The Shadow
CLIFTON FORGE - Clifton Forge Town Council is expressing concerns over how a potential consolidation of the Alleghany County and Covington governments will impact the town’s future.
Council is concerned over how consolidation may affect the town’s ability to annex. Town council is also asking that the consolidation agreement give Clifton Forge the right to become part of the new government at a later date.
A 2009 letter from Clifton Forge Town Council to county officials was briefly discussed by a citizens’ committee this week that is working toward a plan to consolidate the Alleghany County and Covington governments.
The letter, dated June 2009, was first sent to Alleghany County Board of Supervisor Chairman Steve Bennett. Bennett received the letter while the board of supervisors and Covington City Council were in consolidation talks last year.
Clifton Forge Mayor Don Carter recently presented a copy of the letter to Joe Carpenter and George Goode, who are serving as co-chairmen of the citizens’s consolidation committee. Goode is a former Clifton Forge mayor.
Clifton Forge and Iron Gate, which are both towns within the county, are not part of the consolidation talks. If Alleghany County and Covington form a consolidated county government, Clifton Forge and Iron Gate will remain as towns within the county. Under a consolidated city government, Clifton Forge and Iron Gate would become townships.
Clifton Forge has been a town since July 2001. As part of its reversion agreement with Alleghany County, Clifton Forge agreed to waive its annexation rights until 2013.
As the Alleghany County-Covington consolidation effort moves forward, Clifton Forge wants to discuss a voluntary boundary adjustment with the county.
“Town council believes that now would be an opportune time to discuss whether a voluntary boundary adjustment by the town would be a cost effective and efficient means for delivery of urban services for the eastern portion of Alleghany County,” Carter said in his letter to Bennett.
Tuesday night, attorney Carter Glass IV of Richmond told the consolidation committee that a Clifton Forge boundary adjustment should not be part of its considerations as it works toward drafting a merger proposal for Alleghany County and Covington.
“Clifton Forge is not party to this consolidation agreement, but they certainly have an interest in what we are doing,” Glass said. “As for a voluntary boundary adjustment, that can be done now if the county and Clifton Forge enter into an agreement. There can be no such provision in this consolidation agreement, however.”
Carter’s letter says that if Alleghany County and Covington decide to merge into an independent city, Clifton Forge will lose its right to annex entirely. Clifton Forge is asking that any Alleghany County-Covington consolidation agreement include a provision that would allow the town to retain its annexation rights and enter into voluntary boundary adjustment agreements with the consolidated governments.
Glass reminded the consolidation committee that if Alleghany County and Covington merge into a city form of government, Clifton Forge would become a township.
“State code expressly prevents a township from instituting a contested annexation proceeding,” Glass said. “I do not think that this consolidation committee has the power to agree to grant that authority to Clifton Forge.”
Glass said that Alleghany County and Covington could, however, seek a code amendment by the Virginia General Assembly to authorize a Clifton Forge township to institute contested annexation proceedings.
“The General Assembly has been very cooperative in amending the consolidation statutes in the Virginia Code to give localities a variety of powers in order to reach agreement on a merger proposal,” Glass said.
He said there is no need for the consolidation committee to concern itself with a provision in the agreement that would allow Clifton Forge to discuss voluntary boundary adjustments with a consolidated city.
“There is nothing in the code that would take away the power of a township to enter into a simple boundary adjustment agreement with the consolidated city,” Glass said. “Such a provision is unnecessary, as the township would have that power anyway.”
If Clifton Forge would decide to become part of the new consolidated government at a later date by citizen referendum, the town would essentially surrender its charter and no longer be a political subdivision.
Glass said there is no provision under state code that gives the consolidation committee the power to include future consolidation with Clifton Forge in an Alleghany County-Covington merger agreement.
If Clifton Forge would decide to join the new consolidated government, town officials would have to negotiate with the new board of supervisors or city council.
“What Clifton Forge is asking you to do is beyond the scope of the authorized merger agreement,” Glass said.
At the consolidation committee’s request, Glass will address Clifton Forge’s concerns in a letter to town council. He wrote a similar letter to town officials last year.
Included in the letter will be an explanation of the committee’s plan to include two limited service, or utility districts in its consolidation proposal. The utility districts would be called Covington and Alleghany with water and wastewater treatment services currently received by residents of both area going unchanged. Clifton Forge would continue to function as an independent utility district and operate its own utilities.
Clifton Forge currently sells water to outlying areas of eastern Alleghany County. Clifton Forge’s contract with the county would become void if the county consolidated with Covington. A new contract would have to be negotiated with the consolidated government.
Currently, Clifton Forge provides wastewater treatment for areas of eastern Alleghany County. That role will be reversed when a new regional wastewater treatment plant goes online in Iron Gate sometime in 2011. Any agreement between Clifton Forge and the county for wastewater treatment would also have to be renegotiated with the new government.
“If things like this are not made clear to the people of Clifton Forge, they will say, ‘no.’ We have to remember that they will be voting with the county on this,” Goode said.
Referendums in Alleghany County and Covington would be the final step in the consolidation process. Any consolidation plan put forth by the committee must be approved by voters in each jurisdiction. Clifton Forge will be allowed to vote on the matter because the town is part of the county.
Under Virginia law, towns are basically municipalities that operate within counties. Local government is divided between the town and county. Town residents pay county taxes as well as town taxes. In its 2001 reversion agreement with Alleghany County, Clifton Forge retained some functions it undertook as a city, such as police protection, public works and library services.
Clifton Forge had 2,308 registered voters as of April 1, according to the State Board of Elections. Clifton Forge has approximately 22 percent of the 10,410 registered voters in Alleghany County.
