The Golden City Council on Tuesday voted to terminate City Manager Scott Vargo following a reported “racist incident” at a city fire station.

The alleged incident happened in March. Reportedly, a “Snoop on a Stoop” doll, which resembles an “Elf on the Shelf” doll in the likeness of rapper Snoop Dogg, was found hanging by a rope in the stairwell of a Golden fire station.

In the council’s meeting on Tuesday, councilmembers voted unanimously to terminate Vargo’s employment with the city. During remarks, councilmembers said they had lost faith in Vargo’s leadership due to the incident and his response.

“Maintaining trust within our city and our staff and across our community is an absolute requirement for leadership in Golden,” said Golden City Councilmember Emily Kurzinski. “That principle guides my view of what our city needs.”

“The city manager’s leadership and management style no longer meets my expectations,” said Lisa Vitry, mayor pro tem. “I believe it has unfortunately become dismissive, defensive, lacking compassion and we need to move on. The City of Golden deserves better.”

Despite the incident taking place in March, it did not come to light until July. Vargo published an open letter on the city’s website on July 28 in which he apologized for the incident, said the city initiated an internal investigation, took disciplinary action and planned to implement diversity, equity and inclusion training within the city’s fire department. The employee responsible for hanging the doll was also fired, according to the letter.

“The doll should never have been brought into any City facility, and the display evoked a horrific history of racial terror and violence,” Vargo wrote. “The doll was removed immediately upon discovery.”

The letter said that a week prior, employees within the city learned of the incident and shared “deep disappointment” with city leadership, namely that the city’s response did not adequately reflect the seriousness of what happened.

In a special-called council meeting last week, councilmembers voted to create a council subcommittee to launch a third-party investigation into the incident, saying an internal investigation would not be sufficient to address the incident.

Vargo had been on administrative leave prior to his termination. Golden Fire Chief Kasey Beal has also been placed on administrative leave, according to a city spokesperson.

Deputy City Manager Carly Lorentz, who had been acting city manager while Vargo was on leave, was appointed interim city manager during Tuesday’s meeting.