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BRIGHTON, Colo. — The Brighton City Council voted Tuesday night to formally fire City Manager Philip Rodriguez. The vote passed 5-4.

The  Brighton City Council voted 5-3  last week to suspend Rodriquez for unspecified personnel issues.

Supporters of Rodriguez suspect the real reason Mayor Ken Kreutzer and a majority of the council want to fire Rodriguez is because he exposed the existence of a $70 million fund created by water overcharges to residents.

This is Alex Rose’s full interview with Mayor Kreutzer.

On July 2, the Brighton City Council voted unanimously to hire a firm to conduct a forensic audit to learn how the city accumulated so much revenue in water bills for a city of about 40,000 residents.

The FOX31 Problem Solvers have received emails for years from Brighton residents angry about water bills they claim are exorbitant and water rates that kept rising with what many felt was no reasonable explanation.

Following Rodriguez’s suspension, some residents organized an effort to recall Kreutzer.

Supporters need to collect about 1,150 signatures in 60 days to force a recall election.