Three weeks after Bristol City Council member Michael Pollard issued an apology for lying about city employees, including City Manager Randy Eads, and violating the council’s code of ethics, his four fellow members voted to publicly censure him Tuesday night.
Mayor Becky Nave said the council had no other option.
“This is not the first incident where council member Michael Pollard has acted in a manner detrimental to the trust and integrity of our city, despite prior warnings,” she said. “Mr. Pollard has admitted to making false statements about city staff with the intention of damaging their reputations. These actions are deeply concerning and undermine the confidence we as a governing body must have in one another to serve our community effectively.”
The mayor, who appeared at the meeting remotely from Richmond, noted that Pollard had issued a public apology. She added that a number of residents have called for his resignation. Since he has chosen not to resign, a public censure “is the next step in the process,” she said.
Vice Mayor Jake Holmes said that according to Virginia law, a public censure is a formal statement of disapproval issued by an authoritative body, and it’s considered a disciplinary action.
“There is no real bite to this. There is no punishment. There’s no ding from this other than it is a public statement that there are issues here,” he said.
Holmes said Eads wasn’t the only city employee that Pollard has lied about, and he added that city workers are hardworking, don’t make enough money and deserve better.
His comments were echoed by council member Neal Osborne.
Pollard, who was elected in November 2022, only spoke when Holmes asked him if the statements made in the apology were true, and he said they were. He abstained from the vote.
On Jan. 6, Pollard issued a public apology on Facebook for “publicly criticizing and lying” about city employees, including Eads. Pollard also admitted in the Facebook post that he had breached the council’s code of ethics, “despite multiple warnings in closed meetings with the full Council,” and had shared information that had been shared privately with him.
He did not detail what he lied about, but did say that he sent a private Facebook message to a resident that “contained numerous falsehoods” about Eads, which violated the code of conduct.
Four days earlier, Pollard voted against Eads’ reappointment as city manager and city attorney, saying he didn’t think both jobs should be held by one person.
Two days after that reorganizational meeting, Eads sent Pollard a Virginia Freedom of Information Act request seeking any email, text message, social media post, notes or documents, as well as audio or video recordings, that mention Eads or his job performance since January 2023, when Pollard took office.
Pollard said that Eads will not require him to respond to the FOIA request based on his apology and admissions.
Three residents spoke in support of Pollard, saying he is a good man who apologized for his mistakes.
“I’ve never known Michael to be anything less than a gentleman of integrity for the many years that I’ve known him,” said the Rev. Todd Crusenberry, pastor of the church Pollard attends.
A fourth resident, the Rev. Jackie Nophlin, also noted Pollard’s apology and encouraged council members to put the matter behind them and move forward with city business.
