HOPEWELL – Tensions between the city and its embattled treasurer went beyond the boiling point after City Council voted Tuesday night to immediately strip Shannon Foskey of most of her duties while the city waits for General Assembly approval to make it permanent.
On a 6-0 vote – Ward 7 Councilor Dominic Holloway left the meeting before it was taken – council enacted its “emergency powers” to take all accounting and banking practices, including check-writing, from Shannon Foskey’s office and reassign them to Hopewell’s finance department. That also includes transferring the office’s accounting staff to the direction of chief financial officer Stacey Jordan.
The move leaves Foskey with only the duties of billing and collections of taxes and other fee payments, such as utility bills.
It was a precursor to the charter-change request council put as part of its legislative wish list for 2025. Under Virginia law, charter changes must be approved by the General Assembly, and had the city waited for that, the earliest the transfer could have taken place was July 1, 2025.
Foskey was indicted Oct. 9 on charges of fraud and records forgery after it was alleged that she inappropriately removed herself from a Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles “holds list” that prohibits anyone from doing business with DMV until they have satisfied delinquent tax payments. Her next court appearance is Jan. 25.
Council took two votes on the issue – the first to officially ask for the charter change, and the second to invoke the emergency powers. Both passed unanimously.
How did she take the news?
Foskey met with council in a closed session prior to Tuesday’s regular meeting. She left immediately after the closed session and did not stay for the public hearing on the charter change.
She responded to an email from The Progress-Index seeking comment on the decision by saying she was reaching out to the Treasurers Association of Virginia for assistance in crafting her reply.
Reactions during the public hearing on the issue were mixed.
“It should have taken place years ago,” former councilor Debbie Randolph said. Problems within the office have been going on for some time – problems that Randolph said could have been avoided had previous councils done what the current council did Tuesday night.
Ward 6 resident Darlene Thompson was irate with councilors over the move, claiming they have been lying to citizens all along about money-management issues and were just using Foskey as a scapegoat.
“I’m not taking up for her,” Thompson said. “I just see what’s been happening in these City Council meetings.”
According to Thompson, council and the Robert Bobb Group lied to the citizens during the recently completed reboot of Hopewell’s faulty fiscal-management system. Thompson said they pleaded poverty when raising Hopewell’s real-estate tax rate four cents earlier this year, yet they found money during the recently completed RBG work that she claimed could have saved residents from seeing both property assessments and the taxes hiked as they were.
“You all are no different when there is fraud and corruption,” Thompson chided. “It doesn’t matter how that passed. All of you are involved, and you all knew it was a lie. You knew it was an overassessment of the citizens’ taxes, and you all have done nothing about it.”
Ward 6 Councilor Brenda Pelham took exception to Thompson’s accusations. Pelham, who is retiring this year after five terms on council, said the previous councils were kept in the dark by then-city administrations. It was only after being deep into the RBG work that “opened our eyes even further” about just how bad the system was.
“Say what you want to say,” Pelham responded, but added it was “on the record” that she voted against the tax hike.
RBG reports were frequently critical of Foskey's job performance, claiming she was uncooperative and had to be forced into action. Foskey has consistently denied those accusations.
What is the ‘emergency powers’ clause?
Chapter IV, Section 7 of the Hopewell charter states that resolutions and ordinances passed by council normally take effect 30 days after passage, “except that the council may, by the affirmative vote of five of its members, pass emergency measures to take effect at the time indicated therein.” With Tuesday night’s vote and Mayor Johnny Partin Jr.’s signature on it right after adjournment, the power transfer went into effect immediately.
Even though Foskey is a “constitutional officer,” meaning she is one of five directly elected by Hopewell voters, Chapter 15 of the charter indicates that the position is beholden to council. The charter says that the treasurer’s “duties and obligations ... shall be prescribed by the council.”
Constitutional officers’ budgets are a hybrid of state and local funding. The state Compensation Board covers the offices’ annual budgets and reimburses the localities for their proportionate share of salaries and expenses. The localities cover portions of the operational costs for the offices.
The other constitutional officers are sheriff, commonwealth’s attorney, Circuit Court clerk and commissioner of the revenue. While commonwealth’s attorneys must be members of the Virginia State Bar, the only codified requirements are that the officeholder establish residency in the locality at least one year before election, be qualified to vote in the election and be old enough to have registered for federal Selective Service.
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.
