PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — Interim City Assessor Janey Culpepper is no longer with the city of Portsmouth as the city’s attorney investigates undisclosed allegations made against her.
Culpepper, who previously served several years as city assessor, had been been tapped to fill after in former assessor Patrick Dorris was fired in March of last year.
In an interview with WAVY on Wednesday, Culpepper said she’s disappointed in the actions some on council took, has “nothing to hide” and she awaits the results of the investigation by the city attorney.
The abrupt developments came to light during a contentious council meeting Tuesday night, in which Vice Mayor Lisa Lucas-Burke shared that a “very reputable source” brought the allegations against Culpepper to her. She in turn relayed them to council on Monday in closed session.
“[Culpepper’s been an outstanding assessor, she filled in when we needed someone when Mr. [Dorris] vacated his position, she’s done her job, she was here, her door was open, until the thing was put in my ear, and y’all know when something comes in my ear and it’s brought to my desk, I’m doing to deal with it right there,” said Lucas-Burke, who in turn moved Tuesday night to appoint Anthony George to be the city’s next assessor, with a $130,000 salary and a April 1 start date.
That passed in a 4-3 vote, with Councilman Bill Moody, Mayor Shannon Glover and Councilman Mark Hugel voting against the appointment.
Councilman Moody called the allegations against Culpepper “unfounded” and said he believes they were put forward to help a candidate preferred by some on council.
“What we have here is a city employee that’s performed her duties for this city for a number of years and her integrity has been drug through the mud, by apparently unfounded allegations, that four members of this council have used to get in place the person that they want to be the assessor. That’s the truth of the matter. I can’t wait to hear the city attorney’s findings on the matter.”
The allegations were not disclosed publicly on Tuesday night, but Culpepper says they at least partially have to do with a routine request she made sometime in late November/early December to City Treasurer Paige Cherry’s office. She said she made the request to Cherry’s office after a local developer came to her asking to remove late charges/penalties, which the developer conceded was their fault.
Culpepper says the request was denied and “as far as I was concerned it was over and done with,” and that she never pushed the treasurer’s office for anything.
She says she was tipped after Monday’s closed session about the allegations, and requested to meet with Mayor Glover, Councilman Moody and others, where she learned she was not expected to get the permanent city assessor job.
At Tuesday’s night council meeting, Councilman Mark Whitaker called that meeting “improper.”
“Council did not direct the mayor, nor Mr. Moody or any other parties to meet, so it was very much out of order. We did not know what happened in that meeting, whether there was a forced resignation, termination, firing, we don’t know,” Whitaker said.
Culpepper said she was neither fired, nor gave her resignation, and said that Glover had nothing to do with setting up that meeting. She said she was “highly upset” after learning about the allegations and wished council had let her know about and address them in closed session.
“Why is this a secret? I would have wanted to confront the person,” Culpepper said. “… In my opinion they should have investigated before they made a decision.”
Culpepper overall says she’s just disappointed and would have stayed until George was able to start. She says she and her department had gone great work over the last year, including correcting more 8,000 assessments, with plans for a comprehensive audit of the city’s commercial real estate.
However, after voting to appoint George, council voted unanimously to appoint Victor Edwards as interim city assessor, with a 10% pay raise. Culpepper said “he’s very good” at his job and “an outstanding commercial appraiser.”
In the meantime, Culpepper says she has a lawyer and is waiting the results of the investigation before taking any further action.