One Chesapeake councilman is calling on Mayor Rick West to resign, while others have ordered a probe of the city’s former attorney.
This all comes in the wake of a WHRO investigation that found West asked Chesapeake’s former city attorney to look into a private legal matter for his stepbrother two years ago.
Ahead of Chesapeake’s City Council meeting Tuesday, Councilman Robert Ike said West should step down, likening West’s wielding of city resources for personal purposes to theft.
“With his time on council and being mayor, especially, he knows better,” Ike told WHRO. “It undermines the integrity of local government.”
The incident in question happened in 2022, when West’s stepbrother reached out to the mayor because he didn’t want to spend thousands on attorneys to deal with a property issue in Georgia.
Emails obtained by WHRO through a Freedom of Information Act request show that West approached then-City Attorney Jay Stroman with his stepbrother’s problem. Stroman and another attorney in his office did legal research and reached out to state and local officials in Georgia.
West’s stepbrother ultimately sent an appreciative email saying he didn’t know how they’d done it, but his permit issue had been taken care of.
Ike says West’s conduct needs to be addressed, even though it occurred two years ago. He said he’s reached out to the Chesapeake Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office about appointing a special prosecutor to investigate the incident.
At Tuesday’s Council meeting, West’s political ally Amanda Newins introduced a measure directing current City Attorney Catherine Lindley to review Stroman’s emails to see if any official emails were forwarded to personal accounts or deleted. The measure instructs Lindley to make a report back to council about any potential legal or ethical concerns.
When pressed by other members of council why this review was necessary, Newins and West wouldn’t answer.
“I think citizens should hear the reason for us sending the city attorney’s office on … a witch hunt,” said Councilman Don Carey, who is also challenging West in the city’s mayoral race.
Newins responded it wasn’t a witch hunt, but “we don’t know what we don’t know” without offering further explanation.
Councilwoman Ella Ward said she’s never seen anything like this in her 18 years on council.
“This seems, really, pretty egregious,” Ward said. “Why is this being done? Is someone accusing us of something?”
West told her if she had questions, she shouldn’t support the motion.
Ultimately, the direction to the city attorney was approved, with Ike, Carey and Ward voting against it.
Ike followed the vote by asking the city attorney for an accounting of the hours spent doing work on behalf of West’s family.
Newins tacked on that she’d like the attorney to check whether other council members have consulted the city attorney’s office for advice, specifically for any businesses or nonprofits.
In an interview with WHRO, West previously said Stroman “did things to ingratiate himself with all of” the council members and that he’d heard of the former city attorney doing personal work for others, however he declined to say which council members.
