Report (PER) on a Centrifuge Conversion at the Town’s Wastewater Treatment Plant. The latter two continue the Town’s federal and state mandated upgrades to its water-wastewater system.

B.J. Wilson, left, talks numbers and budget transfers and amendments to council and the mayor.

Also approved were three FY2022 budget amendments, one of $2,090 to allow for receipt of a Virginia Department of Urban Forestry Grant; one totaling 240,602, including an Interfund Transfer of $104,957, to facilitate $1500 employee bonuses for work through the COVID-19 health pandemic; and the final one of $2,690 to allow acceptance of a Local Law Enforcement Block Grant. These items will also be moved forward to the November 22 Consent Agenda for final approval.

See all council open session discussions and business in the Town video. A close look at that video indicates the motion into closed session was approved at 8:12 p.m., the motion out at 9:39 p.m. followed quickly by adjournment of Monday’s work session.