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Gastonia council votes unanimously to censure Mayor Richard Franks after February meeting incident
Summary
The Gastonia City Council unanimously approved a resolution censuring Mayor Richard Franks for conduct at the Feb. 18 meeting. The action followed extensive public comment calling for apology, training, and clearer adherence to meeting rules.
The Gastonia City Council voted unanimously to censure Mayor Richard Franks for conduct at the Feb. 18 council meeting, formalizing a rebuke that the mayor and several council members described as overdue.
The motion to censure, brought formally during the council’s March 3 meeting, passed without dissent after the mayor pro tem took the gavel to preside over the discussion and vote. Councilwoman Jennifer Littlejohn seconded the motion. The mayor apologized on the record during the March 3 session; Councilwoman Donyell Barber said she accepted that apology.
Nut graf: The censure followed weeks of public criticism and more than an hour of public expression at the March 3 meeting, when residents, clergy and civil-rights leaders said Franks’s actions on Feb. 18—when he moved to remove Barber from the dais…
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