Attorney: ‘Failure of city leadership' in Mt. Trashmore carnival closure
Specifically, Attorney Kevin Martingayle said he is referring to the fact that the city required the operator have a certain number of off-duty police and sheriff's deputies to work the event before making sure they had the officers to fill those roles.
'It's a failure on the part of the people who are involved in making the demands for the security plan, refusing to considering the alternatives, and then canceling it,' Martingayle said. 'That is a failure, and everybody involved in that should be held accountable.'
City orders Mt. Trashmore Carnival to close due to public safety staffing shortages
Martingayle's client is Joel 'Jody' Cadwell, owner National Events Management Service. Cadwell founded and produced the Mount Trashmore Summer Carnival for 35 years.
Initially set to run from the park's parking lot May 23 until June 17 excluding Wednesdays, on Sunday, May 25, Cadwell received notice to 'cease operations.'
Virginia Beach City Manager Patrick Duhaney told City Council members that same day that the Virginia Beach Sheriff Office and Virginia Beach Police Department could not provide the number of personnel required by the agreed-upon security plan, thus 'out of an abundance of caution' the event was canceled.
While Cadwell agreed to a more robust safety plan in light of the homicide of Jeyani Upshur, 15, one year earlier not far from the carnival gates, Martingayle said at no time was his client advised there could be a staffing issue.
Cadwell signed the service agreement with the city May 14, less than two weeks before the carnival started.
'It's incumbent upon the city in the sheriff's department to say when they've got a manpower problem, and they could not possibly have just figured that out a few days before the carnival opened,' Martingayle said. 'I mean, come on. That just defies common sense. And if that's actually what happened, then they need to go back and they need to redo all of their planning and all of their communications, because you know what? That's just not good enough. It is really poor performance.'
The city uses a program called 'Off Duty Management' where officers can sign up for extra work, with their pay coming from the event organizers.
Sheriff Rocky Holcomb initially said not enough deputies signed up to provide the coverage inside of the event. The plan called for nine to 14 deputies to be stationed inside the carnival footprint.
Toni Guagenti, a spokesperson for Holcomb, said Monday that the sheriff was able to essentially rally deputies to work the event on the first weekend, but came to a decision he could not continue to make the effort due to lack of support.
In a statement last week, Duhaney characterized the staffing as 'unanticipated.'
Duhaney also explained why he rejected Cadwell's proposal to hire private security in place off off-duty law enforcement officers.
'An event of this size and scope requires public law enforcement officers with the authority to enforce laws, whereas private security alone has limited powers,' Duhaney said.
Martingayle is of the impression the carnival 'just wasn't a priority item for the city.'
'We know from watching other events that you often will have a blend of police officers, sheriff's deputies and private security,' Martingayle said. 'So why wasn't that good enough in this instance? We even offered, if they were short an officer or a deputy, we would replace each missing one with two certified private security officers. Division of Criminal Justice Services, they have to go through a certification process. They have a lot of powers that are outlined in the Code of Virginia.'
Martingayle said it is now too late for this year's carnival. The 22 rides, concessions and games from Florida-based Deggeller Attractions were removed from the lot at Mount Trashmore over the weekend and is now being stored at the Virginia Beach Sportsplex.
'I can tell you that if I had an event that I was going to bring to the city of Virginia Beach, where I had to submit a security plan and there's any use of public resources such as sheriff's deputies and police officers, I would be very nervous,' Martingayle said. 'I'd be very nervous about investing my time, money and effort into such a thing, knowing that at any point they could simply say we don't have enough people available.'
While Martingayle couldn't say if he plans to pursue legal action against the city, he said his number one goal is making sure this doesn't happen again.
'We've got to do better as a city if we want to be a true destination for different kinds of entertainment events,' Martingayle said. 'We have to make sure that we don't fall short and cause something to fail. That's a failure of city leadership as far as I'm concerned.'
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