Economy, leadership and the homeless: Hopewell council candidates plead cases at forum

Ward 6 council candidate Yolanda Stokes, right, speaks at a forum Oct. 7, 2024, at the Sunlight Elks Lodge in Hopewell. With Stokes at the table are, from left, Ward 4 candidates Halimah Shepherd-Crawford and Ronnie Ellis; and Ward 5 hopefulss Susan Daye and Ed Houser.
Ward 6 council candidate Yolanda Stokes, right, speaks at a forum Oct. 7, 2024, at the Sunlight Elks Lodge in Hopewell. With Stokes at the table are, from left, Ward 4 candidates Halimah Shepherd-Crawford and Ronnie Ellis; and Ward 5 hopefulss Susan Daye and Ed Houser.

HOPEWELL – While downtown and the Route 36 corridor appear to be the nuclei of Hopewell’s business communities, there is one asset of the city that every candidate in a Monday night City Council forum agreed could stand more development attention – Hopewell's riverfront.

“One of the most beautiful things Hopewell has is its waterfront, and it’s always been a place where citizens got together,” Ward 6 candidate Yolanda Stokes said. She recalled a time several years ago when she and a city delegation visited Williamsburg to witness how that city developed its riverfront areas and get a possible blueprint for Hopewell. However, nothing was ever pursued as a result of that trip.

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“I would like to see shops come to our waterfront, businesses that would balance the taxes between business owners and the residents,” Stokes said.

Ward 4 candidate Ronnie Ellis said while industries and HCA TriCities Hospital are located along the Appomattox and James rivers, “there’s really nothing there for the people” to enjoy.

Ellis’ opponent, Halimah Shepherd-Crawford, said she would love to see more restaurants open along the Appomattox River coastline. “It would be great for the city,” she said.

Ward 5 candidates Susan Daye and Ed Houser said they also saw the benefits to developing the waterfront area. Daye called the waterfront “our bread-and-butter, and it has been since Hopewell originated,” and Houser cited “an immense amount of riverfront property that is not being utilized.”

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In July, Hopewell took over management of the city marina from a business called Fish Tales, which is owned by Ellis and his family. He said the marina always has been a good drawing card regionwide, and Hopewell needs to develop more of that.

“We want to bring people in from the outside to spend money inside, so it will help us spend less money,” Ellis said.

“We have a Riverwalk that’s dead-ended,” Houser added. “I’m a big advocate of that, thinking it needs to be finished so it can make it to the marina.”

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Hopewell’s leadership

The most dissent among the council hopefuls Monday night appeared to be around Hopewell’s senior leadership.

City Manager Concetta Manker has been the target of both supporters and detractors over the direction city government has taken while she has been at the helm. Her backers claim she has done a good job considering the situation she inherited, while her critics claim she is in over her head and that Hopewell needs someone with more experience in city administration.

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Manker, Hopewell’s former information technology director, got the job on an interim basis because she was the most senior leader in government at the time of March Altman’s departure for Petersburg. Her hiring for the job full-time was split on a 4-3 vote after councilors rejected overtures from the state to take over fiscal management and opted for the advisory firm Robert Bobb Group to step in and help Hopewell reboot its money-management system.

Houser and Stokes were quick to applaud Manker. Stokes said she was “impressed” with the recent hirings Manker has made, including a deputy city manager – an unfilled position when Altman left – and a finance director.

Houser said Manker is “doing a great job with what she’s got to work with,” an apparent nod to the state of Hopewell’s government when she took over. He noted she has gotten good marks from the Bobb Group for leading the implementation of its recommendations, and he also approved of her hiring decisions.

“I think we have the good basic setup started here,” he said. “We need to fine-tune probably a couple of more people, get a couple of more people up to speed, and I think we will have good leadership. We just have to get behind these people and give them support instead of throwing rocks.”

Daye said as a councilor, she would have “to look at all the pieces.” While she had read each of the RBG reports, she said there are some things that one may now know unless they are in office and see the work from the inside.

“Some of those things might lend toward any decisions or cause for opinions I may have as far as what to do going forward,” Daye said, adding that she was “glad” to see all the positions filled.

Ellis said he would withhold judgment on senior leadership futures until elected. Shepherd-Crawford, his opponent, said she also would withhold opinions until she was able to see exactly where the responsibilities and accountabilities lie.

First forum (and the only one?)

The five candidates sat Monday night for the first and so far, only joint forum at the Sunlight Elks Lodge. The forum, sponsored by the Hopewell chapter of the NAACP, drew about 25 residents and featured each candidate answering 10 questions ranging from economic development to violent crime to the city’s aging infrastructure.

Among the topics discussed:

  • Uptick in crime: All candidates agreed that the staffing shortage within the Hopewell Police department has contributed to an increase in criminal activity. Daye said she recently went on a ride-along with a police officer and was told that the normal number of officers on the street during a shift is four. If there is any major criminal activity, then it would be likely that all four officers on that shift would be called to the scene and likely requesting back-up from other agencies. All candidates agreed that the city needs to boost officer pay to keep them from moving to other localities. “We have to budget from a point of public safety and work our way backwards,” Daye said.

  • Homelessness and aid: Houser said he felt issues were "slowly dwindling away" thanks to efforts by the city administration encouraging civic and religious organizations to feed and assist not just homeless but also low- and fixed-income families "who are being taxed to death." Daye said she backed the creation of an ad hoc committee to work on a balance between homelessness and the effect it has on economic development in the city. Ellis said like other topics that need addressing, "funding is an issue," while Stokes said she would like to see the Hopewell Redevelopment & Housing Authority play a larger role.

  • Taxes: Each candidate said citizens’ tax burdens can be offset by increasing Hopewell’s economic base and attracting more businesses to town.

  • Infrastructure: Because the city does not have a bond rating, capital improvement projects, particularly ones for the aging water and sewer lines that run beneath Hopewell, cannot be adequately funded. With the school system not seeing any increase in local dollars for its past several budgets, school buildings are also showing wear and tear.  The candidates agreed that Hopewell should consider every available revenue stream, including state and federal grants, to keep the infrastructure running until the city’s fiscal picture improves and more money can be earmarked for those projects.

Click here to watch the forum on Hopewell government’s Facebook page.

Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is an award-winning journalist who covers breaking news, government and politics. Reach him at batkinson@progress-index.com or on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @BAtkinson_PI.

This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Hopewell council candidates pitch their campaigns at forum