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Dayton city manager loses job after 1-second video clip surfaces on social media

Dayton City Manager Kimberly Judge was ousted Monday night. She was placed on leave over a one-second video.

DAYTON, Texas — The city manager of the small Texas town of Dayton was terminated from her role Monday night.

Note: The video above was published Sept. 30.

The city council voted 4-1 to end the employment of City Manager Kimberly Judge.

She was placed on leave at the end of September. A video clip surfaced on social media that appeared to show her "dancing and enjoying herself with a group of close friends," according to the PR firm that represents her.

A news release from the city said that Judge had filed a complaint of racial and sex-based discrimination. A third-party law firm investigated the claims and found no evidence of discrimination.

While that investigation was happening, the video came to light and the city council launched an investigation into unprofessional conduct and insubordinate behavior, the news release said.

The third-party investigators determined that Judge was in violation of the city's policies. She was representing the City of Dayton at the TML Conference in Dallas when the video was shot. The investigation led to the council's decision on Judge's employment, according to the news release.

Derek Woods, chief of police and assistant city manager, will serve as interim city manager until another was hired.

Judge had many vocal supporters at city council meetings since the controversy. Nine citizens spoke at the council meeting supporting Judge Monday night. One person spoke out against Judge's behavior.

"We are here because of the video and there is nothing that you can tell where it filmed and where," Dayton resident and former city councilmember Sherial Alwson said, according to the minutes of the council meeting. "If there was an issue, why wasn't it shared then? Think there are people who ran for council that are out to fire Kimberly. Is her performance being questioned? The citizens of Dayton are here to support our city manager."

"Leaders don't do things like that," said Adam Spear, according to the council meeting minutes.

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