Johnson County supervisors oust their executive director

IOWA CITY — After an unusual meeting to publicly discuss the job performance of an employee, the Johnson County Board of Supervisors voted Wednesday to fire its executive director who’s been in the position for about 18 months — saying, in the words of a critic, he was harsh and disrespectful.

Supervisors Rod Sullivan, Lisa Green-Douglas and Royceann Porter voted to immediately terminate Executive Director Guillermo Morales, who was hired in March 2023. Supervisors V Fixmer-Oraiz and Jon Green dissented, saying the action was out of line with county procedures and insisting Morales be allowed to keep working but under a performance improvement plan.

The executive director provides administrative guidance to the Board of Supervisors, as well as assisting in the daily operations and strategic initiatives of the county’s government. Morales, who was paid an annual salary of $118,242 a year and awarded a one-time retention bonus of $3,000 earlier this year, elected for Wednesday’s performance review to happen in an open meeting — although the law allows governments to close discussions of personnel matters if the employee wants.

During the meeting, Morales said he attempted to talk to Sullivan multiple times last week about specifics of the performance review, and asked if the supervisor intended to “blindside” him.

“I was denied the right to know what this was about. … How am I supposed to know whether it’s going to impact my reputation without knowing what the subject matter is? I can’t make a decision on that issue (open or closed session) without knowing what the subject matter is,” Morales said.

Sullivan, chair of the board, read a statement detailing the reasons he believed were grounds for termination. He said Morales has been harsh and argumentative with county staff, disrespectful to departments and not acting professionally.

“The executive director is not a policy making position, yet it appears in your regular critiques of other departments, departments with which report to the board and not to you or through you, you misunderstand your role and exceed your authority,” he said.

Sullivan asserted that Morales has been “insubordinate, argumentative and disrespectful” to Supervisors Porter and Green-Douglas. Besides during voting, Porter and Green-Douglas largely were silent during the meeting.

“You would rather argue than focus on building relationships to get things done. … When called upon to address deficiencies, your default posture is to bristle and place blame elsewhere versus demonstrating the organizational and emotional intelligence needed in this position,” Sullivan told Morales.

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Morales said none of the complaints had been brought to his attention before the meeting, and he had not been given an opportunity to improve his performance.

None of the supervisors said they had read Sullivan’s statement before the meeting.

“As the chair and (Morales) liaison, I feel it's inappropriate, Rod. If we wanted to go point by point for some performance improvement plan, I would be on board for that because I just don't understand how we're not even going through our own HR process for discipline. … There are so many steps before termination,” Fixmer-Oraiz said.

Fixmer-Oraiz said Sullivan’s statement does not reflect the opinions of the entire board, and other county staff have productive relationships with Morales.

“I was just talking with another department head yesterday, who was like, Guillermo and I, we can have some friction, but at the end of the day, we have a great working relationship because I respect him,” Fixmer-Oraiz said.

Fixmer-Oraiz and Green said they didn’t know beforehand the purpose of Wednesday’s meeting. Green said he was “speechless” to see the agenda.

“...Given the bill of charges this morning, it seems to me that this is a cumulative thing, as opposed to one particular instance, and I think that this format would only be appropriate if there had been one egregious error,” Green said.

After a motion to put Morales on a performance improvement plan failed, Morales was given an option to resign — which he declined.

“I think a resignation would negatively impact my claim for wrongful termination,” Morales told the board.

Before working for the county, Morales served as a labor educator at the University of Iowa Labor Center and an adjunct lecturer at the University of Iowa College of Law.

Morales also is a member of the League of United Latin American Citizens, often referred to as LULAC. He serves on Coralville’s community policing advisory board as LULAC’s representative.

The board did not discuss next steps for hiring a replacement or appointing an interim executive director. Sullivan told the Gazette that any action moving forward would have to be discussed in public.

Comments: megan.woolard@thegazette.com