Union claims Petersburg violated state FOIA with Cordish choice, threatens to sue the city
PETERSBURG – The hospitality union Unite Here Local 25 said it plans to sue the city of Petersburg over its choice of The Cordish Companies as vendor for the upcoming casino referendum initiative, claiming the choice violated Virginia’s transparency laws when City Council discussed in closed session, then later voted in open session on April 24 to choose Cordish.
In a statement Tuesday, the union put Petersburg on notice to make public all of the documents and correspondence leading up to and including the discussion and vote.
“The City of Petersburg’s actions show a shocking disregard for the law and democratic norms. Petersburg had begun a competitive RFP process that should have proceeded with transparency and fairness,” UH25 political director Sam Epps said in a statement released Tuesday morning by the union. “Instead, City Council apparently abused a closed session to discuss the selection of the casino operator. Residents of Petersburg have the right to open governance – a right the City Council doesn’t seem to respect.”
Added Paul Schwalb, the union’s executive secretary-treasurer, “A billion-dollar development project cannot be decided in secrecy. Working people in Petersburg deserve transparency, especially about a project of this size and importance. Community members have the right to see how their elected officials are reaching this decision and if their best interests are being upheld.”
The union is asking the city to turn over all copies of documents and correspondence related to the selection of Cordish, Petersburg’s partner in its unsuccessful 2023 legislative bid, as part of Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act. If that is not done, the lawsuit will be filed.
“Unite Here believes — and will demonstrate — that the City Council’s violations of VFOIA were willfully and knowingly made,” Paul More, the union’s lawyer, wrote in an April 29 letter addressed to all City Council members, City Manager March Altman and City Attorney Tony Williams.
News of the potential lawsuit was no big surprise. Last year at the General Assembly, Unite Here vehemently opposed Petersburg’s request to be the fifth casino-host city in Virginia because of the partnership with Cordish. Unite Here claims that Cordish’s business practices are not conducive to what it says should be proper union representation among hotel, casino and entertainment-venue workers.
Requests for comment from the city about the union letter were not immediately returned.
Basis for the complaint
Unite Here’s threat to sue is not over any union matter. Instead, it attacks council’s unanimous choice for Cordish based on a perceived lack of public transparency in announcing the decision.
“On April 24, 2024, the City Council held an unlawful closed door session at which the Council: (1) discussed a consultant’s report on Request for Proposals #58853—Destination Resort, Real Estate Development, Retail, Event Venue, Casino Development and Operation; (2) decided to withdraw the long-planned RFP and rescind its previous decision that Bally’s Corporation would be the preferred casino gaming operator; and (3) decided that The Cordish Companies would instead be the preferred casino gaming operator,” More’s six-page letter read. “The City’s notice of the April 24 closed session meeting did not inform the public that any of these subjects would be discussed. Nor are these subjects proper for a closed session meeting. Under clear legal precedent, these actions deprived the residents of Petersburg and the Commonwealth of the transparency guaranteed to them under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act.”
The letter cites a 2020 Virginia Supreme Court ruling on a case involving the removal four years earlier of library board members by the Smyth County Board of Supervisors. The ruling said that both the notice of the closed meeting for the discussion and the discussion of a prepared report on the removal violated FOIA because neither provided enough specificity to let the public know what business or action was being considered.
In Petersburg’s April 24 meeting, council members met with their longtime financial advisors Davenport & Co to talk about a report the firm provided that informally recommended Cordish but encouraged council to ask questions of all five vendors before Davenport could offer “a firm and final recommendation” on whom council should choose. The resolution choosing Cordish also canceled the request for proposal it issued earlier this year for bids on the casino development.
“The City Council’s discussion of the Davenport Report, rescinding the RFP, and selecting Cordish as the preferred casino gaming operator during the April 24 closed session meeting violated FOIA for the same reasons” as the Smyth County ruling, More said in his letter.
Petersburg claimed in that resolution that it had been put “under duress” by state Sen. Lashrecse Aird, D-Petersburg, to choose Bally’s or face having the host-city designation withdrawn. Bally’s has labor agreements in place with UH25.
Aird, who sponsored the legislation putting Petersburg in the casino business if city voters approved a November 2024 referendum, blasted council over the duress claim, saying no pressure was applied in Bally’s favor. Her statement, however, did not specifically address Petersburg’s allegation that she or a member of her staff drafted the letter of intent to Bally’s, which Altman signed but never sent to Bally’s.
Unite Here is the world’s largest hospitality-workers union with 100,000 members across the U.S. and Canada. In Virginia, it represents about 8,000 workers.
City Council has called a special closed-session meeting for 4 p.m. Wednesday to discuss legal matters surrounding the Virginia code section for host cities choosing casino vendors. UH25’s letter is expected to be brought up then.
Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is an award-winning journalist who covers breaking news, government and politics. Reach him at batkinson@progress-index.com or on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @BAtkinson_PI.
This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Hospitality union says it will sue Petersburg over casino choice
