BUCHANAN — At the historic Buchanan Theater, a Main Street icon in this small town, recent showings have featured a gun-slinging battle of good versus evil in “The Dark Tower, ” high-speed automotive action in “The Fate of the Furious, ” and the World War II story of “Dunkirk.”
And for the drama of small-town politics, meetings of the Buchanan Town Council.
Faced with large crowds and the controversies that draw them, the council has been forced at least four times since May to move its meetings from Town Hall across the street to the theater, where more seating is available. A folding table on the stage serves as a makeshift dais.
The most recent change of venue was for a public hearing Tuesday, when comments about revisions to the town charter turned into a debate about whether the town manager, Mary Zirkle, should be a resident of Buchanan.
Zirkle, who was hired in 2014 as Buchanan’s first town manager, currently lives about an hour away in Bedford County.
“Anybody that’s responsible for spending my money should live in this town with me, ” Buchanan resident and taxpayer Paul Graham said. Graham was one of about 15 people to speak at the hearing, where some members of a restless crowd shouted down comments they didn’t want to hear.
Buchanan’s charter currently requires the town manager to live there. But some on the council would like to change that. A vote could come at a meeting Tuesday.
Other hot topics this year in Buchanan have included a complaint that Mayor Larry Hall spoke disrespectfully to female town employees — allegations that, while discounted by an independent investigation, show a growing tension on the council.
“It’s a black eye on the town of Buchanan, all because somebody wanted to get me dismissed, ” Hall said, a reference to Vice Mayor James Manspile, who raised the allegations at an April council meeting by reading aloud a letter from a constituent.
A private attorney hired to look into the matter found “no basis to determine that the mayor discriminated against any female employee, ” according to a statement read at the council’s August meeting, held at the theater to accommodate another overflow crowd.
The recent unpleasantness is “really a shame because Buchanan is such a nice community, ” Hall said.
Communication challenges
The Buchanan Town Council has a new look this year; some would say a new feel.
Manspile was elected in November and is serving his first year on a body that was reduced from seven to five members though actions at the local and state level intended to make the local government more efficient.
The town manager position is still relatively new, and Hall said there’s been some confusion about the lines of responsibility between elected officials and town staff.
A professional mediator was brought in recently to help clear things up.
The consultant met with council members individually and as a group in an effort to promote a better understanding of their civic roles in this town of 1,200, where secrets are rare and speakers at meetings don’t always bother to identify themselves because they assume everyone knows everyone else.
How well the mediation worked seems unclear.
“Communication is the biggest problem between the five of us, ” Manspile said.
According to the mayor, Manspile and the voters who support him are displeased with Zirkle. Not long after Manspile started his term, Hall said, “he told me point-blank that if you weren’t mayor, she wouldn’t be the town manager. And I’ve been fighting that for the past three-quarters of the year.”
Manspile denies that he has it out for Zirkle. But he does take issue with the way questions about her residency have been handled.
“Anytime you’re dealing with the public, you’ll have people complain. But it’s not so much a beef with her job performance, ” he said. “What has got the town upset is that it has been a hush-hush deal that Mary wasn’t living in the town.”
It’s no secret in Buchanan that Hall, who as mayor performed many of the duties of a town manager before Zirkle was hired, is one of her strongest supporters.
“What we have a problem with is the mayor running too much interference for Mary, ” Manspile said. “He doesn’t want town council members to talk to her about anything.”
Residency requirement
As it is currently written, Buchanan’s town charter states that the town manager “shall reside within the town limits.”
When Zirkle was appointed in 2014, she was working in the Roanoke County Planning and Zoning Division after nearly 10 years as the chief planner for Bedford County. She and her husband live on a family farm, which is his primary occupation, in Bedford County, not far from Vinton.
Within nine months of taking her job, Zirkle purchased a home in Buchanan as a second residence. A legal opinion from the town attorney, Joe Obenshain, determined at the time that was sufficient to meet the charter’s residency requirement. Hall said a hiring committee was satisfied with that interpretation.
