The Dothan City Commission approved the appointment of assistant City Manager Randall Morris as interim city manager on Monday, effective May 1.
Commission members declined to extend City Manager Kevin Cowper's contract by a 4-3 vote last week. Cowper’s contract expires on April 30.
The City of Dothan is the defendant in a federal civil rights lawsuit by city employee Stephanie Wingfield. A jury trial in the case is set for July 2025.
The city fired Wingfield in April 2022 over her alleged role in a scheme to falsify paperwork in a federal meals program administered by the City of Dothan during the pandemic. Houston County Circuit Judge Henry "Butch" Binford upheld the termination of Wingfield in April 2023 on an appeal.
However, the Court of Civil Appeals reversed the termination in December "Because the (City of Dothan Personnel) board's order is founded only on hearsay evidence.”
The Dothan City Commission made Cowper their city manager in March 2019.
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