In brief: City manager selected by council, local teen killed by cops, and more

City gets a new manager

After more than 15 hours of emergency closed meetings, Charlottesville City Council announced last Thursday that it had selected a new city manager: Chip Boyles, executive director of the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission.

John Blair, who has served as interim city manager for nearly three months, is leaving Charlottesville to become Staunton’s city attorney. His last day as acting city manager is February 12.

Before moving to Charlottesville in 2014, Boyles served as assistant city manager and city manager in three cities, including Clemson, South Carolina.

During a virtual press conference, the councilors emphasized that Boyles, who’s headed the planning district for seven years, would bring much-needed stability to a city government left in the lurch after a string of high-profile departures.

“Chip has been in the community for a number of years, but he hasn’t been in any organization and will provide us an opportunity to look at any issues…through a neutral lens,” said Mayor Nikuyah Walker. “Being able to bring a new and fresh perspective to the organization will allow us to heal and actually be able to get some of the work that we have all promised to do done.”

The councilors also acknowledged their own role in fueling the city’s instability, and the need to rebuild trust and communication with each other, as well as with city staff and the community.

Earlier this month, the recruitment firm hired to find a new manager cut ties with Charlottesville, and the firm’s principal claimed he had “never seen a level of dysfunction as profound as what he was seeing here.”

After learning about Blair’s impending departure, the councilors decided to expedite the search process, and choose a qualified manager on their own. However, they stressed that they were not trying to set a “precedent” of making decisions behind closed doors, and would begin a public city manager search, likely in 2022.

“We are looking at one and a half to two years,” said Councilor Sena Magill. “It’s that balance of making sure [Boyles] has enough time to get the stabilization in place, as well as making sure it doesn’t go too long without public input.”

Boyles said his top priority is to fill all the vacant city leadership positions, including a Neighborhood Development Services director, three deputy city managers, and executive director for the Police Civilian Review Board.

While Boyles’ appointment has received praise, it’s also drawn criticism from community activists and members who petitioned for the city to bring back former city manager Dr. Tarron Richardson, who resigned in September.

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Quote of the week

“For the past 18 months, I’ve been inspired to seek greater service—motivated by the challenges facing my community.“

—Dr. Cameron Webb on being selected for the White House COVID-19 Response Team

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In brief

Xzavier Hill

On January 9, 18-year-old Xzavier Hill of Charlottesville was killed by Virginia State Police on I-64 in Goochland County. Police claim Hill, who is Black, led them on a high-speed chase and pulled out a gun when they approached his car, but his family says the dash-cam footage proves that there was no chase, and he was unarmed. The family is now petitioning VSP to release the footage to the public.

Locals arrested in D.C.

An area man was arrested this week for bringing a gun and 37 rounds of unregistered ammunition near the U.S. Capitol complex on Sunday, reports the Washington Post. Guy Berry, a 22-year-old Gordonsville resident and truck driver who attended Monticello High School, is “one of those open-carry people,” says his aunt in the Post piece. Berry is not the first Virginian to be arrested at the Capitol since January 6—last week, a Front Royal man was caught trying to make it through the secure perimeter with fake identification and huge amounts of ammunition.

No more death penalty?

The death penalty is one step closer to being abolished in Virginia. With a 10-4 vote, the state Senate Judiciary Committee passed a bill on Monday that would eliminate the practice. Those in support of the bill—including Governor Ralph Northam—argue that death penalty sentences are disproportionately given to Black people, while others who oppose the repeal believe the penalty should still be reserved for people who murder law enforcement. In last year’s session, a death penalty abolition bill was voted down in subcommittee, so this week’s vote represents a key step forward.

Caption: Senator Scott Surovell (D-Fairfax) is the chief patron of the death penalty bill that’s moving through the General Assembly.PC: File photo

‘It’s a relief:’ Fields pleads guilty to federal charges

Some victims of the August 12, 2017, car attack are breathing a sigh of relief that they won’t have to endure a second trial, after the white supremacist who murdered Heather Heyer pleaded guilty to 29 federal hate crimes on March 27.

In a state trial in December, James Alex Fields, Jr., a 21-year-old from Maumee, Ohio, was found guilty of first-degree murder, aggravated malicious wounding, and other charges for killing Heyer and severely injuring dozens of other anti-racist protesters when he drove into a crowd on Fourth Street—an event that many have called an act of domestic terror.

A Charlottesville jury recommended he serve a life sentence plus 419 years in prison, but Fields still faced federal charges. His guilty plea agreement means he’ll avoid the possibility of being sentenced to death.

“It’s a relief to think that we don’t have to go through another trial,” says Heyer’s mother, Susan Bro. “It was exhausting the first time.”

She also called it a relief that Fields, who initially pleaded not guilty to the hate crimes, has finally acknowledged his guilt, and admitted that he willfully caused bodily injury to the group of protesters celebrating on Fourth Street because of their race, color, religion, or national origin. Now, “he can get on with his life and I can get on with mine,” says Bro.

Fields told the judge he’d been receiving therapy and taking medication for mental health issues such as bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, ADHD, schizoid personality, and explosive onset disorders since he was 6 years old. But when asked if he was under the influence of any medicine or alcohol that would interfere with his ability to enter the plea freely and voluntarily, he said, “I’m feeling normal, sir.”

Fields, now sporting a thick, scruffy beard that stuck out about an inch off his face, was escorted into the courtroom in handcuffs by multiple U.S. Marshals.

In exchange for Fields’ guilty plea, U.S. District Judge Michael Urbanski explained that a 30th charge, which carried the possibility of the death penalty, would be dropped. Therefore, his maximum punishment would be another life sentence.

U.S. Attorney Thomas Cullen said he thought the plea agreement struck a good balance between punishment and protecting the interests of his victims, and that it, “vindicated—to the extent you can ever vindicate—the loss of life in respect to Heather Heyer.”

“There’s no point in killing him. It would not bring back Heather,” says her mother.

Bro has remained in the spotlight as racial tensions boil in the wake of the rally where her daughter died, which brought Fields and hundreds of other white supremacists and neo-Nazis to town, and emboldened others across the country. She’s the co-founder of the Heather Heyer Foundation, which seeks to honor the life of the 32-year-old paralegal and activist through scholarship opportunities for people passionate about bringing peaceful social change.

Says Bro, “Sadly, it took a white girl dying before anyone paid attention to civil rights around here.”