Portsmouth City Council on verge of replacing city attorney after meeting behind closed doors

The Portsmouth City Council appears to be preparing to replace its interim city attorney.

The council met behind closed doors Wednesday evening to discuss interim City Attorney Burle Stromberg’s performance, and is planning to vote Friday on appointing someone else to the post.

Mayor Shannon Glover called the special closed session Wednesday night to discuss Stromberg’s performance, but details around the meeting are scarce.

The reason for the discussion has not been made public.

The agenda for Friday’s special meeting includes only one item — “appointment of interim city attorney” that is going to be conducted by a roll call vote, which means the council members will need to make a formal, recorded vote.

WAVY-10, a local NBC affiliate, tweeted that Wednesday night’s meeting was called after “the interim city attorney was overheard cursing the mayor in chambers following a city council meeting.”

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The City Council held its regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday. A video recording of the meeting posted to the city’s YouTube channel does not include footage of the alleged incident.

When reached by phone Thursday afternoon, Mayor Glover said he had no comment.

Stromberg could not be immediately reached for comment.

Stromberg was unanimously appointed to serve as interim city attorney in September 2020 after City Attorney Solomon Ashby was fired without explanation.

The City Council voted in December to delay hiring someone to fill the position so the council could look for more candidates after some of the council members voiced concerns about the lead candidate at the time.

According to Virginian Pilot archives, Councilman Bill Moody told the paper that, at the time, Stromberg was a finalist for the position.

Jessica Nolte, 757-912-1675, jnolte@dailypress.com