Dironna Moore Belton may carry the title of interim Petersburg city manager, but she’s using her authority to shake up the city government.

In her latest move, she terminated Police Chief John I. Dixon III after nearly nine years and brought back a retired veteran of the force, former Maj. William C. Rohde, to temporarily fill the job.

Ms. Belton said publicly that Mr. Dixon’s services “are no longer needed.” She told him June 7 that his time in command of the 110-member sworn force and of the police bureau’s $10 million budget was over.

To critics who might object, the no-nonsense executive made it clear that she is in charge.

“I am responsible for managing the day-to-day operations for the city and that is exactly what I am doing. All of our directors work at the discretion of the acting city manager, and I am exercising that discretion,” Ms. Belton said.

While neither she nor Mr. Dixon provided any detail on what caused the rupture, Ms. Belton said that his departure would allow “a search for leadership that is more in line with the goals and vision that I have for the city.”

Previously chief executive officer of the Petersburg Area Transit Co. that operates buses for the 32,000-resident city, Ms. Belton was tapped in March to run the struggling municipality following Petersburg City Council’s decision to fire then-City Manager William E. Johnson III amid concern about financial management and inaccurate water bills.

The abruptness of Mr. Dixon’s ouster was spotlighted at a meeting of the council a few hours after his termination, when the Southside Virginia Association of Realtors presented an award to the police bureau recognizing its contributions to public safety and quality of life in the city. Mr. Dixon had been expected to attend to accept the award.

A Marine Corps veteran, Mr. Dixon took charge of the bureau in September 2007 following 25 years with the Richmond Police Department, where he rose from patrolman to command of several units as a major.

Along with his work in Petersburg, Mr. Dixon also served as president of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives in 2013 and 2014.

His position brought him a 2013 appointment from President Obama to a national commission on gun violence that Vice President Joe Biden chaired after the slaughter of schoolchildren in Newtown, Conn.

Still, Mr. Dixon has had his controversies. His departure comes amid two ongoing State Police probes into the bureau. One probe concerns the loss of more than $13,000 from a drug case that went missing from the police bureau’s evidence locker. The other probe involves allegations that officers coerced confessions in one or more cases.

The city also is dealing with a lawsuit in which 28 current and former officers claim they were not paid for working overtime.

Mr. Dixon’s successor, Chief Rohde, spent 39 years with the Petersburg force before retiring last September.

In announcing Chief Rohde, Ms. Belton made clear her disappointment with Mr. Dixon.

For example, she stated that the city would continue to work with the State Police “to address patterns of negativity” that continue to dog the police bureau.

Ms. Belton also stated that she expects the interim chief to develop “reforms that will bring greater fairness, independence and transparency to police timekeeping, discipline and accountability processes … (and rebuild trust) between our police and our community.”