‘Shame on you guys,’ Hutchinson city manager says to city council before being fired

Hutchinson City Council fired its city manager Tuesday after only five months on the job, but not before Kendal Francis said his piece.

Francis, who started in January after serving in the same role in Great Bend, took to the podium to comment after the council had made a motion to fire him.

Francis said he had been on leave for 2.5 weeks for a sexual harassment accusation — for pressing a “cold can of pop to a female employee’s cheek” and then pulling the retractable name badge of that employee as he passed by another time — but that had been unfounded, otherwise, he would have been terminated earlier.

He said the firing was because he ruffled feathers.

“It’s clear to me that you used this opportunity to find a way to get rid of me because I had started doing something against the old boy network, so to speak, and it made people uncomfortable,” he said. “I’m just telling you that as long as that’s continued to be allowed here, you’re not going to have any success finding the next city manager, you’re not going to have any success moving forward as an organization, as a community. And shame on you guys for bending to that.”

Some of the council members, including those who voted 3-2 to terminate him, said they liked his management and that the accusations alone were what they considered. Mayor Jon Richardson, who had praised aspects of Francis’ leadership, said the city manager has to be above reproach and his actions clearly violated city policy.

“I have concerns about how you manage employees, and I know you’ve addressed this with a plan,” he said. “After the bell has been rung, you can’t unring it.”

Both Steven Garza and Stuart Conklin said Francis made mistakes — though Conklin said “not serious mistakes” — but they felt he should not be fired. The other three council members voted to terminate.

Just a couple of months after Francis started, the city fired its police chief, Jeffrey Hooper. No reason for the firing has been stated publicly.

Francis told the council Tuesday, before it voted, that the city is now going to continue to lack leadership. He turned away from the podium before they voted.

This story was originally published May 16, 2023 at 3:52 PM.