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Mitch Johnson has spent his entire tenure as City Manager lying to the Council and the public so why he should be given a "second chance " is beyond me. He should be fired immediately and David Wray and any of his command staff who will should be brought back to get the GPD back in shape. All the actions that Bellamy has made should be undone. He too has lied to the public on numerous occasions. The latest to come to light was to claim there was no complaint from a woman about being assaulted by a Black police officer that led to the creation of the so called "black book". We now have the documentation to prove that a lie and so did Bellamy have it when he made the statement.

Greensboro deserves better than what we now have. Brenda Bowers

Mitch Johnson needs to have his door locked
permanently! There are too many of the "good
ole boys" covering each others backs. The
same attitude exist with some of the City Council members. Hats off to the two council
members who voted to fire Mitch Johnson. If
we continue overlooking "small" items then the
snowball grows to the size it is now. The public
has a right to know and let the chips fall where
they may. Too much favoritism has been
shown to the city attorney, city manager, and
even to certain council members if you catch
my "drift". I do not believe that I would be
given this much latitude as a tax paying citizen
of Greensboro. Mitch Johnson needs to feel
what it is like in the real world.

mitch johnson should be treated the same way
he treated david wray. no second chance.
when election comes i will remember the
seven council members that have no back
bone. way to go mary and trudy.

Mitch deserves a raise plus a bigger corner office with double windows - Because Mitch has a lot to deal with he deserves the best possible advisors - to this end the Truth & Reconciliation Commission members should receive a grant which would enable them to be retained as consultants - hopefully, Ms. Bellamy-Small would volunteer to oversee a special one-time monetary allotment which would be used to procure furniture, carpeting, classical artwork, live potted plants, and other accessories befitting Mitch's new corner office. Oh, and a car and driver for Mitch, prehaps the driver could be recruited from the rank and file of the GPD . . .

Mitchell Johnson should be let go and his department must be audited. His abuse of power and arrogance cannot be found acceptable by an educated populace.

Mitchell Johnson should be fired!!! no truth comes from him and he doesn't even seem to know what his job is all about!!
In the first report on Chief Wray, he stated that he told Chief Wray on monday am that he had been locked out of his office and computer. When Chief Wray asked about his personal items, Johnson told him, just let me know and we will get someone to go with you to get them.
In the second news release, we are told that Johnson had hired an outside group to investigate. They said that when they went into Chief Wray's office that it was empty. Since it appears that Johnson had access to the office, wonder what happened to everything in the Chief's office?
Johnson said he interviewed several people before hiring Bellamy. Tell him to name 4 or 5 . Bellamy was hand picked from the beginning. Bellamy-Small is a pitiful excuse(in my opinion)for a council person. The police filed a civil rights suit, Lt. Hinson was put back on duty, his wife was arrested for check kiting for hundreds of thousands of dollars, but he did not know it? I wonder if he ever suspected?
The whole city and county govts are jokes.
In a town as large as this one, you would think that someone is available to manage this city. Instead, we keep sending the same old ones back to repeat the same old errors.
We deserve what we get.

Lock MITCHELL JOHNSOM out of his office.Then let him GO!!!!! Thanks to the two council members who voted to fire him. They are the only two that have a BACK BONE.

Mitch Johnson is no kin of mine.

He needs a ride out of town on a rail. Tomorrow wouldn't be soon enough. Unfortunatelty Jim Melvin , spineless Mike Barber and the Simkins PAC saved his sorry, incompetent, lying butt. He has done great harm to a once proud and fine police department. Since the city council has caved in and given him a second chance they should also apologize to David Wray for the unfounded and unproven accusations which forced him out of office. They should also make him whole for the loss of earned retirement benefits and legal expenses incurred all beacuse of the hasty and groundless actions of Mitch Johnson .

Thanks to Mary and Trudy. Sadly the others lack the guts to take needed action to restore trust and confidence of the citizens toward their city government.

The comments of Tom " If you knew what I knew" Philips are unbelievable. Have you been on another planet for the last year, Tom !!

