A week after the Mountain Iron City Council voted to remove Steve Giorgi from two city boards, officials have not explained whether they followed a state law that required certain steps before removing a commissioner from an economic development board. 

The council voted 3-2 on Sept. 8 to remove the longtime public servant from its planning and zoning board and the city’s economic development authority board. The motion from Councilors Alan Stanaway and Julie Buria, however, appeared not to follow Minnesota Statute 469.095, which governs EDA boards. 

Among the law’s requirements are providing the commissioner 10 days notice and a copy of the charges against them, which can be for inefficiency, neglect of duty or misconduct in office. Giorgi told Iron Range Today he was not given notice.

The first mention of his removal appeared Friday, Sept. 4, when city councilors received their board agenda packets. 

City Administrator Craig Wainio told Iron Range Today, in an email, that he would “defer to legal council on this matter.” Attorney Bryan Lyndsay, who was not present on Sept. 8 while on duty for the city of Virginia, did not return a request for comment. 

The full process spelled out by the state includes allowing the commissioner an opportunity to be heard in public or by the council in closed session, and they can be suspended from duty after written charges were submitted.

Reinstatement would happen immediately if the council found claims unsubstantiated. If removed, a record of the process, charges and findings would need to be filed with the city clerk.

Giorgi was appointed to both boards by the city council and named chair of each by fellow commissioners on the EDA and planning and zoning committee. The city council lacked authority under the state statute to simply remove him as the EDA chair. 

Laws governing committees differ from a local EDA board, meaning the council seemed to have full authority within the state’s statutes to remove him from planning and zoning. City policies on committee appointments and removals would guide committees, but were not immediately available on Mountain Iron’s website.

It’s still unclear how Giorgi’s removal appeared on the Sept. 8 agenda. None of Stanaway, Buria or Mayor Peggy Anderson — the three votes against him — said it was them. Councilors Brad Gustafson, who along with Ed Roskoski backed Giorgi, said he received no response from the city administrator.

The councilors alleged that Giorgi engaged in “terrible behavior” and was “slanderous” toward staff members and the council. He said he was holding Waino and Lindsay to account for not following through with objectives from the boards. 

“There’s nothing wrong with holding you, as elected officials, accountable and that is what we’re going to do,” he said.