Less than 24 hours after abruptly firing its city manager, the Portsmouth City Council is already preparing to appoint someone to replace Angel Jones.
The council has called a special meeting for Tuesday for the appointment of a new city manager. The discussion begins at 5 p.m. followed by a vote scheduled for 6 p.m. in City Council chambers.
An email obtained by The Virginian-Pilot shows council member Mark Whitaker called the meeting with the consent of the three others who voted to oust Jones — Vice Mayor De’Andre Barnes and Councilmembers Paul Battle and Chris Woodard.
None of the four who voted to fire Jones responded to messages seeking interviews Wednesday. Barnes, however, shed light on the reason for his vote in a Facebook Live video posted that day.
Barnes said he voted to terminate Jones because she did not produce and implement a plan to address crime in Portsmouth quickly enough and that “nothing’s been done” since she started.
“I’m tired of hearing every night that somebody’s getting shot,” he said Wednesday. “We don’t have any significant policies on the table.”
Jones presented a crime plan to the council last fall. It calls for an extension of recreational and afterschool youth programs, enhanced lighting in high-crime areas, expanding mental health services, rerouting neighborhood patrols and increasing economic opportunities.
At Tuesday’s meeting, some people who have lost loved ones to gun violence were part of the group criticizing the council members for firing Jones — and credited Jones with working to address the violence.
“Y’all throwing her away just like y’all throwing our children away,” said Anitra Hampton, a mother who lost her son to violence in September.
The council has not identified Jones’ potential replacement. And some council members say there’s been no communication about the meeting or the potential appointee.
Councilman Bill Moody said Wednesday the request for the special meeting indicates to him there has been conversation among the four about selecting Jones’ replacement.
“It certainly appears to be that those four are communicating and planning strategy,” Moody said. “In this case, the hiring of a city manager, without the input or the knowledge of the other three members, which is not right.”
Mayor Shannon Glover also confirmed there’s been no communication about the meeting, or about Tuesday’s vote.
“Trust has been broken,” he said. “There has not been any information shared of who this prospective candidate would be.”
The city manager is effectively the city’s CEO, tasked with carrying out the council’s vision, developing a budget, supervising city employees and selecting department heads. The traditional process for hiring a city manager involves a job advertisement, a narrowing and vetting of qualified candidates and interviews with finalists.
Jones was appointed city manager in a 4-3 vote in April 2021 with a salary of $200,000. She previously had stints as city manager in Maryland and Oregon.
She did not return messages left for comment Wednesday.
Glover said Jones provided a 16-page summary of her accomplishments during her performance evaluation last month after a year on the job. He said while he, Moody and councilwoman Lisa Lucas-Burke gave her mostly scores of 5 out of 5, the four who voted to terminate her rated her much lower. Her average score then hovered around 3.
“Every citizen in the city of Portsmouth that is concerned about the future of Portsmouth and the conduct of these members of council need to be at (the special) meeting,” Glover said. “If for no other reason, to show solidarity and let the elected people of this city know that the citizens will not accept bad behavior.”
Tuesday’s vote means deputy city manager Mimi Terry will serve as interim city manager. She was hired in March 2020 as the city’s chief financial officer after serving as deputy finance director in Richmond. In an emailed statement, Terry said she’s appreciative for the opportunity.
“The organization is resilient, and we will continue to move the city forward until the appointment of a new city manager,” she said.
Natalie Anderson, natalie.anderson@virginiamedia.com, 757-732-1133.
