The Rhino’s John Hammer on City Manager Mitchell Johnson’s bravery as the Greensboro City Council debated whether or not to fire him:
Mayor Johnson told the council that Mitch Johnson had given the council permission to discuss his personnel file in open session. Once again, the acting city attorney should have warned the council it would still be illegal and leave the city open to a lawsuit, but she did not.
The acting city attorney would be Becky Jo Peterson-Buie. If you remember, Peterson-Buie got into it with City Council member Mike Barber over parliamentary procedure, standing Barber down that calling the question ended all debate despite the fact that Barber was holding a sheet from the city’s legal department saying it required a second and a two-thirds majority.
Hammer goes on:
Peterson-Buie has demonstrated time and again at City Council meetings that she had no understanding of parliamentary procedure. In any normal administration she would be fired or at least transferred to duties that did not require her to make rulings on parliamentary procedure.
Again, I find it hard to believe that Mitchell Johnson didn’t know it would be illegal to discuss his personnel file in open session. I’ve accused Johnson of grandstanding before, so is it unreasonable to assume he was taking advantage of our gullible mayor and city attorney to make himself look better?
