Sharon Baroncelli on the job, err former job. Photo by Roger Bianchini. Copyright 2008 by Warren County Report.
Second executive proponent of SRI Roadmap bites the dust
By Roger Bianchini
Warren County Report
In a terse Press Release issued Wednesday, Jan. 16, the Front Royal-Warren County Chamber of Commerce announced the resignation, effective immediately, of President Sharon Baroncelli. Baroncelli had held the position for four years. The press release credited her with increasing membership by 15 percent and instituting programs to benefit not only that membership, but also the entire business community.
While Chamber Executive Board spokesperson and 2nd Vice President Mimi Ouakil downplayed the resignation, questions remain about the second “sudden and immediate” resignation of a top executive of an economic-based community organization in less than two months. Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority Executive Director Paul Carroll resigned “suddenly and unexpectedly” by letter on Nov. 30.
Ouakil, who is also a town appointee to the EDA Board of Directors, said that Baroncelli, who has had a sometimes-rocky relationship with the Front Royal Town government on business and planning issues, “submitted her resignation to one of the executive board members on Tuesday.”
Asked if there had been pressure on Baroncelli to resign, Ouakil said, “She herself, tendered her resignation and we as an Executive Committee accepted it unanimously.” Ouakil added that some executive committee members had not known of the resignation coming into the Wednesday meeting. Ouakil and Baroncelli agreed the scheduled Wednesday meeting had initially been called by Baroncelli for other purposes.
“We thought the board meeting was to address the direction the chamber wanted to take on a few projects that had been discussed. In fact, we learned that Sharon had tendered her resignation and the Executive Board agreed to accept her resignation,” Ouakil said.
Asked if she had voluntarily resigned, Baroncelli was hesitant.
“I don’t know how – I can’t answer that,” she said.
Coincidence?
If vague on that point, when asked if she thought the recent resignation of two board executives who were integral players in the two-year-old SRI community-planning project spearheaded by the EDA into its first year of implementation despite the town’s withdrawal of financial and logistical support, Baroncelli was more pointed.
“Unfortunately, no I don’t think it’s coincidence and I think the community deserves some answers. The county, the EDA and the Chamber were a great team [on the SRI Roadmap] and I hope they continue to move forward with that. The SRI process was positive and I want to remain positive and it’s unfortunate it’s taken this direction. The best interest of the community has always been at work in developing the SRI roadmap,” Baroncelli said.
Perhaps ironically, new EDA Executive Director Mike South, who resigned his board chairmanship to replace Carroll on an interim basis at the Nov. 30 EDA meeting, informed the Warren County Board of Supervisors on Jan. 15 that a planned endorsement of the SRI-driven “Community Branding Initiative Slogan” could not become official that evening because an anticipated endorsement by town council had yet to be made.
That pending “Branding” slogan, “Rivers of Opportunity, Mountains of Success,” was selected from three finalists chosen from submissions by county and town residents as part of the SRI Roadmap’s attempt to integrate community marketing as a joint endeavor for years to come.
At a Dec. 4 press conference, South said the EDA hoped to name a permanent replacement for Carroll by March 31, coincidentally the day SRI’s current contract expires.
A great deal of tension surfaced between the town and other SRI stakeholders – the county, EDA and Chamber – after then Board Chairman South informed the town council by letter on March 27, 2007, four days prior to the expiration of SRI’s 2006 contract, that the EDA was rejecting a follow-up work session requested by council to discuss extending SRI’s $130,000 annual contract into the first year of implementation. The town had been a full participant, including a $14,000 share of the contract, during the first year of the project. The letter from South, believed authored at least in part by Carroll, in effect said after a year of participatory give and take, two February summary presentations by SRI to a full assembly of stakeholders and one follow-up EDA-town work session the town should have all the information it needed to make a decision.
Ultimately that decision – following some voodoo economic negotiations – was “no.”
While some criticism of paying a consultant to do what in-house staff might be able to accomplish surfaced from SRI critics, several observers close to the project believe the stumbling point for the town last year was SRI’s oversight role with authority over stakeholders to implement timelines on project responsibilities.
Following a Jan. 15 summary of SRI’s Third Quarter Report by South to the Warren County Board of Supervisors, Tony Carter observed, “We’ve had studies before that have all gone by the wayside. But the big thing here I think is implementation is moving forward and somebody is riding herd over everything.”
During the past year, the town has maintained an invited observer’s role and has been courted by SRI staff to become more directly re-involved. In its drive to move the community toward a coordinated effort to plan its future and achieve a stated goal of preventing unwanted sprawl and Northern Virginia-style over-development, SRI staff has emphasized the necessity of full stakeholder consensus and participation.
In the wake of turnovers at the top of county government, the EDA and now the Chamber of Commerce, it appears a consensus may now be attainable – however, that consensus may not include the continued involvement of SRI and the oversight and municipal accountability it brought to the table, as it no longer involves two of SRI’s biggest individual boosters.
Moving on
Niki Foster, the Chamber’s program director, will serve as the interim president until a successor is hired, the Chamber press release said. Both Foster and the Chamber’s other paid staffer Pam Riffle said they had no idea Baroncelli was planning to resign.
Baroncelli was also criticized last year, including by some chamber members, for speaking out for the Chamber in support of the controversial Dominion and Allegheny Power TrAIL power line project. Baroncelli cited future power needs, especially among businesses in the eastern corridor that could impact local business networking.
Baroncelli, who is also serving her first elected term as a Shenandoah County supervisor, said she was proud of her time with the Front Royal-Warren Chamber.
She cited the growth in membership (from 425 to 630, 42 percent), increased budget and financial stability and new programs introduced, including for non-profits and the women’s business council, as well as the number of new partnerships that were formed. Big among those was a partnership with Warren Public Schools and Lord Fairfax Community College in developing a workforce need analysis and the involvement of those educational entities in the SRI Roadmap.
“Things were fractionalized at best,” Baroncelli said of the local business community four years ago. “I think in recent years the business community has had a voice and we have established that we are a big part of the community and that goes to the membership – we couldn’t do it alone. I think we have all worked to make the community a better place to work, live and play.”
Despite any past philosophical spats, Town Manager Michael Graham said, “I think she’ll be missed by the citizens of Front Royal.”
Asked about the recent turnover in two key community administrative posts, County Administrator/Planning Director Doug Stanley said, “Over the past 12-plus years I have seen at least three Chamber Presidents, three EDA Directors and four Town Managers. I would say that change in inevitable. You just have to roll with the changes and keep moving towards achieving the established goals set by the leadership of the community.”
Stanley added that Baroncelli’s tenure saw positive movement on a number of fronts. “Sharon seemed to really push the Chamber to the forefront of the issues going on in the community dealing with business development, support and retention. Serving on the Chamber Board as an ex-officicio member, it is hard not to notice the increased visibility of the Chamber in the community through increase in membership and outreach programs such as the leadership classes, brown bag lunch series, etc. Sharon deserves a lot of credit for this increased exposure.”
Baroncelli lives in Shenandoah County with her husband Andrew, a commercial building contractor. The couple has three sons.
