Glenda Schroeder, Minot

After reading two articles in the May 6 newspaper I was left with several questions and one very troubling impression of Minot’s City Council.

The questions being:

If an acting interim city manager cannot fire a department head without first consulting with the city council how is it that the firing was accomplished based on a conversation between Hemphill, the mayor, the president of the city council and two council members? (The article titled Auer states most council members were “surprised” to learn of the firing; finding out from other means including television news).

Why would there not be a private meeting held to include the full city council, Hemphill and Auer so any complaints against Auer could be stated and Auer would have the opportunity to address them?

How is it that the mayor and city council know so little about their own city code? And if you are not familiar with something why wouldn’t you do some checking before making the decision to fire someone without first hearing from that person to get their input?

The very troubling impression of our city council is we have what is known as ” a good ole boys club.”