Johnson County Supervisors fire executive director in contentious 3-2 vote

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Lang
9/4/24

The Johnson County Board of Supervisors has voted to terminate its executive director.

The Wednesday vote was 3-2, with some supervisors saying they were unaware there was even an issue.

Supervisor Rod Sullivan read a letter at Wednesday’s meeting accusing executive director Guillermo Morales of “insubordinate, disrespectful and argumentative behavior” towards supervisors Lisa Green-Douglas and Royceann Porter as well as other county staffers. Those three supervisors were the three who approved the firing.

Morales told the board he refused to resign, because it might hurt his planned wrongful termination lawsuit.

Morales later told KCRG TV-9 that while some of the allegations might be true, he told the supervisors during his job interview 18 months ago that he can sometimes be abrasive. He argued that he should have been disciplined before being fired, while claiming the firing may be politically and racially motivated.

Supervisor V Fixmer-Oraiz, who along with Jon Green voted against the termination, said the firing was “wildly inappropriate”, and Morales should have first been sent to the county’s human resources department for discipline.