What’s in a Name? Town’s Economic Development Authority Ponders its Future Vision, Mission, and Financing

At noon Monday, January 8, the unilaterally created Front Royal Economic Development Authority (FREDA as referenced by involved Town staff at the time of its establishment) held its first meeting of 2024. Following the election of officers for the coming year, the opening order of business was review and endorsement of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Town’s elected leaders to spell out the legal parameters of future operations and funding of the currently asset-less Town EDA. Up next was establishment of a consensus on determining a vision to guide its mission forward in expanding the town’s economic base and business and industrial profile.

On the officers side of the equation Rick Novak was re-elected chairman, Nick Bass  and Tom Eschelman were elected vice-chairman and treasurer, respectively. All nominations were followed by unanimous voice votes of approval without opposing nominations. It was also clarified that FREDA now has an in-house secretary, also elected by unanimous consensus to that position she has been holding down for a number of months was Hillary Wilfong.

From lower left of table clockwise in photo: Hillary Wilfong (Secretary), Nick Bass (Vice-Chairman), Thomas Eshleman (Treasurer), Frank Stankiewicz, at far head of table Rick Novak (chairman), a partially obscured David Gedney, Aiden Miller, Robert Elliott, Town Director of Community Development and Tourism Elizabeth ‘Lizi’ Lewis, and Town Manager Joe Waltz.

With officers elected, Town Manager Joe Waltz led the Town EDA into review of its MOU with its creating municipal entity, the Town of Front Royal. The FREDA board first saw the draft MOU at its final meeting of 2023, on December 4. The MOU’s first page summarized its intent: “The purpose of this MOU is for the Town to provide financial and operational support to the Front Royal EDA on a voluntary basis to be used by the EDA to exercise its powers and satisfy its duties and responsibilities under Virginia Industrial Development and Revenue Bond Act, Town Code, and its Bylaws.” Waltz noted that only one change had been made to the original draft, at the suggestion of FREDA Board Chairman Novak. That change was the addition of a funding category for economic development-related “education and training support” for board members.

It was also noted that a referenced January 15 report to be delivered annually early in the fiscal-year budget cycle on the financing necessary for it to proceed operationally through the coming fiscal year would not be required this year. That is essentially because of some organizational snafus on the Town side during the foundation process two years ago under different administrative oversight that have delayed FREDA’s ability to begin its mission.

So, of the coming year’s budget Town Manager Waltz explained, “There is money appropriated to pay the meeting fees for the board of directors. There is probably still a little bit of seed money in there for economic development that we can go after if we have a specific project or need. And that’s where I’m talking about this year, we’ll have to kind of piecemeal those together until we get a better footing next year.”

Town Manager Waltz acknowledged the lag time in establishing FREDA as a fully functioning economic development authority. That involved administrative oversights like a failure to establish a Federal Tax ID required for FREDA to legally conduct business. It might be noted that those issues predated Waltz’s renewed tenure here, as well as the below referenced Town Director of Community Development and Tourism Lizi Lewis’s involvement.

“But the idea, the objective would be to be in position next year to actually be able to lay out a budget of what we need, not just your board of director fees and training, but actually getting engaged in some of the things that are community related here,” Waltz told the FREDA board of its existing situation versus what is hoped for in the next fiscal year budget cycle.

Following review of the MOU to be forwarded to town council for final approval, Community Development and Tourism Director Lizi Lewis led the board through development of a vision and mission consensus. Items including improved infrastructure, local versus national retail chain business interests, adding to accessible downtown parking, and the often-heard goals of maintaining a small-town ambiance while not becoming a bedroom community of Northern Virginia or Winchester, were suggested for inclusion in consideration of future economic development within the town limits.

Community Development and Tourism Director Lizi Lewis at the whiteboard lists vision and mission categories put forth by FREDA board members, while Town Attorney George Sonnett is in Town Manager Waltz’s ear about legal variables on the EDA path forward.

What’s in a name?

Re-branding, as in a name change to perhaps further distance itself in citizens minds from the economic development “sins” of the past, was also broached. However, it was noted on the legal side that could be somewhat complicated by state codes related to the creation of economic or industrial development authorities, which upon establishment are described as “quasi-governmental independent entities”. One board member pointed to the fact that the now County-overseen EDA was listed with Front Royal as part of its name and wondered if the County could be convinced to remove that town designation to reduce confusion as to which EDA was which. Unmentioned during the conversation was the fact that the jointly Town-County created (over a half century ago) EDA is still legally named the Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority despite the Town’s decision to withdraw from operational participation in late 2021.

That decision, leading to the creation of FREDA which first met in January of 2022, was made at least partially on the advice of then-Interim Town Manager Matt Tederick. The decision came as the Town was poised to launch its civil litigation against the FR-WC EDA, which led to counter-civil litigation being filed against the Town by the County and its suddenly unilaterally-overseen FR-WC EDA.

At issue in the Town-initiated litigation appeared to be an attempt to distance the Town legally from financial liability for economic development actions occurring as the FR-WC EDA “financial scandal” evolved in 2014 to 2018.

The complicated economic development landscape for the Town was noted during Monday’s FREDA Board discussion of the MOU. It was pointed out that some potential commercial and industrial development properties within the town limits, including the planned 147-acre Royal Phoenix Business Park on the old Avtex Fibers federal Superfund site, do not belong to the Town, but rather to the FR-WC EDA. During discussion of the pending re-branding of FREDA under a new name, Chairman Novak pointed to the need for FREDA, by whatever name, to work with the now County-overseen FR-WC EDA. If not in control of those properties, FREDA could at least offer input on town government-desired economic developmental directions on those properties within the town limits.

“We want to work with the Warren County Economic Development Authority, we want to be working in cooperation with them. For me, I’m not trying to diss them (through a name change) I’m just trying to put a little distance between them and this seat,” Novak said of the path forward as the MOU discussion was drawing to a close (34:00 minute video mark). It is a path complicated by, not only the town government’s choice to move forward separately from the County on economic development, but also by those above-referenced dueling hostile civil litigations.

“So, I think we need to keep that in mind,” Novak said of a spirit of cooperation between EDAs. “And let’s see what we can do, and maybe the solution is a simple solution that Dave (Gedney) suggested with committees and what not. Let’s move forward and try to figure out what our work is,” Novak added, drawing some laughter after two somewhat frustrating years in an operational limbo due to above-referenced administrative lapses. “Because right now, I mean as a group here we’re not even sure why we’re here probably, right? Hopefully, we’re going to figure out some of that in the next few minutes,” Novak observed of the coming vision and mission discussion as the MOU conversation concluded.

A question was posed whether it would be possible for the FREDA board to see a list of existing Town assets that could be targeted for economic development projects to help estimate potential costs as their vision and mission goals were developed more specifically. “Yes, you’re talking land, parcels — we can get that together and try to provide that at the next board meeting,” Waltz replied.

Click here to see all the discussion of the EDA variables at play on the Town’s side moving forward in the Town video.