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The Goshen Town Council heard updates on the status of the suspension of Town Attorney Jared Jenkins’s law license and on a grant application for the proposed community center project.
At its regular business meeting on Feb. 5, Jenkins informed the town council that he will continue to serve as Goshen’s Town Attorney for the time being, as the nine-month suspension of his law license handed down by a three-judge panel in Rockbridge County Circuit Court on Jan. 17 has been suspended pending the outcome of an appeal of the case to the Virginia Supreme Court.
Jenkins was charged with seven violations of the Virginia State Bar’s Code of Conduct based on comments made about Rockbridge County Circuit Court Judge Christopher Russell following a ruling in a land trust case and on allegedly stealing money from The Mann Legal Group, a law firm for which he used to work. Jenkins was found to be in violation of two rules related to his comments about Judge Russell, and was not found to have violated the other rules. The suspension went into effect immediately, but the Virginia Supreme Court granted a stay of the suspension on Jan. 31.
“In theory, it will be months before they hear the case, [and] months before the suspension becomes an issue for anyone,” he told the council. “But, honestly, I feel that at some point I will have to serve, if not the full nine months, some portion of that. Now that there’s been a finding, I can’t imagine they’re just going to let it all go away.”
Jenkins further noted that, following the hearing and ruling on whatever suspension he may serve, he would have 45 days after to “tie up any loose ends.”
Community Center Grant Denied
The town’s application for a Community Development Block Grant to help fund the proposed community center project was not approved by the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development, Vice-Mayor Steve Bickley informed council at the Feb. 5 meeting.
The grant applications, he said, are scored out of a maximum 300 points for approval, with any projects scoring less than 195 points not getting approved. The town’s community center proposal scored 175 points. Bickley told The News-Gazette this week that he has asked the VDHCD for a list of their criteria but has not received them.
Bickley told council that he has reached out to the VDHCD to schedule a meeting to talk about the project and see if there is anything that the town can do to increase the project’s score to allow them to reapply for a grant this year.
Bickley told The News-Gazette that he is hoping that there is a way for the town to “tighten up our application” in order to get the points to secure funding for the project, largely because the Community Development Block Grant is a “much more fitting grant” for the town because it doesn’t require the town to put up any matching funding.
“I almost think it would be the end of the idea,” he said. “If we cannot overcome the [points] deficit, I would be open to other funding avenues but I would be skeptical. The town can’t afford to put out a ton of money for this, no matter how much it is needed.”
Water Bill Late Fee Increase
During the Feb. 5 meeting, Goshen Mayor Tom McCraw suggested to council that the late fees for water bills be increased from $3 to $5.
“Postage is going up, everything is going up,” he said. “Labor has to be included in that. It takes time to print out that stuff and the price of stamps is going up.”
Council Member Joey Sampson moved to increase the late fee to $5, with Bickley providing the second. The motion passed in a 3-0 vote, with Council Members Derrick Ogden and Chris Robertson absent.
