Hunter
10/12/23
Johnson County Supervisor Royceann Porter received support from the public Wednesday in regards to her actions during a heated work session last week.
Porter took issue with two individuals who spoke during the public comment section of the meeting who previously disrespected her. The comments were interrupted by the two individuals and devolved into a shouting match. A recess was called, and Porter was not in her seat when the meeting resumed.
Roughly a dozen people came to speak during the public comment section of the session yesterday, after Supervisor Jon Green last Thursday called for Porter to be stripped of her committee assignments for what he called her berating and abusing fellow supervisors and county staff. He said if she was an employee of the county, she would probably be discharged for cause and liable for having established a hostile workplace. Chair Lisa Green-Douglass questioned Green’s motives, saying his statements about Porter did not fit within the guidelines of Supervisor’s roles during the meeting.
Porter said Green should be able to talk, because she was going to respond. During her time, she directed her comments at Green, then said, “You all can go to hell.”
Among the speakers yesterday was Iowa City Councilor Pauline Taylor, who called out Green for publicly ridiculing Porter. Other speakers, including representatives from the city and state chapter of the NAACP and the Black Voices Project, praised Porter for her work in the community.