The Mineral Town Council discussed two items that spurred controversial debates at its May 11 meeting — a discussion on findings from a state contractor investigation initially submitted last year by council member David Hempstead against the former town manager and a petition headed to the Louisa County Circuit Court to remove Hempstead from office.

At the beginning of the meeting, council members Michelle Covert and Rebecca “Becky” McGehee questioned why an item under old business, “discuss results of the DPOR investigation,” was on the evening’s agenda. Mayor Pam Harlowe responded that this agenda item was necessary because it involved a former town employee.

DPOR finding

In January 2025, Hempstead filed a complaint to the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation (DPOR) regarding W&W LCP, LLC, (W&W) a contracting business that was issued a Class A contractor license in August 2014 with Cean N. Ganoe listed as a Responsible Manager alongside Eric Washington. In the DPOR report of findings, it states that Cean Ganoe also goes by the name of Nicole Washington and that documentation may have a combination of the two names. W&W had a painting and wall covering specialty service.

In his complaint, Hempstead outlines that W&W had renovated a house in the Town of Mineral beginning in early 2024 that was purchased by the Washington’s, and that the house was sold in the early stages of renovation to another person. Additionally, Hempstead stated that W&W constructed a brand-new house on that lot which was then sold in January 2025, operating outside the scope of its contractor license.

During this time, Washington was the Town of Mineral’s Planning and Zoning Officer, who authorizes building permits for construction in the town. With Washington as the co-owner of W&W, Hempstead said there is a “clear conflict of interest.”

In the following months, the discussion from the Mineral Town Council on this complaint centered exclusively on how Hempstead filed it; Hempstead wrote “David E. Hempstead, councilman” under the section where it asks for the name of the person filing the complaint, and “Town of Mineral, VA” under the company name if filing on behalf of a company.

While the council stated that it was Hempstead’s first amendment right to file the complaint, others, like then-Mayor Ron Chapman, argued that it looked like Hempstead was filing the complaint on behalf of the town.

“This concerns me on so many levels…that we have a private resident who is under the impression that a council person is filing complaints against them,” Chapman said. “At what point did that councilperson present to this council that there was a potential issue…it concerns me that we now have a licensing board who is investigating someone who is trying to make improvements to the town, and it appears to me that it was done as a ‘councilman, Town of Mineral.”

The council voted 5-1 on a resolution in April 2025, “clarifying the Town of Mineral’s position on the complaint filed with [DPOR] by a council member on January 30, 2025” stating that the town had no knowledge of Hempstead’s intention to file and that it denounces his action. Hempstead was the dissenting vote, with council members Covert, Mc-Gehee, Bernice Kube, Olivia McCarthy, and JoAnna Von Arb voting “yes.”

In the report of findings from DPOR, it states that, “ documents indicate that Hempstead is a Councilman for the Town of Mineral; however, it was made clear during the investigations that he was filing the complaint as an individual and not on behalf of the Town Council.”

The report of findings indicated that W&W’s license was issued in 2014 with the painting and wall covering specialty service and that the following acts are prohibited – “practicing in a classification, specialty service, or class of license for which the contractor is not licensed.”

In February 2024, the Washington’s purchased 611 Mineral Avenue. The property was subdivided to create 618 and 620 St. Marys Avenue at the backside of the original property. 620 St. Marys Avenue was later sold.

In February 2025, Eric Washington signed a Development Permit Application to Louisa County for a New Single-family Dwelling at 618 St. Marys Avenue in Mineral. The contractor information sheet lists W&W as the contractor for the project.

Two months later, the County of Louisa issued a residential building permit for a new single-family dwelling to be located on the same property, with W&W listed as the contractor and Eric Washington signing the permit. In the report of findings, it states that Nicole Washington, as one of the owners of the properties, believed they were allowed to build the houses and that this matter falls under an exemption regarding having a thirdparty purchaser. The finding was that “W&W practiced in a license classification and/ or specialty service for which W&W was not licensed.”

In the consent order which was signed by Eric Washington on March 3, 2026, it states that W&W acknowledges an understanding of the charges and admissions to the violation as outlined in the Report of Findings, and that W&W LCPconsents to monetary penalties of $1,950 and a twoyear probation of its license. Further, W&W agrees to have a member of Responsible Management successfully complete a board-approved remedial education class.

After giving a brief overview of the report of findings, Hempstead relayed that Michelle Gowdy, the Executive Director of the Virginia Municipal League (VML), “strongly suggests” that all members of council take an online class to learn more about conflict of interest.

Hempstead asked the town to clear the resolution that clarified the Town of Mineral was not involved in Hempstead’s initial complaint, since the DPOR report of findings stated that he did not file on behalf of the town; Covert responded that the resolution was not about Hempstead, but was to say that no member of council could represent themselves as representing the entirety of council unless the entirety of council conducted a vote. The council did not make a vote on this matter.

