Mike Murphy – Page 2 – C-VILLE Weekly

Mike Murphy named interim city manager

After more than a week of heated exchanges between city councilors and Mayor Nikuyah Walker over the hiring of an interim city manager, there was 10 minutes of public notice before a 3-0 vote in closed session at 1:15pm resulted in Assistant City Manager Mike Murphy taking the job effective 5pm today, just hours before City Manager Maurice Jones cleaned out his desk.

Councilors Wes Bellamy, Kathy Galvin and Mike Signer formed the quorum to give Murphy the thumbs up. Mayor Nikuyah Walker and Vice-Mayor Heather Hill were out of town, according to city spokesman Brian Wheeler.

Council had been threatening to name the interim city manager since last week, after the candidate who had been offered the job, Sidney Zemp, withdrew from consideration, listing Walker’s “contrived” controversy over how his name entered the process, “questionable motivations” and flaunting of state statutes on hiring practices. Both Murphy and the other assistant city manager, Leslie Beauregard, were interviewed for the position.

It’s unclear whether all five councilors would have voted to appoint Murphy had they all been there. “Who knows?” asks Galvin. “We needed three bodies to vote and we got a quorum.”

Says Galvin, “It was really important to have someone here before Maurice left today.” With the upcoming August 12 anniversary, “now we have all the bases covered.” The police and fire chiefs report to the city manager. “It’s a relief,” she says. “We’re very thrilled he took the job.”

Walker, reached out of town, says she still has concerns. “The hiccup was in the contract negotiations,” she says. “When Maurice was interim city manager he didn’t have a contract.” And a one-year contract Zemp requested was a concern to her, Walker revealed in a Facebook Live.

Murphy, she says, “should be able to keep things afloat until we get a permanent city manager.”

Hill says that had she been in town, she would have supported Murphy’s appointment.

Before taking the assistant city manager job in 2015, Murphy was director of human development.

When asked if he was surprised to be named to the job after so much public council bickering, Murphy said, “I’ve been here 24 years. Nothing surprises me.”

Council announced May 25 it would not renew Jones’ contract. He has taken a job as town manager in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Not healed: #ResilientCville showcases residents’ distrust of officials

By Jonathan Haynes

Indignation hung in the air during the July 12 city-sponsored #ResilientCville event as around 150 Charlottesville residents filed into the pews of Mt. Zion First African Baptist Church to confront a panel of public officials about the city’s failure to contain white supremacists on August 11 and 12.

The crowded panel—consisting of Assistant City Manager Mike Murphy, Charlottesville Police Chief RaShall Brackney, Virginia State Police Captain Craig Worsham, UVA Vice President of Safety and Security Gloria Graham, Albemarle County Police Captain Darrell Byers and Charlottesville Fire Chief Andrew Baxter—sat center stage, while Charlottesville spokesman Brian Wheeler jotted minutes on the side.

Before fielding questions, each member gave a brief statement explaining his or her approach to the one-year anniversary of August 12, stressing that enhanced interagency coordination was integral to their plan.

A strident Jeff Fogel was the first resident to the microphone, and his accusation that law enforcement has refused to acknowledge last year’s failures received a lively applause. The Reverend Alvin Edwards stepped in and told him he needed to ask a question.

Brackney said, “We acknowledge gaps, then we respond to those, and that’s how we learn.”

But demands for the police force to acknowledge its mistakes continued throughout the night. At one point, someone asked Brackney to list city police failures. She declined.

Some audience members suggested they would take self defense into their own hands. One denizen said that her complaints to law enforcement last year had been ignored and suggested that she would rely on vigilante groups instead. “I do not trust the fascists, Nazis, or KKK,” she said. “I do trust the antifa. Will you trust us?”

Graham and Worsham admitted that many of the crimes reported by citizens last year went unanswered and reiterated that their new approach will involve communication among agencies and will take citizen complaints more seriously. For her part, Brackney said she understood that many citizens don’t trust law enforcement, and many city authorities, including herself, are new to Charlottesville.

Panelists did not address antifa.

Regarding UVA, someone touched on the university’s new assembly policy, which requires people who are not students to obtain a permit to assemble on grounds. Graham noted that students are exempted from the policy, but also maintained that the policy would not regulate the content of speech. She was met with a chorus of boos.

Toward the end, someone questioned the scheduling of that night’s event, which conflicted with the pilgrimage to the lynching memorial in Montgomery, Alabama, and precluded Mayor Nikuyah Walker and City Councilor Wes Bellamy from attending.

Wheeler took responsibility, declaring it an oversight.

While few preparations were divulged, Worsham said many VSP will be present on August 11 and 12 this year, and in Charlottesville in various uniforms during the week leading up to that weekend—and they’ll be ready to make arrests this time.

Brackney said there will be multiple road closures and parking restrictions. She also said she was “shamed” police stood by last year, and promised that wouldn’t happen again.