The Mayor of the southwest Iowa community of Griswold is under fire. A group calling itself “Concerned Citizens of Griswold” is trying to oust Mayor Darrel Smith from office. The group collected petition signatures from over 200 people — one-fifth of the town’s population — asking the Mayor to resign. Smith won’t. Barry Moore, a city councilman, supports the effort to oust the mayor. He says Smiths actions and whole demeanor have been bad in the four months Smith’s been in office. Moore says the Mayor blew up at him during a council meeting by blasting him about his building on Main Street. Moore says his building is ugly, needs a paint job, but is structurally sound.Mayor Smith admits getting into a shouting match with Moore at the council meeting, but the Mayor says Moore misinterpreted his comments about city buildings. Smith says his comment was not to Barry Moore, but Moore took it personally and “took the ball and ran with it, and started to cause a scene with it.”Many Griswold residents are upset by the resignation of the city’s only cop who says the Mayor made him so angry, he quit. The Mayor says the city’s lone policeman quit because he was lonely and there’s been a problem with keeping second officers.Iowa law allows for the removal of elected city officials who “neglect duties or violate ordinances,” and the Mayor says he isn’t guilty of either of those things.
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