In an interview after the meeting, Hempstead explained his rationale for the initial DPOR complaint.

“I don’t really care one way or the other [what the final finding was],” Hempstead said. “I filed a complaint because I did commercial construction, managed millions of dollars worth of work for 40 years and I knew that [Washington] was breaking the law…all I was doing was reporting something that was illegal. Washington is guilty of conflict of interest…I really don’t care one way or the other if DPOR came back and exonerated them, I’d be fine, because all I wanted to do was make someone who had the ability to look at what contractors are doing and say whether it’s right or wrong.”

Petition to remove Hempstead

Before adjournment, Covert informed the council that a petition has been filed with the Louisa County Circuit Court seeking to remove Hempstead from office.

In a follow-up interview with The Central Virginian, both Covert and McGehee shared that a group of voters in the Town of Mineral has filed a petition requesting judicial review of Hempstead’s conduct as a council member.

According to Code of Virginia § 24.2-233, “Removal of elected and certain appointed officers by courts,” a circuit court may remove an elected official for “neglect of a clear, ministerial duty of the office, misuse of the office, or incompetence in the performance of the duties.”

The petition must be signed by a number of registered voters who reside within the jurisdiction of the officer equal to 10 percent of the total number of votes cast at the last election for the office that the officer holds.

Covert clarified that the petition does not remove an official and that the petition is handled by the General Registrar, the Commonwealth’s Attorney, and the Circuit Court, and that only the Circuit Court may remove or suspend an elected official after reviewing the evidence and hearing from all parties.

In the petition, several allegations were cited as evidence of neglect of duty and misuse of office, including that Hempstead leaked town documents marked “attorney/client privilege, do not disseminate” to The Central Virginian newspaper, shared his official town email account with his spouse, has conducted water and sewer committee meetings in violation of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), and that Hempstead has consistently disrupted town meetings and verbally attacked employees and council members, specifically citing a February 2026 meeting where Hempstead called McGehee a “bat sh*t crazy b*itch,” among other perceived transgressions.

McGehee and Covert cited the April town council meeting as an example of his behavior and reason for the petition. During that meeting, a discussion was had on the boil water advisory procedure. While both Hempstead and Harlowe felt that proper procedure was followed to alert impacted residents of the advisory, McGehee felt that the council should have been better informed. When Hempstead started to explain the rationale for the process, McGehee interjected and Hempstead loudly told her to “shut up.” Covert stated that his aggression was inappropriate and that Harlowe was not controlling the meeting; discussion then shifted to another topic.

Later that meeting, a resident and part-time town employee Tony Henshaw, seemingly took issue with Hempstead’s behavior toward the other council members.

“ This man right here [Hempstead] is out of line. He is rude, obnoxious…bullying, and intimidating, and the council needs to vote to take him off,” Henshaw said. “This is a meeting, not a dog and pony show.”

Hempstead stood up and addressed Henshaw. “Don’t like it? Take me out! Go ahead.”

McGehee reflected on last month’s meeting.

“He’s bullying us and I’m tired of it,” McGehee said. “Every meeting I go to, he scares me — he actually scares me…Mayor [Harlowe] needs to stop him and she allows him to be disruptive and a bully to us. Last month, Tony Henshaw took it upon himself and I’m proud of him. We go through this every daggone month and it’s gotten ridiculous. I’m here for the people of the town. I’m not here to be abused.”

Covert agreed. “He stops the progress of doing town business. He is able to stop everything with his violent outburst. We either end the meeting or the subject gets changed,” Covert said. “He is controlling the narrative by being aggressive toward us and that’s not fair. I felt relief last month when the citizens stood up because I do feel fear. I sit close to [Hempstead] and if these are behaviors he is comfortable doing when he knows he is being videotaped, what is it he will do when he loses control? He has very little self-control.”

In the November 2025 general election for the Town of Mineral, Hempstead received 86 votes out of 314 total voters. Covert said that 31 individuals in the Town of Mineral signed the petition to remove Hempstead, and that while she was unsure if they needed 10% of total voters or 10% of those who voted for Hempstead to properly move forward with the removal, the 31 signers of the petition meets the criteria either way.

In an interview after the meeting, Hempstead dismissed the claim that he engages in disruptive and aggressive behavior during council meetings.

“They started calling me abusive when I started asking questions about the damn trailer park down here,” Hempstead said, referring to a controversial 14-lot development that sparked debate roughly when he first started office.

Applications for Town Manager

The Town of Mineral is still looking for a new Town Manager after Washington was fired in January of this year. Councilmember Bernice Kube, who is on the town personnel committee, shared that there have been 21 applications for the position.

“I will get with [personnel committee member Afton Von Tye] and go over those, and then we will weed them out and bring them to council,” Kube said, adding they likely will not be planning on hiring a town manager until after the town budget has been approved.