Hopewell commonwealth's attorney finds legal fault with council's firing of city manager

Yahoo

20-05-2025

As dust continues to stir on last week's firing of Hopewell's city manager and city clerk, the city's top prosecutor warned in a letter to City Council that the motion to terminate Dr. Concetta Manker may have been made improperly, and because it was, Manker should still be in office.
Citing Rule 36 of Robert's Rule of Order, Commonwealth's Attorney Rick Newman said the motion made at the May 1 meeting did not follow the direction about either the time frame for making the order or the authenticity of the motion made by Ward 4 Councilor Ronnie Ellis. According to the code, which Hopewell follows for the conduct of its meetings, Ellis should have been disqualified from making the motion to reconsider because he did not take part in the original vote on Feb. 13 to oust her.
Ellis walked out of that meeting, and the final vote was a 3-3 tie allowing Manker to keep her job.
Newman's opinion is the latest in council's controversial decisions to oust Manker and City Clerk Brittani Williams without cause. The separate 4-3 votes fell along council's racial lines and prompted loud charges of racism since the votes to terminate were made by white councilors and did not specify reasons.
Addressing reconsideration motions, Robert's 36th rule of order spells out the following about reconsideration motions: "It can be made only on the day the vote to be reconsidered was taken, or on the next succeeding day, a legal holiday or a recess not being counted as a day."
The governance code also says the motion "must be made by one who voted with the prevailing side."
In tie votes, the motion can be reconsidered, but it still must follow the rule's time and member restrictions, Newman said. In a tie vote, anyone on either side can ask for reconsideration.
"Councilor Ellis was not qualified to make the Motion to Reconsider,' he stated in his message. 'Councilor Ellis left the meeting before the original motion and vote to terminate was made.
'In my opinion, the matter taken up concerning the city manager was untimely, made by an improper party, and therefore illegal,' the message read. 'It would be my further opinion that Dr. Manker is still the City Manager because your actions are null and void.'
City Attorney Anthony Bessette, who attended the May 1 meeting, was not asked to, nor did he interject, to offer his opinion about Robert's Rule of Order.
'What I am most concerned about is that while I understand you may be trying to change the course of this great city, I feel that your actions have accomplished nothing more than placing another arrow in Dr. Manker's quiver to sue the city as well as each of you individually,' Newman's message concluded.
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Newman's letter was the third of a series he has written to council about firing council-appointed employees such as Manker or Williams.
The first was prior to the February meeting when Newman recommended that Ellis, Vice Mayor and Ward 7 Councilor Dominic Holloway recuse themselves from motions to fire Manker because of conflict-of-interest issues. Ellis should not vote, Newman said, because he is a city employee as well as a councilor, and any action could be construed that he was acting as the 'boss' of Manker who in turn is the supervisor of all city employees.
Joyner and Holloway were recommended to not take part because at the time, Manker had filed official complaints against them.
The second message was sent April 30, the day before the meeting in which Manker and Williams were fired. In it, Newman warned against the possibility of Ellis making the motion to reconsider because 'I feel certain that Councilor Ellis would have a conflict of interest.
He asked council to postpone the meeting until he could get a requested opinion from state Attorney General Jason Miyares about Ellis' issue.
Newman said by law, he was bound to enforce Virginia's conflict-of-interest laws, the violation of which is a Class 1 misdemeanor, and could result in Ellis' removal for malfeasance in office and a $250 fine.
'As you can see, violating the conflict-of-interest statutes has severe consequences,' he wrote, and I don't want anyone to run afoul of the law.'
As of Monday, all councilors who voted to fire Manker and Williams – Ellis, Joyner, Mayor Johnny Partin Jr and Ward 5 Councilor Susan Daye – have maintained public silence about the decision. Partin told The Progress-Index after the May 1 meeting nothing would be said because the terminations are a protected personnel issue.
At that same meeting – after the Black councilors left the dais – council chose Michael Rogers as interim city manager. Rogers, an employee of the advisory firm Rober Bobb Group, is a former interim city manager in Charlottesville and also worked in Petersburg.
No interim was named to fill Williams' spot. Instead, deputy clerk Sade' Allen will run the office until a replacement is named.
In the proposed fiscal year 2026 budget council is deliberating now, Allen's position will be unfunded. That means that as of July 1, 2025, the deputy clerk position will be eliminated.
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One of the core issues for the public upheaval over Manker's and Williams' firings hinges on the point of 'termination without cause.' To terminate without cause means that the employee is being let go for reasons unrelated to their work performance as long as there is no wrongdoing or employee misconduct.
Virginia is one of several 'work at-will" states where an employer can let an employee go without specifying a reason, and that can also apply to workers in the public sector, according to the state code. However, any employee who signs a contract with a governing body may have an 'out' from the at-will requirement if the contract specifies specific terms of employment.
The Progress-Index has requested copies of Manker's and Williams' contract through the Virginia Freedom of Information Act.
Both Manker and Williams maintain they were never given any formal annual evaluations of their performances by council. Williams said at the May 1 meeting that she has received numerous positive emails from council members complimenting her for the job.
'So, I got this office in shape so y'all could bring someone else in?' Williams angrily asked at the meeting. She got no response.
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Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is an award-winning journalist who covers breaking news, government and politics. Reach him at [e-mail] or on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @BAtkinson_PI.
This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Hopewell commonwealth's attorney opines about city manager firing