“I am committed to Buchanan, ” Zirkle wrote in an email.
“I am happy to commute about 10 hours each week to a town I love and feel privileged to serve. I have never misrepresented where I live. My house in Buchanan allows me to be here for emergencies, events such as nine nights of Carnival, and provides tax revenue to both Buchanan and Botetourt. I am willing to pay taxes in all three localities for me to be employed in Buchanan.”
Zirkle is on call around the clock, and Hall said he does not believe that living outside of Buchanan has impaired her job performance.
“We’ve made some great strides, ” with Zirkle as town manager, Hall said.
He cited upgrades to the town water system, improvements to a park along the James River and more festivals and events to draw visitors to a town that already boasts attractions such as the Buchanan Theater, an old-time drug store and soda fountain along with a growing number of restaurants, antique stores and a busy outfitting business that rents canoes, kayaks and inner tubes to river enthusiasts.
“She’s done a wonderful job and most people in town feel that she was the best applicant for the job, ” Hall said.
Charter changes
Yet questions linger about how much time Zirkle spends in the town after she’s done with her daytime shift.
“It’s been a slow rumble and then a roar, ” Manspile said of the public sentiment he’s heard. “If it had been done right from the get-go, Larry wouldn’t be squirming right now and the town attorney wouldn’t be squirming right now.”
On the town’s website, a proposed draft of the revised town charter states that the town manager “shall maintain a residence within the town limits” — wording that would appear to allow Zirkle’s current arrangement of owning a home in Buchanan while living full-time in Bedford County.
But at a work session last month, the council voted 3-2 to keep the charter as it is currently written, requiring full-time residency in Buchanan. Manspile and councilmembers Jane Kneisley and Della Hylton supported keeping the status quo. Hall and Michael Burton voted no.
A binding vote won’t be taken until an official council meeting. Other, less controversial changes to the charter would create staggered terms for council members and shift the supervision of the town clerk and treasurer from the council to the town manager. Any changes approved by the council would then go to the Virginia General Assembly for final action.
At last week’s public hearing, some speakers said the rules that were in place when Zirkle was hired should apply today.
“What we have here is a requirement that the town manager live in the town, ” Ed Tolley said. “Are we going to have laws that are not followed, eliminated, ignored, corrupted, or whatever?”
Others defended Zirkle, suggesting that all the talk about the charter is a thinly-veiled attempt to oust her for personal reasons. “She’s doing a good job, ” Marty Rickman said. “Leave her alone.”
At times, the hearing bordered on boisterous. When a few speakers strayed off topic, Hall cut in to remind them the council was considering public comments only about the charter. Later, when speakers began to praise Zirkle, they were interrupted by hecklers.
“Not about the charter, ” some members of the audience shouted.
Theater booked again
Although elected state officials in Virginia are required by law to live in the jurisdiction they serve, there’s no such mandate for appointed officers such as town managers or county administrators.
Michelle Gowdy, general counsel for the Virginia Municipal League, said it’s not unusual for some local government employees to commute to work from nearby locales. Advances in technology make it easier to work from home and after-hours, and in the minds of some residency is not as important as it once was.
The league does not take a position on the issue, which Gowdy said is best left to each local government.
Some localities, including Botetourt County, require their top administrative official to live within town or county lines, either through language in their charter or an employment contact.
“My sense of it is that it’s more common than not, ” said Blacksburg town attorney Larry Spencer, immediate past president of the Virginia State Bar’s local government section.
The general idea is that a resident is better connected to the issues of a community and more accountable for the decisions that he or she must make.
Others argue that limiting a job search to residents can reduce the pool of qualified applicants.
What happens in Buchanan may be decided at Tuesday’s 7 p.m. meeting at town hall.
Expecting another large turnout, town officials have already booked the Buchanan Theater, in case it’s needed again.