20-05-2025
Decline to opine: Virginia attorney general will not weigh in on Hopewell firings issue
Virginia's attorney general will not intervene in the question of whether a Hopewell city councilor's vote to fire the city manager earlier this month represented a conflict-of-interest because he is a city employee.
Hopewell Commonwealth's Attorney Rick Newman confirmed last week that Attorney General Jason Miyares would not offer an opinion on the vote by Ward 4 Councilor Ronnie Ellis. Newman had asked council to delay any action on the future of Dr. Concetta Manker until Miyares could opine on Ellis' ability to vote.
A spokesperson for Miyares neither confirmed nor denied there was any action on Newman's request.
'We receive many requests for opinions, and there are numerous grounds upon which we will decline to issue a formal opinion in response,' Shaun Kenney said in an email last week to The Progress-Index. 'We do not comment on specific requests.'
According to Virginia law, local prosecutors are one of several Virginia officials permitted to ask for opinions from the attorney general.
More: Hopewell commonwealth's attorney finds legal fault with council's firing of city manager
Newman had said he thought Ellis – a battalion chief with the Hopewell Fire Department – would be in conflict because of his day job. As the department's second-in-command, Ellis could be called upon at any time to step in for the fire chief who is traditionally appointed by the city manager. Because of that possibility, he still could be considered as a direct report to the city manager.
Ellis did not take part in the first effort last February to oust Manker, which failed on a 3-3 vote. However, on May 1, Ellis made the motion to reconsider the termination, which appears to violate Rule 36 of Robert's Rules of Order that only persons who voted on the prevailing side (or any side in the matter of a tie vote) could make the motion.
Ellis made the motion May 1 to reconsider the termination and also joined three others on council in the 4-3 vote that let not only Manker go but also fired Brittani Williams as city clerk without cause.
Rule 36 also says that any vote reconsideration can happen '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.' Two-and-a-half months passed between the first vote and the reconsideration.
The move has generated a great deal of blowback from citizens and some councilors for what they say are an underlying racist tone of the vote – Manker and Williams are Black; Ellis, Mayor Johnny Partin Jr., Vice Mayor Rita Joyner and Ward 5 Councilor Susan Daye are White.
More: Tempers, tensions, racism, lawsuits dot Hopewell City Council agenda. How it played out
Manker and Williams are expected to file lawsuits over the firings. Ward 7 Councilor Dominic Holloway has also vowed to bring court action.
Two protests over the decision were held last week in front of the Municipal Building in downtown Hopewell. One of the groups who protested – the Virginia Party for Socialism & Liberation, whose presence startled many in this somewhat conservative city – is planning another rally May 27 to coincide with the next Hopewell City Council meeting.
Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is an award-winning journalist who covers breaking news, government and politics. Reach him at batkinson@ or on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @BAtkinson_PI.
This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Virginia attorney general stays out of Hopewell firing decision