Unfortunately last fall's city elections elected only two council persons, Rakestraw/ Wade who understand there is only one way the citizens of Greensboro will respect and have faith in our city officials is for Mitch Johnson to be removed as city manager. The other seven members of the city council continue to avoid the many problems which has now spread to several departments by kicking the can down the road and hoping it will disappear. I believe Barber and Groat understand Mitch Johnson must be replaced, but continue to set on the fence and hope Mitch will resign and spare them from joining Rakestraw/Wade, because it would still be one vote short needed to remove him. The other five members continue to act like, "I see no evil", "I hear no evil" and bury their heads in the sands.

This scandal will never go away as long as the City mgr. is on the job. The only way we will get closure is for the council to bring all of this out in open and clear David Wray's name. This man was a fine police officer and gave 20+ years of great service to the citizens of Gboro. and did not deserve to be treated like this. Too many people know this, and will not let it go.Unless somebody can show more proof than they have so far, it looks like we lost a fine Police Chief that was trying to do a good job for the city, and now things are going crazy. I say Mitch needs to go.
The current City Council needs to get some guts, and do the right thing.
I say good job Trudy and Mary

This scandal will never go away as long as the City mgr. is on the job. The only way we will get closure is for the council to bring all of this out in open and clear David Wray's name. This man was a fine police officer and gave 20+ years of great service to the citizens of Gboro. and did not deserve to be treated like this. Too many people know this, and will not let it go.Unless somebody can show more proof than they have so far, it looks like we lost a fine Police Chief that was trying to do a good job for the city, and now things are going crazy. I say Mitch needs to go.
The current City Council needs to get some guts, and do the right thing.
I say good job Trudy and Mary

Setting aside the continuing Police Department fiasco, the overpayment on hard-bid contracts, the excessive outside consulting and legal costs, and the failure to fully disclose all the facts in the cases, Mitch Johnon should be fired immediately and unceremoniously based on his total lack of qualifications for the position.

Ask the current and former council members who are employed in the private sector if they would hire Mitch Johnson for a top management position in their firm at the salary and benefits package we taxpayers offer.

If so, I suggest that Mitch should send them a resume.

This boy is not up to a man's job. It has been established that Mitch is a dissembling, conniving pawn who couldn't carry David Wray's athletic supporter. Off with his pumpkin head !

I went to the "Town Hall" meeting on Feb. 11, hoping to get some answers about the city manager & the current state of affairs in city government. I wanted to see if Mrs. Johnson would share with the citizens, the information that the former mayor & council kept talking about in the "if you knew what we know" statements. Instead Mrs. Johnson answered every question with some version of "I don't know", We're going to look at that later", or "We're going to form a committee". I left after an hour, unable to stomach any further drivel. I am not surprised about the state of affairs in city government, if a 14 year member of the council, remains this uninformed. Mitch Johnson has had 2 years to perform as city manager, during which the murder rate has risen, leadership in the police department has vanished, and confidence in city government is very low. He should have lost his job a long time ago. The council needs to accept the fact that they gave the job to the wrong man. He may be doing the best that he can, but this is not getting the job done. I do agree with one thing that Mrs. Johnson said, Monday night. I agree with her that we need a full time mayor to help run the city. It needs to be a visionary who can handle the challenges of a growing city & stand up to the complaints of racism that has & will be a part of the landscape. Accusations of racism is a technique that has worked in the past & will not likely disappear in the near future.

This boy is not up to a man's job. It has been established that Mitch is a dissembling, conniving pawn who couldn't carry David Wray's athletic supporter. This coward should be horse whipped then dispatched to the ninth circle of hell with other traitors. If he doesn't screw up that place, then one day he could be released and return to Landis, NC as assistant to the Assistant City Manager.

Now I am no fan of Mitch Johnson. He is the Typical Kiss up and kick down kind of guy. In fact one is hard pressed to find “little people”
who trust him.

However he is not an on your own decision kind of guy. He checks the wind upstairs.

