JENNINGS, Mo. (KMOV) – An emergency meeting held by the Jennings City Council was marred by chaos and dysfunction Friday night.
Council called the emergency meeting after several city employees were fired and some resigned. Councilmember Nadia Quinn cited the possibility of legal action being taken against the city for the firings.
Mayor Gary Johnson held a press conference earlier Friday afternoon to address the firings and resignations, which included the city clerk, the interim finance director, the human resources administrator and the legal consultant.
“Our annual budget is not complete,” Mayor Johnson said during his press conference. “Our audit is not complete.”
Johnson said he, along with members of the council, voted and approve the firings.
Johnson told residents Friday evening that the emergency meeting was canceled and placed signs on the doors of city hall that stated the meeting was canceled and city hall was closed.
“There’s no meeting. There’s no meeting,” Mayor Johnson told the residents. “We do not have proper recording secretary for the meeting.”
Eventually, St. Louis County police and councilmembers stepped in to allow the residents to enter city hall.
Once the meeting started, Mayor Johnson tampered with the city’s recording device to prevent the meeting from being recorded.
“I must advise the council that the recording device that was in the recorder has just been taken out by the mayor,” the outgoing city clerk said during the meeting.
The clerk fixed the machine to allow the meeting to be recorded. Members of the council debated the reason for meeting for several minutes, which led to residents voicing frustration from the crowd.
“It has turned into a circus,” Councilwoman Quinn said. “Listen, you guys. We are making ourselves look really silly here.”
Mayor Johnson remained at city hall but didn’t participate in the emergency meeting.
“It’s because of, essentially, one person and his way of doing things, which you know, which we consider to be unethical… illegal,” Sam Alton, the former contracted legal consultant for the City of Jennings, told First Alert 4.
“I expect some changes and some uproars, and that’s probably why you got the resignations because you know when you do wrong–wrong comes back to you,” resident Carolyn Malone said.
“We have to quit the politicking and get back to business,” resident Shirley Hiob said.
The majority of the city council voted to allow fired employees to get their jobs back.
“We’re four months removed from a heated election. Emotions are still high,” councilmember Terry Wilson told First Alert 4 after the meeting.
Wilson said he doesn’t believe the terminated employees will return.
After the meeting, the mayor doubled down that the emergency meeting didn’t follow city protocol.
The mayor reported that several vacant positions in the city have been filled.
Copyright 2023 KMOV. All rights reserved.
