VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — For the second time in as many months, a member of Virginia Beach's city council is stepping down.
Virginia Beach Vice Mayor Jim Wood is resigning from the city council to take on a new role in the private sector. He said this new position will take up too much of his time to continue his work in public service.
“I was approached by a head hunter -- executive recruiter about a position -- working with local governments and school systems in the Mid-Atlantic,” Wood said. “It just seemed to be a very good opportunity that I couldn’t pass up."
Wood said his desire to tender his resignation has been “brewing for about a month” after the recruiter approached him about a job opportunity with the international corporation, Siemens.
Wood said because of the traveling and work involved with this new position, there’s no way he would have been able to handle both his duties with city council and the demands of his new job.
“It’s a lot of time being on council and it’s a lot more time being vice mayor so from my perspective... there’s just no way I could do both," he said.
But Wood added, he had already decided he was not going to run for city council again, next year.
“Five terms is a lot and it was just time to move on," Wood said. “After 19 years, I need to look out for the needs of my family.”
So what happens to city council now?
By law, city council has to appoint a new person within 30 days to fill Wood’s vacant seat. But prior to that, it will appoint someone else to be vice mayor.
“And the council will move one," Wood said. "No one is irreplaceable, certainly not me. And a fresh set of eyes and a new perspective is certainly going to be good.”
Councilman Aaron Rouse hoped to be the person appointed as the city's next vice mayor. Rouse tweeted a copy of a letter in which he expressed the desire Tuesday.
The letter said, in part:
I have been encouraged by friends and neighbors to pursue the appointment of Vice Mayor and after consideration with colleagues, business community, and faith leaders/community leaders, and of course, my family, I would like to take this opportunity to seek the support of my colleagues on the City Council to serve Virginia Beach as the next Vice Mayor. It would be an honor to serve our community in this capacity and help navigate Virginia Beach through these challenging times.
Wood said his departure is “unrelated” to the ongoing federal voting rights litigation.
His resignation is effective September 1, 2021.
In July, Councilwoman Jessica Abbott stepped down due to health reasons. City council selected Rocky Holcomb to finish out Abbott's term.