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GREENSBORO - The Greensboro City Council fired City Manager Mitchell Johnson on Tuesday night.

Johnson, who has worked for the city in various capacities for nearly 26 years, was removed from his duties after a closed session.

Council members voted 5-4 to dismiss him. Mayor Yvonne Johnson, Councilwoman T. Dianne Bellamy-Small, Councilman Robbie Perkins and Councilwoman Goldie Wells voted no.

Mitchell Johnson will continue to work for the city until July 15, according to an agreement reached by City Council members. He will continue to make his salary of $179,000 a year, but will be appointed to a new job by Bob Morgan, who will serve as acting city manager. Morgan had been Mitchell Johnson's deputy.

He also will receive, according to his contract, six months' benefits and severance pay after his city job ends.

Mitchell Johnson would not comment Tuesday night about the City Council's negotiations over his job. It was unclear whether the council included him in their closed-door discussions.

After his dismissal, he told reporters that he would have been glad to continue being the city manager, but that was not the council's wish.

"I have enjoyed every role I've ever been in. I'll continue to enjoy everything I do for this organization," Mitchell Johnson said. "I have always appreciated the support I had from employees."

Most council members did not offer immediate explanations of their decision Tuesday night. Mayor Johnson, Wells and Councilwoman Trudy Wade declined to comment.

Councilman Mike Barber, who voted to dismiss the city manager, said, "I've been on record for a long time: Our city needed a fresh start," Mike Barber said.

Bellamy-Small, who voted to keep Mitchell Johnson in his job, said the council members who have asked for the manager's job did not give him a fair chance.

"Relieving him of his duty was not based on his job performance or his efficiency," she said after the meeting.

"We let a competent and good man go."

The dismissal comes after Mayor Pro Tem Sandra Anderson Groat - one of the council's swing voters and a key ally of the manager - said she was withdrawing her support and Councilwoman Mary Rakestraw called for his dismissal.

Council members asked that the city staff immediately start the process of hiring a search firm to recruit a new manager. They will meet in closed session again

Friday to discuss personnel and legal issues, including a recommendation from Barber that council members resolve the civil lawsuits against the city brought by former Police Chief David Wray and Deputy Chief Randall Brady.

The city manager is the City Council's only employee. The manager is responsible for city employees and is the chief policy adviser to the council.

Mitchell Johnson has been under continuous scrutiny.
Some residents have questioned the way he handled police department problems, which boiled over shortly before he was hired as manager in October 2005. Chief among the complaints is the issue of former Chief Wray, who resigned in 2006 after being locked out of his office by Mitchell Johnson.

His job performance also has been a key point of debate among council members.

On three other occasions since they came into office in December 2007, council members Wade and Mary Rakestraw have asked that he be fired or demoted. Each time, at least five council members - a majority - voted to keep him.

This week, Groat said she changed her mind and could no longer support him.

"I can't play with this anymore," Groat said. "I really feel like I have to do what is right. If it costs me the election, I will be sad. People don't realize how dysfunctional we are."

Groat said her decision came after months of consideration. It apparently tipped the balance and forced Councilman Zack Matheny to reconsider his support.

Perkins, who has been a staunch supporter of Mitchell Johnson's, said Tuesday before the council meeting that it was bad timing to dismiss the city manager during budget season, particularly considering the tough economy.

But he said if a majority of council members have lost confidence in Mitchell Johnson, it is time to move on.

"I'm frustrated. I hate to see us letting a guy go with that much experience," Perkins said. "I don't think we're going to end up solving the problems."

At the beginning of the council meeting, several residents got up to speak on behalf of Mitchell Johnson, including local black church leaders.

"He's, by far, not a perfect man," the Rev. Cardes Brown said, "but I have reason to believe that all of us in here are not perfect."

Mitchell Johnson graduated from UNCG in 1983 and has spent his entire career with the city, starting at the Greensboro Coliseum.

He worked for the general services and information services departments before being promoted to assistant city manager in 2000. He was deputy city manager for two years before the City Council hired him as the city's top employee in 2005.

Contact Amanda Lehmert at 373-7075 or amanda.lehmert@news-record.com.