Personnel policy updated
The City of Charlottesville has updated its personnel policy months after controversy erupted over Allen Groat, a city IT employee who attended the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
The new policy offers guidance on city employees’ use of social media and prohibits off-hours behavior that undermines trust in the city government. It also allows termination of employees who have been convicted of crimes that could make their co-workers feel unsafe.
Groat can be seen inside the Capitol in body-worn police camera footage obtained by activist Molly Conger. The footage shows him recording on his phone and declining to leave the Capitol when ordered to do so by police. Additionally, he posted photos of his insurrection foray on his personal social media accounts. In addition to his presence at the Capitol, Groat had been charged in 2020 with brandishing a gun and aggressive driving.
Groat’s name became public after former Charlottesville police chief RaShall Brackney held a press conference filing a federal lawsuit against the city and numerous city employees and elected officials. She accused the city of failing to discipline Groat after his presence at the Capitol became known.
At a City Council meeting in August, interim City Manager Mike Rogers said Groat had written a letter of apology and said no action would be taken against him. At that time, Mayor Lloyd Snook told C-VILLE that the city’s personnel policy prevented the city from taking action against him because he had not been charged with a crime.
Brackney said Groat had lied when he requested time off to take his wife to the doctor but instead attended the insurrection. The new personnel policy also offers the city the right to take action against an employee who makes “false statements that are intended or could reasonably be expected to damage the integrity or effectiveness of the city government, city programs, or city employees.”
Five years late
Massachusetts police officer John Donnelly resigned from the Woburn Police Department on October 18, after the Huffington Post contacted the department about his participation in the 2017 Unite the Right white supremacist rally, and the WPD placed him on administrative leave on October 13. Police Chief Robert Rufo has asked the Peace Officer Standards & Training Commission to decertify Donnelly, preventing him from joining another police department in the state.
Donnelly, who had worked for the WPD since 2015, acted as a security guard for prominent white nationalist and UVA grad Richard Spencer during the rally, and played a major role in planning the deadly event, reports the HuffPost. For years, the former patrolman has made racist and anti-Semitic comments online, and advocated for violence against minority groups and leftists. He may have been a member of Identity Evropa, a now-dissolved white supremacist group. Anti-fascist group Ignite the Right, which has identified the majority of the August 11 and 12 attendees, provided the HuffPost last month with evidence connecting Donnelly to the rally.
An award-winning realtor, Donnelly has also been fired by Century 21, and removed as president of Irish Angel, a police support nonprofit. Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan announced on October 14 that her office is reviewing pending and closed cases that Donnelly was involved in.
In brief
‘Utterly intolerable’
The Albemarle County Police Department is investigating an incident involving “a few members” of Albemarle High School’s junior varsity football team that occurred on October 11, according to a letter sent to parents by principal Darah Bonham. Due to the incident, the school canceled the October 12 JV football game, and “instituted disciplinary measures,” read the letter, but it did not provide additional details. “I would call the allegations that we’ve learned to be utterly intolerable,” ACPS spokesperson Phil Giaramita told CBS19.
(Another) hoax call
On October 20, the Charlottesville Police Department received a false report of a possible active shooter at Buford Middle School—exactly one month after the last swatting incident at the school. Officers did not find any threat after placing students on lockdown, and are investigating the call.
Interim fire chief selected
Deputy Chief of Community Risk Reduction Michael Thomas has been appointed interim Charlottesville Fire Chief, replacing outgoing chief Hezedean Smith. Thomas joined the CFD in June after retiring from the Lynchburg Fire Department. Last month, Smith, who led CFD for two years, announced he had accepted a position in Florida.
Bag it up
Charlottesville City Council appropriated $20,000 to provide reusable bags to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients during its October 17 meeting, in hopes of reducing the burden the city’s new plastic bag tax will put on low-income families. The city’s social services department will distribute the bags to eligible households before the tax takes effect on January 1.
Chime in
The City of Charlottesville is collecting community feedback on its Climate Action Plan until November 9. To submit a comment, visit charlottesville.gov/1085/Climate-Action-Planning.