Holmes is where the heart is: 5 things Terry wants to bring to the table at city council

STAUNTON — In January, Terry Holmes thought he was done with Staunton City Council.

Holmes was joking in the hallways that while it seemed the council had plenty of work to do, for the first time in nearly a decade, it wasn’t necessarily going to be his concern.

But with the resignation of former Mayor Andrea Oakes, Holmes found himself throwing his hat in the ring to fill her seat on an interim basis.

“It was important for me to go back because this city has been everything to me,” Holmes said in an interview with The News Leader on Saturday, Feb 4.

Holmes was chosen from among five finalists for the vacant seat on city council by the remaining six people on the council, mostly based off of his experience with council and being able to fill in until residents of Staunton could vote on who will finish out the rest of Oakes’ term.

With a ticking clock on his interim term, The News Leader caught up with Holmes to talk about what he hopes to help accomplish during 2023. We've broken down the topics we discussed with Holmes into five important items he'll be tackling.

1. Budget season is right around the corner

In a press release from the city, Mayor Stephen Claffey said, “Terry Holmes brings experience in many areas to this Council, including the hard work needed get through a budget cycle, and Terry has done eight of those, more than the combined total of all the current members.”

Holmes's experience in budget season will be vital with three new members of council.

“We’re not, like, so tight we don’t have money to spend but we got to careful what we put our money in,” Holmes said.

Part of that is the amount of loans the city already has taken out to help with projects like school renovations and the Gardener Springs pump station. The city’s credit rating is currently in very good shape, but Holmes says that there’s really only space for about $10 million that the city can borrow before the city's borrowing rates could get affected.

In the coming years, some of those loans will come off the books but that's still four to six years away.

“Fiscally, we just gotta be pretty tight the next few years,” Holmes said.

He also pointed to the pandemic, and the unexpected nature that comes with these kind of crises. “It’s over supposedly, but you never know if it’s really over."

Holmes says that he doesn’t want to raise taxes, especially with property assessment rates increasing in the area. But finding a sustainable source of revenue for the city is paramount to avoid that issue.

2. What’s the plan for the juvenile court facilities?

Augusta County's moving its court facilities to Verona. Staunton has figure out its own juvenile court situation.

Holmes says state law is that the city has to own the building they house their court facilities in and the facility has to be inside city limits.

The most likely outcome is to buy a building and renovate it to fit the city’s needs, he said.

“I don’t think we can find a space to build a building, it’s really kind of hard." He did admit there was a possibility that the court could be constructed on the west end of town, but the city would need to find a plot of land big enough.

The new building will probably cost “a couple million” dollars, he estimated. Renovations to an existing building would add to the cost.

3. On Staunton Crossing bringing in some revenue

“In the next year or two years, we’re gonna see some businesses out there that’s going to be good for the city,” Holmes said. Along with the business tax revenue, the hope is that the jobs available at Staunton Crossing will also invite a higher paying wage to the city in the form of 2,000 to 3,000 potential new jobs. That increase in the tax base could also help take some of the load off of regular homeowners.

“The sooner we get businesses in there paying taxes, the lighter the load gets on everybody else,” he said.

Holmes says there’s not a lot of industry in town that’s paying taxes to the city, and there’s plenty of property that is non-taxed for various reasons. Staunton Crossing will be vital to give the city financial flexibility.

Holmes is aware of the dissatisfaction with the project — time and money invested without actionable results so far.

“Every time you think things are getting ready to just blow up and take off, we have either a market crash or real estate crash or a pandemic,” Holmes said. But that expenditure is vital to setting up the city to spend money elsewhere in the future.

Holmes is against selling off the land from city control, and he also doesn’t want to see as much retail or service industry businesses; he would rather see newer, clean industries set up shop in the area, supplementing the already vibrant tourism and hospitality sectors of Staunton.

4. What about making sure no one in the city is left behind?

“We need to try to find a way to get some lower income housing or moderate housing in town, because with gentrification, it’s pushing a lot of people out of town,” Holmes said of the city’s current housing situation. He was hoping that Uniontown would progress faster than it has, as it offers a residential area relatively central to the city that could help with the housing market.

Outside of that, Holmes admits that the city’s hands are somewhat tied when it comes to working on the availability of affordable housing.

“We have to find people who are willing to build, because there’s really nothing right now that we personally can do other than get people involved in doing it,” he said. He hopes that rezoning in recent years will open the door for more investment in rebuilding and renovating parts of town for more residential areas.

Holmes also wants to find ways to jumpstart businesses on the west side of town. While there are plenty of small businesses there, he wants to find solutions to get bigger stores and businesses into the area.

He also believes that there’s a good possibility that the city’s juvenile courts facility will end up on the west end. While it won’t beautify the whole area, it could be a sign of investment from the city in that part of town.

5. What is your hope for this council?

"I'd like to see this council be very functional," Holmes said.

"We had good people in our last council, but when you can’t speak your piece or, you know, you get cut off mid sentence, it tends to make you a bit more combative," he said.

Holmes was happy to fill the role to give anyone who is interested in running for the seat in November's special election time to get out and about in the community. He wants to see more people involved, especially younger people, as the times are changing.

"When you’re 66 years old, you get set in your ways," Holmes joked.

Holmes doesn't expect to change the way he votes or participates in discussions on council, but he is hoping that there will be more space and time for members to argue for their positions.

“I hope I don’t bring any of the old dynamics to the council. I don’t think I will," Holmes said.

Part of his hope rests on the new blood on council and their attentiveness and willingness to listen to the residents of Staunton. The other part of his hope comes from the people, and how he's seen them help shape Staunton's governing decisions over the last few years.

Though he brings business experience and can speak to the necessary positive relationship between businesses and government, “Government should never be run like a business," Holmes said.

—Akhil Ganesh is the Government Reporter at The News Leader. You can contact him at aganesh@newsleader.com and follow him on Twitter @akhildoesthings.

This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Five things Terry Holmes wants to work on with Staunton City Council