Decision on Ports interim mayor delayed

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) - The open city council meeting in Portsmouth lasted only a few minutes Wednesday night, but it didn't take long to lay out the challenge facing the six members.

"I think this is the single most important decision this or any other council can be called upon to make," said Councilmember Stephen Heretick.

After voters ousted James Holley from the mayor's seat in a recall by a two-to-one margin, city council will have to pick the interim mayor, a decision no one takes lightly.

"I think this is a very critical time in the history of our city," said councilmember Bill Moody.

For city council, it is a chance to move beyond a mayor that polarized the city and find someone who's personal agenda focuses on the city.

"There's no doubt in my mind that we can come to a unanimous decision on a man or woman to lead us into the future and provide the healing that this community frankly needs right now," said Councilmember Elizabeth Psimas.

Moments later, city council went into closed session, meeting for two and a half hours to figure out who will lead the city until a special election later this year. After the meeting, Vice Mayor Charles Whitehurst kept quiet about the discussion, only saying councilmembers will take their time to decide.

"We have to make sure we're looking at people and doing background checks and those kinds of things," Whitehurst said, "so we want to make sure we're not making any mistakes in being in haste."

For now, Portsmouth will operate without a leader, relying on city council for leadership. Council said it will be two weeks until they talk about the interim mayor again, at which point they expect to make a decision.

Council will announce the decision on July 27 at the public work session at 7:00 p.m.

The statement is below:

The Portsmouth City Council has met to consider the difficult choices facing us to select the next Mayor of Portsmouth. Our deliberations have been productive, cordial, and collaborative, reflecting our collective duty to our community. In order to permit us to undertake the necessary due diligence to complete this process, we will adjourn our deliberations until Monday, July 26, 2010 at 5:00 p.m. We anticipate reaching a final decision on that date, and electing the next Mayor of the City of Portsmouth in our public session at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, July 27, 2010. This is an unanimous decision by the Portsmouth City Council.

The Portsmouth City Council will have no further public comment on this decision until July 27, 2010.