Glen Lyn’s history for its first 268 years needs only four paragraphs on the town website. What’s transpired over the last 18 months may require a website all its own.
In October, the town council shut down its volunteer fire department after a year of controversy surrounding some of its members.
The mayor of 40 years is currently under federal indictment, accused of ordering town employees to dump raw sewage into the New River.
In November’s election, only one candidate was on the ballot to succeed as mayor, but he lost by six votes — 17 to 11 — to the write-in candidate.
And on Tuesday, there will be a referendum in which Glen Lyn’s 67 registered voters will decide if the mayor-elect will even have an office to take. On that day, they will vote on whether to disband the town’s charter and revert to another unincorporated area of Giles County — only the second town in Virginia to ever do so.
Shrinking revenues, growing controversies
Giles County’s westernmost town had gone by many names — Montreal, Mouth of East after the bordering East River, Hell’s Gate (a dig at West Virginia?) — before settling on Glen Lyn in 1883.
The referendum doesn’t threaten another changing of the town’s name, though it will determine if Glen Lyn remains a town. If it passes, owners of the town’s 32 residences would no longer have town property taxes to pay — 30 cents per $100 of assessed property — and all of the town’s assets and liabilities would be assumed by Giles County, including fire, police, water and sewer.
“I don’t see nothing wrong with it myself,” said 75-year-old retiree Roger Lawson, standing on the front porch of his $66,300-assessed house. “I just like the county better than the city. Tax-wise it saves some money. I don’t see the need to have two different ones. Should be one to begin with the way I look at it.”
A stone’s throw away, Jim Raubach, founder, president and CEO of Forensic Computers Inc., which had more than $7 million in sales in 2023, demurred: “We’re going to be sorry to see it go.” Even though he’ll no longer have to pay an estimated $11,000 in taxes annually to the town, Raubach said, “I’m the kind of guy who likes to pay taxes because taxes makes things happen.”
Tax revenue, or the lack thereof, has been one of the factors leading the town to the brink of not being a town.
Until 1919, Glen Lyn was just a quiet hamlet on either side of the New River near the West Virginia line. But, construction that year of a coal-fired power plant boosted the town’s population from 50 to 400, according to the town website. Today, it hovers at just under 100.
Electricity wasn’t the only commodity the plant generated. Along with it came hundreds of good-paying jobs and a substantial chunk of tax revenue. The plant’s closure by Appalachian Power in 2015 cost Glen Lyn about $230,000 in annual tax revenue, or one-quarter of its budget. By 2020, the town was advertising a proposed budget of just $266,950.
“That Appalachian helped a whole lot as far as money-wise,” opined Lawson. “You got to have the money going in instead of going out.”
Other controversies have erupted over the last couple of years.
In March 2023, the U.S. attorney’s office in Roanoke indicted Howard Spencer, Glen Lyn’s mayor and part-time town manager, on three charges of violating the U.S. Clean Water Act.
According to the indictment, and a superseding indictment that added three more charges, Spencer “abused his position of authority and violated the public’s trust” when he ordered employees at the Glen Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant, which is jointly owned and operated by the towns of Glen Lyn and Rich Creek, ”to illegally discharge raw sewage into the East River, a tributary of the New River.”
Spencer, 84, has served Glen Lyn for more than 40 years as mayor and town manager. He’s pleaded not guilty, and the case remains unresolved. Spencer declined to comment on the charges, except to say that they have nothing to do with the factors that led to the upcoming referendum.
Ironically, according to “Save Our Towns,” an online news show produced by Virginia Tech Outreach and International Affairs, Spencer was the driving force behind the creation of the treatment plant as a solution to the direct piping of sewage into local rivers.
His attorneys, Tony Anderson and Brooks Duncan of Roanoke, released this statement in response to the indictment: “Howard Spencer has tirelessly devoted the majority of his adult life to the citizens of the town of Glen Lyn, serving them in many different capacities. Mr. Spencer looks forward to aggressively defending and responding to the allegations that have been brought against him by the United States government.”
Assessing the impact on residents
More recently, the town council in October dissolved the Glen Lyn Volunteer Fire Department. In 2023, allegations that have not been discussed publicly were made against some of the department’s members. No criminal charges have been filed, but the department was closed and other departments in Giles County now provide fire and rescue services.
Former fire Chief Doug Farewell could not be reached for comment. Neither Spencer nor county Administrator Chris McKlarney would speak to the allegations.
Fire and rescue are just some of the services Giles County would provide Glen Lyn if the referendum passes. Indeed, Giles County first had to agree to the referendum before it could even be held.
