Brooklyn Park council keeps censure in place after safety concerns and police briefing

The Brooklyn Park City Council voted to leave in place the censure of Council Member Boyd Morson after a three-month review that centered on staff-safety concerns and a police briefing about interactions with Council Member Maria Tran.

Mayor Hollies Winston introduced the review and City Manager Jay Stroebel summarized the background, saying the initial censure derived from staff harassment complaints and subsequent conduct that diverted staff time and resources. Stroebel said the investigations and related work had “an impact on staff morale, recruitment, retention of staff” and estimated investigation costs in the thousands of dollars.

Council members described multiple incidents they said affected staff safety and city operations. Winston said the Council was balancing free speech with institutional rules, saying, “people confuse freedom of speech with freedom of consequence.” Several council members, including Nicole Klonowski and Xp Lee, said they had not seen enough behavioral change to warrant lifting the censure.

Police Chief Mark Bruley briefed the Council about interactions with Council Member Maria Tran. Bruley said Tran had repeatedly expressed fears of bodily harm and had asked a sergeant to circumvent the normal handgun-permit paperwork process so an address would not appear on an application. Bruley said he could not find corroborating facts to support a specific imminent threat but that the combination of expressed paranoia about being harmed and the request regarding permit paperwork “gave me significant concern.” He said he personally attempted to reach Tran and at one point went to her home; because of potential conflicts of interest the chief referred an investigative step to Brooklyn Center detectives.

Council Member Boyd Morson disputed several characterizations of his conduct and said he had relayed a resident’s concern to staff rather than acted improperly. Morson also said he would not add his name to a letter recommending a mental-health evaluation for another council member, calling such a step “unethical” without medical confirmation. During the discussion Morson left the meeting early.

After extensive remarks from multiple members and the police chief’s briefing, the mayor said there was not a majority to remove the censure. The council therefore kept the existing censure in place and indicated it could be revisited in another three months. No formal motion to rescind the censure passed; the outcome was recorded as the censure remaining active.

Mayor Winston and other council members said the decision was driven by concerns for staff and families rather than a desire to limit policy debate. The council did not take additional formal disciplinary steps during the meeting; instead members emphasized training, outreach and continued monitoring as paths forward.