Unreasonable search & seizure? Constitutional violation of Town staff’s rights alleged as ‘Sludge War’ escalates

In introducing a Special Meeting PowerPoint presentation by the Town of Front Royal legal staff the evening of May 24^th, Town Manager Steven Hicks noted that the counterpoint to Sheriff Mark Butler’s May 11^th PowerPoint presentation to the Warren County Board of Supervisors was initiated at the request of Mayor Chris Holloway.

During that presentation begun by Assistant Town Attorney George Sonnett, Town Attorney Doug Napier alleged that a Town trash truck crew of three held and questioned for 44 minutes at the County solid waste transfer station on April 20^th had their Fourth Amendment U.S. Constitutional right against “unreasonable search and seizure” violated by the sheriff.

It was a dramatic beginning to Monday’s Town Council Special Meeting PowerPoint response to Sheriff Butler’s May 11 PowerPoint to the county supervisors on his department’s investigation into concerns illegal sewage waste was being dumped by the Town at the County Solid Waste Transfer Station: ‘Why the Sting?’; and legal department allegations of a violation of Constitutional rights of town staff. Royal Examiner Photos by Roger Bianchini

Following the approximately half-hour presentation that also alleged a series of what were termed “FALSE” statements by, not only the sheriff but County Board Chair Cheryl Cullers and former Chair Walt Mabe, the mayor took the lead in upping the ante in the Town’s very public battle with the Warren County government, particularly Sheriff Butler, over the County investigation into the Town’s transport of solid waste sewage material to the county trash transfer station.

As noted during the PowerPoint, Holloway reiterated that the County’s decision not to accept treated sewage materials termed grit and screenings from the Town’s Wastewater Treatment Plant due to an offensive odor coming from those loads that appeared to have been rehydrated during transport after the WWTP drying out process will cost the Town an additional $29,000 in contracted transfer fees to ship directly to the Page County Battle Creek Landfill. Nine thousand dollars of that will be billed to the county government, Holloway stated.

Mayor Holloway was pulling no punches in a scathing prepared statement on his perception of County wrongdoing in its relationship with the Town. Below, a power point list of what were called ‘false’ statements by county officials.

Holloway’s prepared statement begins at the 30:45 mark of the LINKED Town Video. The mayor, council, and staff discussion that follows begins at the 36-minute mark of the 41-minute-23-second May 24 Special Meeting video. That special meeting began at 6 p.m., an hour prior to council’s scheduled regular meeting.

Portions of the mayor’s prepared remarks

“So, given the evidence and facts presented I hope it’s clear to all citizens and council alike, that the town government and town staff did nothing wrong, made no mistakes, and takes no blame,” Holloway read in opening his prepared remarks. He continued to bemoan the additional $29,000 in contracted landfill shipping costs, cited DEQ findings that the sewage materials in question were not sludge as the County had suspected, observing, “Therefore the Town did not violate any laws. Furthermore, it’s clear that the County changed its Transfer Station policy of accepting grit and screenings on the day of the sting operation … For four years the Town has been legally and properly disposing of grit and screenings at the transfer station.”

Referencing the additional $29,000 in costs the County refusal to accept the rehydrated and odorous loads of treated grits and screenings, the mayor adding of those costs, “Begs the question why.”

“Why,” the mayor wondered again, didn’t “the county administrator” simply call “the town manager” to inquire of their concerns, as opposed to launching “a criminal investigation and sting operation … I can’t tell you how many citizens have asked me that question – it makes no sense …

“After everyone realized the Town did nothing wrong, I lost count of all the false statements and contradictions. It was both amazing and embarrassing,” Mayor Holloway said of his perspective of County officials’ comments and publicly expressed opinions on the refuse situation, before broadening his critical stroke.

It seems the ‘sludge war’ of words is heating up again

“As a town citizen how much longer are we going to have to continue to pay for Warren County’s negligence? Look at how hard over the last two years the County and the EDA have tried to make Town Council out to be the bad guys in the EDA scandal, rather than take full responsibility. It was the board of supervisors and the EDA’s board’s lack of oversight that allowed these alleged crimes.

“And now this failed sting operation,” Holloway added again citing the additional $29,000 in sewage shipping costs. “Again, how much longer does the average citizen need to continue to pay for Warren County’s negligence?”

Revisiting the Town trash crew’s experience of 44 minutes of questioning peppered with alleged legal threats, the mayor added, “What is the leadership of Warren County capable of doing to the average citizen?

“So, what are the real issues here,” the mayor asked. “From my perspective this issue is not just about grits, screenings, sludge or Sheriff Butler’s sting operation. What it really is about is honesty, integrity, transparency, accountability, and ultimately it’s about misuse of power (perhaps surprisingly consolidation of the two municipal governments did not make his list).

The mayor believes the ‘real issues’ go beyond the state of solid waste as it reaches, or reached the county’s solid waste transfer station.

As he neared completion of his statement, the mayor expanded on the “accountability” issue, first suggested with a call for firings and resignations at council’s April 26 meeting where the first public salvoes were fired across the County’s bow (County responds to Town attack on its methods in dealing with sewage dumping allegation).

“Additionally, County leaders need to hold accountable those who falsely accused the Town of illegal dumping sludge and hold accountable those who so horribly handled the situation. Ultimately the board of supervisors, the county administrator, Sheriff Mark Butler must apologize to our employees for being invalidly detained, harassed, threatened by the county sheriff,” Holloway stated.

But he was just getting up a head of righteous indignant steam. “If the County really wants to heal our community, if they really and truly want to be honest and transparent, if they really want to restore trust between the Town and County as many campaigned on, it’s going to start with county leaders admitting their mistakes and their failures; and admitting they tried to cover up and make excuses for this failed sting operation. In other words, County leaders need to come clean.

“In my opinion, these are necessary first steps to reconciliation and the healing process,” the mayor, who joined Jacob Meza in launching the public war of words over the transfer station incident on April 26, concluded his prepared remarks.

As to the status of trash truck 661’s three-man crew, one of who resigned after the April 20 Bentonville transfer station incident, in response to a question on County liability for the alleged 4^th Amendment violations, Town Attorney Napier said that would be up to the involved garbage truck crew. For it is them whose Constitutional rights Town legal staff asserted were violated by the 44-minute questioning about the sewage content of their April 20 load (is that a poor choice of words in this context?)

In subsequent comments, Vice-Mayor Lori Cockrell, whose past regular contacts with County Board Chair Cullers was noted, said she did not believe an “us versus them” stance would be beneficial “to anyone” on either side of the situation.

Cockrell also noted that Cullers had called her the day of the April 20^th investigative incident at the transfer station. She noted that the call was made after the incident was over, but wanted it in the record that the communication from the county board chair about it did occur.

Royal Examiner will pursue a response from county officials and publish that response as it becomes available.

Watch the “special” meeting here.

The regular meeting began on a lighter note, with the presentation of three Town scholarships to graduating high school seniors – Kisyl Housden, “Jackson” Pond, and Michael Kelley. It is recorded in a separate Town video and will be covered in a separate Royal Examiner story.

Town Scholarship winners Kisyl Housden, ‘Jackson’ Pond and Michael Kelly pose with council and mayor as a less volatile regular meeting begins at 7 p.m.