The Gladstone City Commission voted unanimously Thursday night to fire City Manager Darcy Long. The vote came after a 20-minute-long closed session that Long had requested when the commission first suspended him two weeks ago. Gladstone Mayor Joe Thompson says that Long was fired “for cause”.
“Based on information we had, and after hearing his point of view, his case, then we came out and made our decision,” Thompson said. “I can’t talk about what happened in closed session. That’s privileged information.
Thompson said that he could not clarify what Long had done wrong to warrant the firing.
Long was hired in the summer of 2017, replacing Darla Falcon, who was fired in 2016. Neither Long nor his attorney made any public comments at Thursday night’s meeting
Thompson says that there will be discussion at the next meeting on August 12th about how to move forward on a replacement for Long.
“We will discuss an interim city manager at our next business meeting,” Thompson said. “We’ll have to go out and solicit for a new city manager. Last time, we went through the Michigan Municipal League. Maybe this time, we’ll try something different. I’m not sure yet.”
In the meantime, the city’s day-to-day operations are being run by the public safety director.