My guess is when the Hinson tracker issue arose he heard from the Gods.
(Previous Manager, Business Leaders, Mayor Council, Foundations).

We don’t want racial issues. Bad for city image/business. The last thing we need here is
Al; Sharpton with a megaphone. Sacrifice all to avoid any racial strife /image issues.

They now expect him to carry the can for it.

Mitchell Johnson must go! There is too much distrust for him to be effective now. Issue after issue continues to surface under his leadership. This Council needs to wake up and realize there are many concerned citizens in this city! It seems there were only two council members who heard this.

I think the Council's action has more to do with it's newest members, Wade and Rackshaw, than Mitchell Johnson. It is sad that they have brought the typical County Commissioner's confrontational combative attitude and tendency to move beyond policy and delve into issues that properly belong in the day to day operation arena. Those who are still upset about Chief Wray's firing need to move on. He may be a wonderful person but he is not coming back. The accuracy of the allegations that led to his dismissal notwithstanding, he had lost the confidence of most of the officers in his department and could no longer be an effective leader. Publicly attacking Mitchell Johnson for executing the responsibilities of his office may provide red meat for some but does not serve Greensboro.

Council members Rakestraw and Wade were among a record number of candidates seeking election to the City Council last fall. A common thread among candidates was the belief that change was needed in city government; the notion that city government lacked transparency in its dealings with citizens took root during the election campaign. As I recall, none of the candidates publicly expressed support for the city manager, or in the City Council for that matter. Had the candidates - Rakestraw and Wade among them - been unwilling to raise serious questions about the widely viewed distrust in city government there would have another "business as usual" election with continuation of the status quo body of officer holders. In fact there would have been no reason for the large candidate field.

If David Wray was an ineffective leader unworthy of continuing as chief of police, the matter should have been handled that way and his dismissal as an internal personnel matter. None of the city manager's actions suggest this was the case: instead Wray was subjected to a lengthy RMA interrogation and report that revolved on alleged racially tainted motives; his line of communication with the manager's office was cut off; he was barred from hiring and firing responsibilities; and in the end was presented a severance agreement that conditioned part of his retirement supplement on an acceptance of the charges brought against him, plus a public admission that he was sorry that his acts had brought embarrassment to the city. Lastly, he was required to turn in his badge and gun, and his office was locked. At a later meeting, in response to my direct question, the city manager said this was standard operating procedure. I checked with a number of retired city department heads and former police executives and none said they had never heard of anything of the sort.

I believe the city can move forward with renewed trust in government if it takes the necessary step of truthfully and openly facing the issues that have divided us for so long.

The city manager has been offered another chance to do his job, and time will tell if he can measure up; the Wray matter can be brought to closure, rather than being swept aside. Enough factual information exists for the City Council to make an honest appraisal of the underlying causes for Wray's forced resignation. Was the city right to do that, or was it wrong? Everyone can understand the difference between right and wrong. Tell us why the city was right in forcing him out, or admit that the city was wrong. If we can be shown with conviction that Wray was at fault we will be able to move ahead. On the other hand, if the city was wrong about Wray and is able to admit it, there will be a groundswell of pride and support in the City Council. We will be able to move ahead. Next year's council election needs to be surrounded by trust and filled with goodwill toward our city govenrment. The current City Council did not create this environment and must be supported for its efforts in coming to grips with problems not of its making, but we need open and honest resolution sooner rather than later.

Keep Mitch.

Why do you keep asking the same question, should Mitch go? I think the majority of Greensboro has said YES, but after making a public apology for dividing this city with his racial accusations. If all the withheld info had been given from the start there would be nothing to discuss. However we have many
council members and many dept. heads that think the citizens of Greensboro are a bunch of turnip heads and we are not capable of our own opinion. They may be right. We voted for these arrogant, egoistic, and self-assering
people. We must be stupid. There is no reward for hard work and honesty anymore.
Gone are those days. Politics are not for honest people. It is all for self-gain. They don't give a rat's a-- about for the people by the people. Now I understand what our forefathers were thinking when they wrote the constitution. I just wish others had a clue.