Brooklyn Park City Council member Boyd Morson on Monday was censured a second time by his colleagues, this time for violating the terms of his first censure in March 2022, and for social media posts that criticized the city manager and staff.
Council members voted 5-1 to censure Mr. Morson for violating two city policies: Respectful Workplace Policy and the Code of Conduct Policy for Elected Officials.
Councilmember Morson, who is up for reelection in November and the senior most on the Council, was not in attendance. The lone vote against the censure was council member Maria Tran, who participated remotely. She has been attending Council meetings remotely in protest, following a city employee complaint against her that she was creating a “hostile work environment.”
The Morson censure follows a Feb. 21 formal complaint by a city employee who referenced social media posts by Mr. Morson that they took issue with, writing: “In my opinion this type of hostile work environment and social media narrative undermines the work being done by the entire (REDACTED) department by questioning the motives of the City Manager and (REDACTED) Director.”
A copy of the redacted staff complaint was obtained by the Brooklyn Park based CCX Media and can be viewed at this link.
“There was no special investigation that was needed, it was all on Facebook. We weren’t creating words, these were words that were publicly posted by councilmember Morson,” Mayor Hollies Winston said, shortly before moving the motion to censure.
Mr. Boyd told Mshale in a Wednesday phone interview that the censure vote, in his view, was just the latest attempt to frustrate his work “fighting for the people.”
Asked why he was absent for the censure vote, he said “Because I don’t want to play their games.”
“This censure is not legitimate at all, the city manager should be investigated by the state and the FBI,” Boyd said. “As you know I am up for reelection, these people don’t want me on the council, so they are doing everything they can to make sure I don’t come back.”
About Tom Gitaa Gitaa, Editor-in-Chief
Born and raised in Kenya's coastal city of Mombasa, Tom is the Founder, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of Mshale which has been reporting on the news and culture of African immigrants in the United States since 1995. He has a BA in Business from Metro State University and a Public Leadership Credential from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He was the original host of Talking Drum, the signature current affairs show on the African Broadcasting Network (ABN-America), which was available nationwide in the United States via the Dish Network satellite service. On the show, he interviewed Nobel laureates such as 2004 Nobel Peace prize winner, Professor Wangari Maathai, the first woman from Africa to win the peace prize and heads of states. Tom has served and chaired various boards including Global Minnesota (formerly Minnesota International Center), the sixth largest World Affairs Council in the United States. He has previously served as the first Black President of the Board of Directors at Books for Africa. He also serves on the boards of New Vision Foundation and the Minnesota Multicultural Media Consortium. He has previously served two terms on the board of the United Nations Association. An avid runner, he retired from running full marathons after turning 50 and now only focuses on training for half marathons.
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