Portsmouth City Council’s second attempt to hire ex-police chief as city manager passes with divided vote

Another attempt at hiring ex-Police Chief Tonya Chapman as Portsmouth’s next city manager was successful the second time around Tuesday on a divided vote among the City Council.

Grievances on the council were on display Tuesday night, with council members taking direct aim at each other. Mayor Shannon Glover took jabs at council member Mark Whitaker, who championed Chapman’s hiring, and even tried to get him removed from the meeting.

Two weeks ago, the council rejected Whitaker’s first attempt at hiring Chapman when council member Chris Woodard broke from Whitaker’s alliance.

Woodard’s vote proved critical again on Tuesday. He boomeranged back to his old alliance and served as the tie-breaker by siding with Whitaker, Vice Mayor De’Andre Barnes and council member Paul Battle to appoint Chapman.

She will begin her tenure as city manager on June 22 with an annual salary of $200,000.

Chapman previously resigned as the city’s police chief in March 2019, saying later that her departure was forced and stemmed from her efforts to change a culture of racism within the department.

Whitaker’s motion to hire Chapman also stipulated that the city attorney and personnel committee will negotiate contract details. Both Barnes and Whitaker comprise the personnel committee, Glover said, and didn’t consult with the council about that provision beforehand.

Glover called the string of recent events, beginning with the May 24 vote to fire former City Manager Angel Jones, a “usurpation of the rule of authority,” citing the exclusion of the mayor from contract negotiations, a lack of communication with the rest of the council and attempts to hire an unvetted candidate as city manager.

Whitaker said he supported Chapman’s appointment for the unity and “out-of-the-box thinking” she brings, her experience and because she is loved and well respected by the community. He also said that at one time, there was a consensus among the council to interview Chapman for the job as they narrowed their list of finalists.

Based on that consensus, Whitaker said he was “confused that all of a sudden” council member Lisa Lucas-Burke no longer viewed Chapman as a good fit for the city manager role.

Lucas-Burke said at the time, Chapman looked “a lot better” than some of the other candidates presented to her. But now she doesn’t trust the decision due to the sense of urgency and lack of a proper vetting process.

“Fifteen months ago, maybe I said that, but now I want to go through a process,” she said.

Lucas-Burke said she didn’t understand the push to appoint a new manager so quickly.

“I believe we have some council members who might believe that they might be magicians or pimps because they keep trying to pull tricks out their sleeves,” Lucas-Burke said. “But I’m not amused and I’m not entertained by the circus act that’s been put forth.”

Council member Bill Moody called the alliance “a coup” while defending the mayor, whom he said has been undermined. He also said he opposed Chapman’s appointment because she lacks experience in municipal government and was fired by the city.

“I say that because four members of council are trying to do the actions that should be given to seven members of council,” Moody said. “I’ve sat here and watched our mayor get disparaged.”

Moody added that the recent actions taken by the Whitaker-led alliance “won’t be forgotten.”

After the vote, tension between Glover and Whitaker erupted when Glover attempted to have Whitaker removed from the meeting by contending he was out of order.

The power play failed, however, as removing Whitaker required a vote and he stayed in place thanks to the votes of his council allies.

Councilman Battle, meanwhile, did walk out on the meeting — on his own accord and for reasons unknown — right after the vote to keep Whitaker in the room.

Woodard didn’t speak during the meeting, but he told The Pilot his support the second time around was because two weeks have lapsed since the first attempt to appoint Chapman and that no other candidates had been presented. He believes Chapman will be able to help the city address the ongoing violence.

After the meeting, Whitaker downplayed the council divisiveness and chalked it up to passions and a difference of perspectives, among other things.

He criticized the mayor’s attempt to remove him from the dais despite allowing Lucas-Burke to passionately yell and curse weeks earlier when she was angered by the vote to terminate Jones.

“That’s his leadership style. That’s what Portsmouth wants, that’s what it has,” Whitaker said. “That’s just consistent with his attitude and behavior.”

Whitaker also said the decision to fire Jones wasn’t a rash one and came after concerns shared over a four-month period prior to her termination.

Natalie Anderson, natalie.anderson@virginiamedia.com, 757-732-1133