Brookings fires City Manager Janell Howard after months of debate

Brookings, Ore. — After adding a new mayor and several new city councilors the past couple of months, the Brookings City Council fired City Manager Janell Howard Monday.

Howard has been the focus of much debate at council meetings going back more than a year, after she pleaded No Contest to a violation for Theft. She was initially charged with a misdemeanor for Theft, but the charge was later reduced by the Curry County DA. Fred Meyer documented several other cases of Howard’s alleged illegal activities at the store, before police were finally called.

The leader of the city’s administration facing charges in the small southern Oregon town, led to uproar at council meetings. One city police officer even resigned his job in protest.

Late last year, a petition gathered enough valid signatures to ask voters whether to recall then-Mayor Hedenskog, City Councilor Ed Schreiber and City Councilor Michelle Morosky. All three were eventually recalled in November.

At the last city council meeting councilors unanimously voted to have the city attorney begin negotiating a separation agreement with Howard.