Brooklyn Park Council Keeps Censure of Fellow Member
The Brooklyn Park City Council decided on Oct. 14 to keep one of its members under censure.
Council Member Boyd Morson has been censured twice by his colleagues.
His most recent censure came in April for violating the council’s code of conduct. A city staff member filed a complaint against Morson for “publicly bashing staff on Facebook” and creating a hostile work environment.
The council reviewed the censure on Monday, with five of the council’s seven members saying he hasn’t changed his behavior.
“We are not talking about fairness here, we’re reviewing the censure of a council member who has shown absolutely no effort to resolve the behavior that resulted in the censure in the first place,” said Council Member Tony McGarvey.
The Brooklyn Park City Council decided on Monday, Oct. 14 to keep Council Member Boyd Morson under censure.
Reasoning for Maintaining Censure
In the terms of his censure, Morson is not supposed to have contact with any city staff members except for the city manager and the executive director of the Economic Development Authority.
According to council documents, Morson has broke these rules on several occasions.
“Of particular note was a complaint from staff at Zanewood dated July 24, 2024 that Council Member Morson engaged several city staff onsite the prior day,” the document reads. “While at Zanewood, Council Member Morson took pictures of staff and youth involved in a camp and posted those on social media. The staff involved are requesting that Council Member Morson not take pictures of them and post them on social media.”
Likewise, the censure requires that Morson’s public statements, emails and social media posts be “be professional and not belligerent, impertinent, abusive, or disparaging.”
According to council documents, Morson has called for the city manager’s resignation. He’s also called for investigations by the FBI and other agencies into the city manager, city attorney, and other current or former council members.
Council Comments
Mayor Hollies Winston said the continuation of the censure was due to Morson’s interactions with employees.
“It really comes from the costs associated with punching down, bullying, beating up on employees,” Winston said. “Knowing that they can’t necessarily punch back. And you take joy in that perhaps? I’m not sure. But it also comes from the (legal) liability that comes from engaging in that behavior.”
City Manager Jay Stroebel said that council conduct has “without a doubt” resulted in staff members leaving the city.
“These types of actions by council members impact staff morale, they impact recruitment, they impact retention of staff ,” he said.
Meanwhile, Morson said that other council members aren’t being held to the same standards. At one point, he called the discussion “ridiculous.”
“Not one time have I ever been asked by staff not to post a picture,” he said. “If we talk about fairness, we’re talking about other council members who have posted on their pages about other council members. And nothing’s been done to those council members.”
