The expulsion hearing for the longtime mayor of Haysi, charged in September with fraud and embezzlement, was postponed Monday night and will be rescheduled for after his criminal court hearing on Nov. 12.
The Haysi Town Council met Monday night and agreed to defer an expulsion hearing that would have removed Yates from his mayoral seat. The decision was made because of a letter the town attorney received from Yates’ court-appointed lawyer about an hour before the meeting.
The letter was drafted by attorney Stuart Collins, who had contacted town attorney Allison Mullins on Oct. 16, indicating he was only representing Yates on criminal proceedings, not town issues. But on Monday he emailed a statement on behalf of Yates to Mullins.
“That position statement is a lengthy recitation of asking the town to consider deferring [the hearing] based on certain grounds,” Mullins said during the meeting, after the council returned from closed session. “Collins indicated he … did the letter as a favor.”
In an interview after the meeting, Mullins said the letter detailed a number of legal issues related to the expulsion hearing and requested that the hearing be deferred. Yates was invited to appear before the town council virtually or through his attorney for the hearing, but he did not do so.
The issues raised in the letter include interpretation of the town’s charter, the council providing adequate notice to Yates ahead of the hearing and his Fifth Amendment rights.
Specifically, the town charter states that a three-fourths vote of the council can remove a member, and the letter questioned how many votes would be required since Yates would be included as a member of the council, Mullins said. All six council members voted to move forward with the process during the regular meeting on Oct. 6, Vice Mayor Debbie Wood told Cardinal News.
It also said that the town did not give enough detail on the allegations that would be addressed in the hearing and said that if Yates were to give testimony, he might incriminate himself.
“We felt, in fairness to Mr. Yates, we should defer the hearing so we could have the opportunity to address the concerns he raised,” Mullins said.
She said the council hopes that the issue will resolve itself on Nov. 12. Though they don’t know what the special prosecutor has in mind for the hearing, which is scheduled as a plea review, they hope it includes his removal. Phillp Foy, the special prosecutor from Tazewell County, said in an email that he cannot discuss ongoing plea negotiations.
Mullins said the council is prepared to proceed with his removal if it does not come through the criminal proceedings and remains in a holding pattern until then.
The 72-year-old mayor was arrested Sept. 17 on eight fraud and embezzlement charges, including felony charges of embezzlement, use of public assets for personal benefit, credit card fraud, receiving goods obtained through credit card fraud and two counts of credit card theft.
Haysi is a small town of about 500 people in Dickenson County, and Yates has served as mayor since 2008. Wood told Cardinal News the council noticed changes in his behavior over the last year and took several steps to tighten their finances. They asked for the Virginia State Police investigation that led to the mayor’s arrest, which is ongoing, and called on him to resign multiple times since January, she said.
Mullins said on Monday that at this point, Yates is no longer receiving payment as mayor and the council has taken action that allows it to conduct town business.
“We’ve not just been sitting around. We were hoping we could move forward tonight, but we do understand Mr. Yates … has the right to be heard,” she said.
A formal motion passed for the deferral as the council convened around Yates’ name plate, still sitting on the meeting table.
