Longtime Bristol City Manager Randy Eads is leaving the job to serve as general counsel for state Attorney General-elect Jay Jones.
Eads, who has served as city manager and attorney for nine years, said Monday he will start the job on Saturday, when Jones will be sworn in.
“I’m excited about working for Attorney General Jay Jones and his administration and serving the citizens of the commonwealth of Virginia,” Eads said shortly after his hiring was announced by Jones in a news release.
Initially, he will work on the attorney general’s opinions, as well as on Virginia Freedom of Information Act requests, said Eads, a native and resident of Abingdon.
He said he will work with Jones on his agenda “to make sure that Virginians have every opportunity … to be represented in the state well and make sure everybody has equal access to justice.”
During a called city council meeting Monday night, after meeting in closed session for about two hours, Mayor Jake Holmes announced that Assistant City Manager Tamrya Spradlin will serve as interim city manager beginning at 5 p.m. Wednesday, per the city code. Eads’ last day will be Wednesday.
Spradlin was appointed assistant city manager in May 2023 after serving as chief financial officer for more than five years. She has more than 23 years of experience in local government and is a licensed certified public accountant, according to the city’s website.
Holmes added that the job advertisement for city manager will be posted soon. No details about the search were mentioned.
On Monday afternoon, Vice Mayor Neal Osborne said that the council was informed Sunday that Eads is taking a new job. He said it will be difficult to replace Eads because he has been a hands-on leader who has filled two top roles.
Osborne said he thinks the city will need to replace Eads with both a full-time city manager and a full-time attorney.
At the beginning of the meeting Monday night, several council members congratulated Eads on his new job and thanked him for his contributions. Council member Becky Nave said Eads is definitely leaving the city in better shape than he found it.
Eads has taken the lead on a number of projects while in the Bristol job, including trying to fix significant odor issues at the city’s closed landfill, which he said has been his biggest challenge.
The landfill work will continue for years, he said. So far, the city has invested about $32 million on landfill-related projects, while future landfill closing and compliance costs are expected to total an additional $79 million, he said.
Those costs don’t include ongoing operating expenses or professional services, Eads said. During the upcoming state budget cycle, the city has requested $5 million from the state to assist with those costs, the city manager said.
Eads helped bring the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino to Bristol and worked to increase the city’s credit rating.
Bringing baseball back to Bristol was also big for the city, he added. Last August, Eads announced the construction of a multiuse baseball stadium, which will bring the Appalachian League’s Bristol State Liners back to the city. The team earlier announced it was moving to Bristol, Tennessee, where a new baseball facility was promised. But it never materialized.
Osborne said Eads has done a lot for Bristol and agreed that the work the city manager did to increase the city’s credit rating was a huge accomplishment that doesn’t get as much attention as other successes. In 2017, the city was identified as the most fiscally distressed locality in the state by the Virginia Auditor of Public Accounts, due in large part to its high level of debt.
Eads said he will miss the city, especially its dedicated employees, whom he said city residents are lucky to have.
He and Osborne said the city will now have an ally in the attorney general’s office.
Prior to serving as city manager/attorney, Eads practiced law with his father in Abingdon.
He earned his law degree from Mississippi College School of Law and holds bachelor’s degrees in history from the Virginia Military Institute and in economics from the University of Tennessee. He is licensed to practice law in Virginia, Tennessee and Mississippi.
In 2025, Eads was named a Leader in the Law by Virginia Lawyers Weekly. The award recognizes attorneys for outstanding contributions to the legal profession and leadership within the Virginia legal community.