Town ponders blighted structures, Valley Health financial contribution, and more…

Town Manager Joe Waltz leads another goal setting session. Photo and video by Mark Williams, Royal Examiner.

The Front Royal Town Council work session held on September 3rd continued the discussion of goal setting with the following topics: Property Maintenance; Valley Health PILOT (Payment In Lieu Of Taxes) fees related to its new hospital; as well as reducing the cost of Town Government operations and Public Relations.

Councilman Eugene Tewalt propelled the Property Maintenance issue forward in recent years primarily to target dilapidated buildings being allowed to deteriorate by property owners. Council has been debating code change and enforcement for years, a primary stumbling block being the cost of enforcement.

Work session discussion indicated that the Board of Zoning Appeals has little interest in playing referee in Town disputes with impacted property owners. Councilman Tewalt suggested applying state code standards to town structures and moving forward on that authority.

A council consensus appeared to have staff draft a code policy within the next 90 days.

Valley Health PILOT fees
Also on the work session agenda was implementation of a PILOT fee compensation to the Town for its permitting of Valley Health’s new Warren Memorial Hospital project. After it was brought to their attention by citizens during the hospital zoning and financing discussion, council decided they could move forward with a PILOT fee condition based on the history between the City of Winchester and Valley Health’s flagship Winchester Medical Center.

Council met with Winchester officials in March of 2019 for background on its PILOT arrangement with Valley Health and Winchester Medical Center. An agreement was made in which Valley Health pays the City of Winchester a certain percent of Winchester Medical Center’s profits in PILOT fees.

Council hopes to have a plan in place by January 1, 2020.

Other discussion
Interim Mayor Tederick told council, “I just don’t think we do public relations well at all, it’s fragmented, there’s not a real concerted effort to spread information. I’m not interested in having another department responsible for media relations, but I think we do need another person who can provide good communications with the public.”

Council decided to pursue citing or establishing a staff position as a point of reference for the Town in its relationship with its citizens. It is again hoped to have a plan in place by the turn of the year.

Todd C. Jones, Director of Information Technology explains “phishing” campaigns going around Town.

Another item covered in the work session was an overview of cyber security presented by the Department of Information Technology (IT). IT has been training town staff about malevolent online “phishing” campaigns taking place since 2006 and will continue to move forward on how to identify legitimate emails from fake emails.

It is an ongoing problem that has seen IT staff identify past attempts to access town systems. Staff briefed council on a plan to help mitigate the problem. It will include running members of council and staff through testing involving fake phishing emails to test their ability to differentiate between good and bad emails.

Robert Brown, Town Engineer listens as Vice Mayor Sealock discusses the left turn lane on John Marshall Highway.

Council also discussed the planning needed for a potential left turn lane on John Marshal Highway by Walker Avenue. The plan is to create a thru lane, using the existing eastbound lane as a turn lane to facilitate traffic flow in an often congested area.

Vice-Mayor William Sealock brought the issue forward stating, “At the start of school and the end of school is the problem, when those cars are backed up, you have to go around them – isn’t that illegal without a lane? I want a legal lane to allow cars to legally do what they’re doing.”

The cost estimate based on VDOT projections is $468,000.

Overhead view of proposed turn lane at Walker Ave and John Marshall Highway.

Again cost appeared to be a stumbling block for implementation. Council decided to plan the project in-house in an attempt to cut costs. A time frame for the project and in-house cost estimate are hoped to be on the table within a month.

See these discussions in this Royal Examiner video: