Tensions continue to boil over the firings of Hopewell’s city manager and city clerk, with the most recent City Council meeting erupting in chaos after demands for resignations, a description of some councilors as a “cancer” on Hopewell and the city’s mayor being called a “b***h” by a citizen while being escorted out. After the public comment period, [a]s Stacey Jordan, Hopewell’s chief financial officer, began to speak, members of the Virginia Party for Socialism & Liberation – who earlier led one of two rallies supporting former City Manager Concetta Manker and former City Clerk Britani Williams outside the Municipal Building – began chanting, “We want justice; you say how? Reinstate Dr. Manker now!” The chants continued as the group filed out of the chamber under deputies’ escort. While Jordan spoke, Council member Dominic Holloway stood and continued to invoke personal privilege, drawing even more rebukes from Mayor Johnny Partin. At one point, Mark Burroughs began shouting at Partin from the gallery, prompting the mayor to ask for his removal. As he was being led out, Burroughs hollered at Partin, “You’re a b***h!” Partin instructed deputies to ensure that Burroughs was not just out of the chamber but also the building.

The temperature began to rise Monday at one of many budget work sessions and boiled-over Tuesday night with a disruption by a city employee and a near altercation between two council members. [While a city employee and the mayor sparred over credit card expenses, city manager Aretha Ferrell-Benavides said,] “This is a public hearing. Attorney, do your job, please.” The contract attorney with Sands Anderson looked back at Ferrell-Benavides from across the room. “I will give advice, but it is not the attorney’s job to intervene,” he said. “Now, if you’re asking a question, I will say that I do not recommend a Q and A during public hearing time.” Mayor LC Jones called a recess, stood up, and began having a heated exchange with Council member Aaron Rawls, who remained seated. Council member Rayshun Gravely stepped between Jones and Rawls and motioned for Jones to step back. Police Chief Rob Fincher, noticing the agitation, began walking toward Jones.

Lynchburg Mayor Larry Taylor and Councilman Martin Misjuns got into a heated exchange Tuesday night during their regular city council meeting. Lynchburg City Council held both their work session and council meeting on Tuesday as normal. Due to the work session going past 6 p.m., the council ended the meeting to prepare for their 7 p.m. meeting. During the work session, council was supposed to go into closed session to discuss two items, [including]: VI.8. Consideration of a closed meeting to discuss the performance of City Council’s three (3) full-time appointees, how such performance has been affected by the behavior of a Councilmember, and how to resolve the same, pursuant to Section 2.2-3711(A)(1) of the Code of Virginia, 1950, as amended. “Following the start of the main council meeting Tuesday evening, Councilman Chris Faraldi motioned to amend the agenda and add both closed session items to the end of the meeting. Councilwoman Jacqueline Timmer made a substitute motion. “I would like to make a substitute motion that we go into closed session for item seven, but not item eight, in line with my previous stance on closed session regarding fellow council members,” Timmer said. Councilman Martin Misjuns also chimed in on the discussion surrounding both motions, speaking directly to Mayor Taylor and calling out city staff.

The Warren County Board of Supervisors recently voted to send nine Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to Samuels Public Library. After library officials cited Virginia code in saying that the county does not have standing to make such a request, supervisors were poised Tuesday to have one of their members submit the FOIA requests as a private resident. That motion was pulled from the supervisors’ agenda Tuesday night following a closed session meeting with County Attorney Jason Ham. Library Director Erin Rooney said that FOIA law calls for public records to be open to citizens of the Commonwealth, as well as media personnel with distribution in the state. “Warren County is a political subdivision of the Commonwealth of Virginia and, thus, a component part of the sovereign. It is not, therefore, a citizen of the Commonwealth to which a response is required under VFOIA,” Rooney wrote. She also noted that, “should the same requests be made in the future by a citizen of the Commonwealth, total fees associated with these requests are estimated to be $10,487.60.”

Retired Judge Thomas Padrick Jr. during a hearing Friday morning quashed the subpoena the City of Alexandria and their outside counsel McGuireWoods had issued to resident Barbara Beach in the Zoning for Housing lawsuit. Beach was one of nine Alexandrians – none of whom were parties to the lawsuit that a group of residents filed against the City of Alexandria in January 2024 – to be served with subpoenas in mid-March. This citizen lawsuit was filed in response to City Council’s unanimous vote to approve Zoning for Housing, which among other provisions would eliminate single-family zoning in Alexandria, in November 2023. After the hearing was over, Beach expressed both gratitude and dismay. “I am so very grateful on behalf of myself and on behalf of every citizen in Alexandria who opposes an ordinance, for Judge Padrick’s quashing the city’s subpoena that demanded that I turn over personal, private documents related to my opposition,” Beach said in a statement. “I am horrified at the tax dollars owed or paid to McGuireWoods and the time the City Attorney’s office spent fighting this motion.”