news-record.com

GREENSBORO — For the second time in less than a week, former City Manager Mitchell Johnson packed up his stuff and moved.

This time, he moved two miles away to his new office— at least for the short term — at the Kitchen Operations Center on South Elm-Eugene Street.

It needs to be clear that interim City Manager Bob Morgan is now in charge, some council members said. And that means Johnson needs to be out of City Hall and should not be included in the ongoing budget process, they said.

Meanwhile, there may soon be a public airing of the closed-door City Council debate that led to Johnson being relieved of his duties last week.

Last week, after his dismissal, Johnson left the corner city manager’s office for a smaller officer in the Melvin Municipal Office Building on West Washington Street. At the suggestions of the City Council, Johnson left City Hall altogether Monday.

Under an agreement with the City Council, Johnson will stop working for the city in July. Until then, he will work on the fire chief search process and some other, yet-to-be-specified duties assigned by Morgan.

And although last week some council members said it would be useful to keep Johnson around during the 2009-10 budget preparation process, council members now say that arrangement might be confusing.

“We need to make sure Bob is not questioned as city manager,” Councilman Zack Matheny said.

Councilman Robbie Perkins said, “You don’t need the ex-manager and the interim manager in there as a two-headed decision-maker.”

Mayor Yvonne Johnson has called on council members to ask what their top priorities are, and will send that message to the interim manager, council members said.

On Tuesday, Mitchell Johnson said he will sign a letter allowing the tape and minutes of the March 3 closed council session to be released publicly.

That information was requested by media outlets, including the News & Record.

A majority of council members agreed late last week to release the information, as long as Mitchell Johnson agreed, council members said.

The state law typically protects employee information from public dissemination.

“My hope is we can move to closure on my role here,” Johnson said Tuesday.

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