Residents of an northeast Iowa town are asking for an explanation after the city council fired the police chief. On a 4 to 1 vote, the Guttenberg City Council voted Tuesday to terminate police chief George Morteo’s contract.
Dozens of Morteo’s supporters packed the special meeting. Many called for the resignation of Mayor Jim Solomon, who made the motion to dismiss Morteo based on his "unacceptable performance." Solomon declined to elaborate, but said he feels it’s in the "best interest of taxpayers."
Morteo claims he has no idea why he was fired. "I was told poor performance, that’s all that I’m aware of," Morteo said. Morteo has been the city’s police chief since 2001. The Iowa DCI recently started looking into a case of missing cash from an evidence room at the Guttenberg Police Department.
A spokesperson for the DCI declined to released further details about the case.