Hopewell, Virginia … less than meets the eye

A friend forwarded this website to provide more accurate data on Hopewell, Virginia, the small city on the northwest corner of Prince George County.

http://www.city-data.com/city/Hopewell-Virginia.html

Xena had written that Hopewell was larger in footprint and larger in population than these figures report.  This 10.2 square mile city has 23,000 population as compared to Prince George with 260+ square miles and approximately 37,000 population.

This issue of size arose in a recent post on the relative ability of localities to recruit and retain top-notch employees if residency requirements were adopted.  Hopewell is set to have a public hearing on the matter on Tuesday evening, May 26th.

Immediately at issue is the hiring of a new City Attorney.  The strongest candidate to whom an offer has been made, is a resident of Chesterfield County, another large county contiguous to Hopewell.

For non-Virginians, cities and towns are independent of counties, having their own charters and varying duties and rights to tax and govern their own localities.