Monday’s Portsmouth City Manager’s Conference was supposed to be a routine meeting where officials decide what items will be on the Portsmouth City Council agenda. Instead, it turned into a political cage match featuring heated debates, frustrated sighs, and some very pointed exchanges, with First Ward Councilman Sean Dunne right in the middle of it all.
Parking Lot Drama
Dunne opened with a proposal to force private parking lot owners to post bigger, clearer signs explaining not just that cars could be towed, but also which company would do the towing and how drivers could get their vehicles back. He argued it’s standard in other cities and could prevent angry late-night phone calls, pointing to an incident at River Days where a woman claimed she hadn’t seen the signs.
Police Chief Debby Brewer wasn’t buying it, noting the woman’s car was returned the same night after police were notified. Other council members bristled at the idea of pushing more costs onto business owners. In the end, Dunne stood alone, the only vote in favor of moving the idea forward.
Mural Mess
Next up: public art. Dunne called for paying artist April Deacons $500 for mural renderings he says were used by the Trillium Project without compensation, along with a public apology. Councilwoman Lyvette Mosely admitted she hadn’t realized the design she approved for the sunflower-themed mural came from Deacons and offered a personal apology, but insisted the problem lay with Trillium, not City Council.
Despite the finger-pointing, the item was pushed forward for council discussion, though Councilman Andy Cole worried the drama could scare off future artists.
Charter Showdown
The real fireworks came when Dunne accused the city of ignoring its charter by bypassing the planning commission on public projects like skate park changes. Solicitor John Haas immediately bristled. His voice rising, Haas argued it would be “silly” for the city to consult itself on its own projects, and he flatly accused Dunne of cherry-picking language from the charter.
Mayor Charlotte Gordon backed him up, saying, “If it’s our land and our money, we don’t kick it back down to a lower planning commission.” Both she and Haas looked visibly irritated as Dunne dug in his heels. The rest of council decided to take no action, with Cole suggesting the meeting wasn’t the place for a legal showdown. Dunne, once again, was the lone vote to keep the matter alive.
The Davis Resolution
Finally, Dunne pushed a resolution calling for indicted Scioto County Commissioner Bryan Davis to resign, noting both political parties and Davis’ own colleagues had already demanded it. While some nodded at his concerns, the support stopped there.
Mosely dismissed the resolution as toothless symbolism. Cole said he’d wait to see if Davis was convicted. And Gordon, clearly exasperated, leaned on process: “Democracies have processes. Do they work as quickly as we want? No.” The resolution was dead on arrival.
Context: A Council Divided
The conference underscored Dunne’s increasingly lonely position on council. Still embroiled in a lawsuit against his colleagues over alleged Sunshine Law violations tied to his ouster as mayor, Dunne has continued to cast himself as a watchdog for transparency. But his proposals on Monday, from parking lot signs to public art to county politics, were met with shrugs, rolled eyes, or outright frustration from his peers and the city solicitor.
For Portsmouth, it was another night of more heat than light at City Hall.
