Hampton’s city government entered the holiday season without one of its department heads after the City Council hastily convened a special called meeting specifically to vote on his termination.

  Former public works director John Spraggins had reportedly served as a city employee for more than 20 years before his November 22 firing, in a Friday morning meeting first announced the day before. The official posting called it an “emergency called meeting” and its purpose was stated “for personnel matters. (Termination pursuant to 2-120 (d) of City Code and 3.10 (e) of City Charter).”

  The action came after an executive session that lasted nearly two hours, and the vote was 5-1, with Henry Byrd casting the lone dissenting vote.

  The only public comments from city officials regarding Spraggins’ removal came when Mayor Steve Hutchison and city manager Alex Cohilas both cited an ongoing investigation without giving any specifics, declining to comment further because it is a personnel matter.

  There was considerable speculation as to why the meeting was convened so quickly and why the possible removal of Spraggins, who had no reported employee issues before this incident, could not be considered at a regular meeting. Some citizens also pointed out on social media that two of the council members who voted to terminate Spraggins, Elton Brown and Ann Tarpley, will no longer be on the council a few weeks from now, since Tarpley lost her re-election bid and Brown chose not to run. It has been suggested that some other action could have been taken until the issue was considered by the new council in January.

  Code section 2-120 (d) covers the “powers and duties of the city manager.” One of those listed duties is to “recommend to the mayor and council for appointment or removal all city department heads, the city attorney, the city auditor, and all other appointed officials or consultants of the city.”

  Section 3-10 (e) of the city charter states: “All appointed officers and directors under the supervision of the city manager shall be nominated by the city manager with confirmation of appointment by the city council. All appointed officers and directors shall be employees at will and subject to removal or suspension at any time at the recommendation of the city manager, mayor, or any councilmember unless otherwise provided by law or ordinance.”

  There has been no indication of when the matter of Spraggins’ successor will be considered. As of November 29, the agenda for the council’s regular December meeting had not been posted.