Brooklyn Park City Council extends censure of embattled member seeking re-election

The Brooklyn Park City Council has extended its censure of Council Member Boyd Morson in response to claims that he continues to disrespect staff and display inappropriate behavior online.

The council at its meeting last week declined to remove the censure, Morson’s second in the past couple years, which was put in place this spring after a staff member filed a complaint. Fellow council members say Morson, who is seeking reelection on Nov. 5, violated city code, citing concerns that he has posted disparaging messages on social media criticizing the city manager and council members, including calling a fellow member “corrupt.”

Council members first censured Morson in 2022 after a staff member reported that he sexually harassed her.

Morson on Tuesday said that his fellow council members were unfairly targeting him and pushing a “personal, political agenda.”

“You can’t stop me from saying what I’m going to say. This is freedom of speech,” Morson said.

In the November election, Morson faces a challenge from Amanda Cheng Xiong to represent the city’s eastern district.

Morson isn’t the only Brooklyn Park council member under censure, a usually rare, official reprimand by a governing body. Earlier this year, the council censured Council Member Maria Tran for violating the code of conduct. And last week, council members said they want Tran to receive a mental health evaluation, claiming she had made several concerning comments, including that city leaders were plotting to have her killed and expressing an interest in bringing a gun to meetings.

That means one-third of the six-member council is now censured.

When the council censured Morson this past spring, members agreed to evaluate the decision every three months and determine whether to remove the action. But last week, the council agreed Morson had failed to follow the conditions imposed, which include having no communication with staff other than the city manager and economic development director.

In recent months, Morson was reported engaging with staff on several occasions, according to city documents, including allegedly taking photos of workers and youth at a camp and posting them on social media without permission.

Morson was also required not to make statements that are unprofessional, “abusive or disparaging.” Council members agreed he failed to meet that requirement, with city staff providing examples of Morson in public meetings calling for the city manager and attorney to resign and claiming they are failing their duties, as well as stating that he did not care about the censure.

On Tuesday, Morson defended his comments calling on the city leaders to resign, and said, “If those people are not doing their job, I think it’s time for them to go.”

He argued his fellow council members were displaying “childish behavior” and he was being held to a different standard than others.

Mayor Hollies Winston and some on the council said they were especially concerned about a September social media post from Morson, where he shared a letter from a resident raising unfounded concerns about a risk of election tampering at City Hall due to voting equipment being stored there.

In his post, Morson wrote that he “promptly addressed this residents (sic) concerns. And now there is an officer/Cadet manning the front desk after hours.”

City Manager Jay Stroebel emphasized that the election system and all equipment are safe and secure, and that the concern was not valid. He also said that an officer had been placed at the desk before the resident’s letter and was not a result of Morson’s actions.

Council Member Christian Eriksen said Morson crossed the line by posting the letter with “no clarifying context that at no point was our election process in jeopardy, when we are living in a time where the American people have an all-time low level of trust in our electoral process.”

Morson argued that a resident presented him with concerns, and that he was simply responding and passing them along.

“I followed up with what a resident had confided in me with,” Morson said at the meeting. “This is ridiculous.”

Stroebel said he worries about an increasingly unhealthy environment at City Hall, arguing that the friction will make it harder to recruit and retain employees.

“Have we lost staff?” Council Member Nichole Klonowski asked.

“Without a doubt,” Stroebel responded.