Carthage City Council fires City Administrator Greg Dagnan, prepares to impeach mayor

(Update: After emerging from closed session, the council voted to seek opinions from three attorneys on whether it can fire City Administrator Greg Dagnan immediately and hire another lawyer to assist City Attorney Nathan Dally.)

By a 7-2 vote this evening, Carthage City Council fired City Administrator Greg Dagnan. 

Those voting to fire Dagnan were Tiffany Cossey, Terri Heckmaster, Alan Snow, and newly elected council members Derek Peterson, Dustin Edge, Tom Barlow and Jana Schramm.

Council members Chris Taylor and Lori Leece cast the dissenting votes.

At least the seven council members thought they fired Dagnan.

Mayor Dan Rife, who earlier in the evening listened to council members planning his impeachment, said Dagnan wasn't fired because the city charter says it has to be done by the council AND the mayor and he wasn't going to have anything to do with it.

And then the lawyers jumped in.

City Attorney Nate Dally, also a target of the seven council members who fired Dagnan and quite possibly also unemployed by now since the council is still meeting in closed session as this is written, backed the mayor's interpretation and said the word "AND" meant the city administrator could only be fired jointly by the mayor "AND" council.

Councilwoman Tiffany Cossey, who is also a lawyer, insisted the word "AND" referred to the mayor "AND" council during the hiring process, but that "AND" meant either one during the firing process, indicating municipal regulations are written by people whose dictionaries do not include the word "OR." Though several lawyers were present at the meeting, apparently there were no English teachers to consult.

With two lawyers disagreeing over the definition (or changing definitions) of the word "AND" the solution naturally was to call on another lawyer.

The council voted by the same 7-2 margin to rely on the judgment of St. Louis area attorney Paul Martin, an expert in municipal law and by sheer coincidence the same lawyer it hired earlier in the evening to prosecute the mayor during his impeachment hearing, and also by sheer coincidence, the lawyer who Cossey, the chief proponent of Rife's impeachment, contacted earlier.

It was just another typical Carthage City Council meeting.

Dagnan, who was already either unemployed or still gainfully employed (depending on your definition of the word "AND") attempted to speak in his defense but was quickly shot down by Cossey.

"We've had enough discussion and you've been terminated."

At that point, a member of the audience sarcastically shouted at Dagnan, "File your lawsuit!" (English teachers would call this "foreshadowing.")

The special meeting began with a statement by Rife dressing down the council, noting that new members had been elected promising ethical behavior and transparency and that it appeared "that only applies if you hold the same views {as they do}.

Cossey attempted to save the council the trouble of impeachment by telling Rife he should resign and telling him the voters sent a clear message by the people who were elected to the council earlier this month.

"I would encourage you to save this city the time and the expense and resign."

Rife said, "I'm not going to resign. I'm not going to allow this kind of illegal activity to continue.

"I'm not going to quit."

Rife noted he had been elected mayor twice.

Councilwoman Lori Leece recommended trying to get along.

It won't be in the official minutes, but apparently the suggestion was silently voted down by a 7-2 margin.