Mayor Eastham will not run again
By Roger Bianchini
Warren County Report
Front Royal Mayor James Eastham announced Monday he would not seek a third term this spring.
Eastham made the announcement near the conclusion of Monday night’s regular council meeting. The mayor recalled "a house divided" during his initial run for mayor four years ago. That division was over then incumbent Mayor Robert Tennett and his council’s acceptance of the world’s largest corporate retailer Wal-Mart’s desire to locate in town on the bank of the South Fork of the Shenandoah River.
While Wal-Mart and its predicted traffic problems were sent inland in the wake of Eastham and three council challenger’s 2003 election – with a little help from VDOT – Front Royal and Warren County’s house often remained divided over growth and planning issues during his tenure. However Monday, Eastham predicted positive movement on that front in the coming months and years.
"I think you’ll see that town and county relations will improve over the rest of my term and will continue so after that. I think there’s a willingness on both groups’ part that we’re too dependent on each other – we cannot pretend the other one’s not there – the town coughs and the county sneezes and vice versa. And so we really do need to work together. And I think the way to do it is to find issues that we have in common that we can agree on. And then after we get a few wins under our belt working together, then maybe we can pull up some things that it’ll take some negotiations but we’ll be in a position where, I think, we both feel like we’re working for the common good."
Councilman and former Public Works Director Eugene Tewalt is considering a mayoral run. Another anticipated mayoral candidate, Vice Mayor Tim Darr has announced he is leaving politics in the immediate future due to health issues.