COURTHOUSE — The City Council selected three finalists to serve as a temporary appointee in the Bayside District following the recent death of City Councilmember Louis Jones, a longtime member of the council who twice served as mayor.
The City Council narrowed nine candidates down to three on Tuesday, July 12. The city on Wednesday, July 13, announced the finalists as Delceno Miles, a public relations executive and former School Board member who lives in Cypress Point, Ronald Ripley, a real estate executive who served on the Planning Commission and lives in Thoroughgood, and Charlotte Zito, an English teacher who serves on the 5/31 memorial committee and lives in Cypress Point.
Jones died in June while campaigning for the District 8 seat on the council under the new 10-district local voting system. An appointee will finish a term that ends in December. They must live within the Bayside District under the former voting system. None of the finalists are candidates for the new District 8.
The council plans to hold public interviews with the finalists at the new City Hall building at 2 p.m., Tuesday, Aug. 2. Public comment will be heard during a meeting at 2 p.m., Tuesday, Aug. 9.
“Councilman Jones was a tremendous public servant who selflessly gave so much of himself to ensure Virginia Beach remains a wonderful place to call home,” Miles wrote in a Wednesday, July 6, letter seeking the appointment. “It is my intention in that spirit to honor Councilman Jones’ legacy to continue to serve my hometown.”
Miles grew up here and wrote in her letter that her education in city schools prepared her to attend Stanford University on a full scholarship and later earn a master’s degree at Regent University. For 33 years, she has served as president and chief executive officer of The Miles Agency, a public relations and marketing firm, and she taught for several years at Regent University.
Miles discussed her pride in her mother, Evelyn Miles, a single mom and a cook who raised three children. “She’s my model, my hero,” said Miles, who grew up in the Gracetown community. “She rarely missed a game or anything we were involved in. … I try every day to make her proud.”
Miles serves as a member of the city Resort Advisory Commission, and other public service work includes appointments to the Virginia Beach Process Improvement Steering Committee and the Minority Business Council. She chaired the latter from 2008 to 2010. Miles has served with several professional, community and educational organizations. These include the Christopher Newport University Board of Visitors, the Hampton Roads Workforce Board and the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce.
Miles held public office with the Virginia Beach School Board in the mid-1990s, representing the former Blackwater Borough and serving as the board’s vice chairperson.
During an interview, she said she means to “put the work in” and be part of the team on council. She said she would continue to advocate for the Burton Station community, as Jones did, and focus on issues such as implementing the projects in the flood mitigation referendum backed by city voters.
Miles is the current president of Virginia Beach Vision, a position she would resign if appointed. Additionally, The Miles Agency has done city work, and Miles said she would resign her involvement in city projects, including work with the city’s sea level rise strategy. “Service is more important than finance right now,” she said.
Ripley was born in Norfolk and has lived for 35 years within the Bayside District. He is president of Ripley Heatwole Company, Inc., a Virginia Beach business that develops, owns and manages multifamily communities, and vice president of RH Builders, Inc., which constructs multifamily housing.
Ripley’s community service includes work with the city wetlands and housing advisory boards, and with the Old Dominion University board of visitors from 2012 to 2016, including two years as rector. He is an ODU graduate, and he also served on the ODU alumni board. He was twice the president of the Hampton Roads Realtors Association, served as president of the Society of Real Estate Appraisers Chapter and held an appointment to the state open space advisory board. And he is a past president of the Central Business District Association.
In a letter, Ripley wrote he had been a “staunch political supporter” of Jones, who recommended him as the district representative to the Planning Commission. Ripley served the commission for 20 years, including as chairperson in 2001 and 2002, when the city updated its comprehensive plan, a key land-use policy document.
“Above all,” Ripley wrote in his Friday, July 8, letter, “I believe the experience gained during my term of service might be of benefit to the council during this short-term appointment. With historic knowledge on most all planning matters for the last two decades, there should be little or no problem getting up to speed on current issues.”
Ripley wrote that he holds no political ambition, but aims to provide service to the city through the end of the year.
“The big thing is trying to fill it out for Louis Jones,” Ripley said during an interview on Wednesday, July 13, “which is a big task right there.”
He said he could help the council with his experience and knowledge of issues while understanding that the appointee will not be in this role for long. “I think you’ve got to go into the job like they all should, the members of City Council, with a good vision for the city and a broad understanding of what it takes to bring it to another level,” he said.
“I think that you can help,” he added. “I think you can be collaborative.”
Zito moved to Virginia Beach, where her father grew up, in 1986 when she was in first grade. She studied at University of Virginia before returning to Hampton Roads to earn her master’s degree at Old Dominion University. She began teaching English at Norfolk Academy in 2003.
She believes in service and has volunteered with the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Holocaust Commission and serves as chairperson of the community advisory board to WHRO. On Wednesday, July 13, she said a conversation with City Councilmember Michael Berlucchi encouraged her to seek city service positions, leading to work with the 5/31 Memorial Commission.
She found the work of seeking to help memorialize those lost in and affected by the May 31, 2019, mass shooting in Virginia Beach both difficult and rewarding.
“I’ve just felt so inspired seeing the amazing work so many people do in the city of Virginia Beach,” Zito said, adding that she is saddened by the tragedy but inspired by the service of so many people. “That inspired me to want to serve further.”
“I want to contribute my energy to ensuring that the city remains safe, economically strong, beautiful and vibrant,” she wrote on Tuesday, June 28, in a letter seeking the appointment. Zito wrote that Jones had served the city for much of her life, and she grew up with two of his granddaughters. She wrote that she believes “I can continue his legacy of care and service in the city I love and have called home for most of my life.”
“When Mr. Jones passed,” she told The Independent News, “I looked at this opportunity as a way to serve and to learn, too, about the council and contribute my voice at a time that seems important.”
She said priorities for the district include the greening and improvement of neighborhoods, better access to parks and recreation and continuing to bring attention to areas where the city can invest in expanding the workforce.
Biographical and other information about the three finalists for the appointment is available online at the city website. Previous news coverage about the life of Jones and local elections is available at this link.
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