“The county had some conditions for us to be considered part of the county,” said Spencer, the mayor. “No debt, so we were able to take care of that by selling off some assets. We may be the only town in Giles County with no debt and maybe even in the state of Virginia.”
If the referendum passes, the town’s only employees would be let go: a full-time maintenance man and the part-time positions of manager, clerk and police chief. Its financial reserves would fund a new nonprofit to continue paying for street lights, snow removal and median mowing.
Its remaining assets — the wastewater treatment plant and the town’s prized Glen Lyn Park, complete with camping and RV facilities, boat landing, picnic shelter, bathhouse and trailhead to the 7-mile Mary Draper Ingles Trail along the New River — would be taken over by Giles County.
“For the citizens, they shouldn’t see a huge difference,” said McKlarney. “The park is a great asset for the whole community, not just Glen Lyn, so we’ll continue with that. The town was doing a great job maintaining it, and we just hope to continue that for the citizens.”
As far as the fire department is concerned, McKlarney said, “There’s a lot of options there and too many variables to really comment. We just don’t know at this point.”
The park is one of many contributions Glen Lyn has made to Giles County, said Spencer. The town was the first in the county to institute a cigarette tax, which at one time brought in as much as $22,000, though “that’s now down considerably,” said Spencer, as some smokers kicked the habit due to the higher cost.
The town was also the first in the county to provide for school resource officers, Spencer said.
Giles County will receive as assets the wastewater treatment plant valued at $7 million, a 200,000-gallon water tank and the fire department building and vehicles, Spencer said.
“The town is in good shape, but we don’t have the finances to maintain,” he said.
Not so, says Billy Joe Meadows Jr. The 42-year-old was the only person on the ballot for mayor on Nov. 5. He got 11 votes, but a write-in campaign to elect town councilman Roger Whitt got 17.
Whitt could not be reached for comment.
“Our town should have been the richest small town, period, but for some odd reason there wasn’t enough money,” Meadows said. “I was the only one who actually wanted it to stay a town.”
Despite his loss and the threat of Glen Lyn’s loss as a town, Meadows says he’ll continue volunteering his time to snowplow the streets and help his neighbors. “I’m hoping it stays a town, but I’m not sure which way it’s going to go.”
A historic vote
Perhaps the town’s biggest company is Forensic Computers Inc. Founded in 1999 by Raubach, a former U.S. Air Force special agent, FCI builds specialized computer terminals that range in price from $7,500 to $100,000 for intelligence agencies in some 150 countries around the world. He estimates FCI has had $150 million in sales since its founding.
In 2004, Raubach relocated the business from West Virginia to Glen Lyn, where he’d been able to buy his own facility. But shortly after moving in, a massive storm collapsed his roof.
“The town has taken really good care of us,” Raubach said. “When we had the destruction, Howard Spencer was here within 15 minutes. He started making some phone calls, he hooked us up with the county administrator. He showed up, the fire department showed up, cops showed up. They were really cool. Howard has provided us with a lot of expertise and advice and in turn, we’ve helped the town out with several things, particularly as it relates to computers. So we’ve been real happy with them. He’s very dedicated to the town. We’re going to be sorry to see it go.”
Despite FCI’s impact on Glen Lyn, neither Raubach nor his 10 employees will have a vote in Tuesday’s referendum since none of them lives within town limits.
McKlarney has similar praise for Spencer’s service. “I can’t tell you the number of hours he’s put in for the town. Trash cleanup, the park, all the grants he’s written. He’s put a lot of time and effort into it, and I certainly have a lot of respect for him.”
As far as the referendum, McKlarney said, “We didn’t ask for this. They came to us.”
If the referendum passes on Tuesday, Glen Lyn would become one of just a handful of towns in the state to voluntarily give up its charter, including Clover in Halifax County and Castlewood in Russell County, according to virginiaplaces.org.
“The people will decide Dec. 10,” Spencer said. “We’re hoping everything would be done by Jan. 1.”
In which case, Mayor-elect Whitt will not have a town to govern.
“I have lived here for 61 years, I’ve raised my family here. My health is still good, but I’m 84 years old. My mind is still pretty good unless you are talking to my wife,” Spencer joked.
He took a moment to share again all that he and the town have accomplished over his 40 years of service and then closed with: “The Lord has been good to me, the Lord has blessed me, and when I think about our town. … We have done our best to help Giles County and Glen Lyn, and we just thank the Lord for his blessings.”
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Correction 10:55 a.m. Dec. 6: If the referendum passes on Tuesday, Glen Lyn would become one of just a handful of towns in the state to voluntarily give up its charter. An earlier version of this story included incorrect information about how often this has happened.
