Purcellville Attorney on Leave Amid Conflict with Mayor

BY HANNA PAMPALONI hpampaloni@loudounnow.com

The Purcellville Town Council has been receiving legal advice from a standin attorney, while long-tenured Town Attorney Sally Hankins has been absent from meetings.

Interim Manager John Anzivino said that Hankins is on leave. Loudoun Now reached out to Mayor Stanley J. Milan regarding Hankins’ absence but received no response.

Hankins’ leave comes after a contentious first few months between the council and staff, including the termination of Town Manager David Mekarski and the resignation of Zoning Administrator Don Dooley.

February was marked with heated exchanges between Milan and Hankins surrounding the Town Council’s initial decision to forego a special election in November for a vacant council seat despite advice from Hankins that they were required to hold a special election.

The tension reached a height at a Feb. 14 meeting, when the council was faced with the option of voting to hold a special election or not after Council Members Erin Rayner and Mary Jane Williams filed a Writ of Mandamus against their fellow council members alleging they willfully disregarded their statutory duty.

Milan said that Hankins had given him and Council Member Carol Luke conflicting advice in a meeting in her office claiming that she could argue the issue either way.

Hankins maintained that she had given consistent legal advice to the council regarding the issue for the council to hold the special election adding, “I also heard Ms. Luke lean over in her chair to you and say, ‘Stan, we just need to have a special election’ in that same meeting that we had.”

“You can remember what she said but you can’t remember what you said?” Milan responded.

“I can,” Hankins responded. “I am telling you that I said I would look into it, and I did.”

When asked by Milan what the risks would be if they challenged the suit, she said she could not offer individual members of the council personal legal advice because they were being sued personally, to which Milan responded, “how convenient.”

She added that the council as a whole was being sued in addition to the specified individual members of the council.

“You, personally, would have to get your own legal counsel. The town does not pay