FAIRHOPE, Alabama -- Baldwin County commissioners fired Solid Waste Director Jim Ransom in a 3-1 vote today, moved bill collectors to the finance department and named landfill manager Ed Fox as interim director of the department.

The vote came at a special emergency meeting called with an hour's notice.

In what officials described as a contentious meeting, Ransom said he had plans to report County Attorney David Conner and County Administrator David Brewer for possible ethics violations.

Officials said Ransom detailed the allegations in a letter drafted by an attorney outlining Conner's admission that he paid solid waste workers $20 during the holidays when they left cards soliciting the gift. Ransom also said he had witnessed Conner giving Brewer what could have been hundreds of dollars in the hallway of a county building.

Conner answered the allegations, saying he reported the $20 holiday gift when he realized it could be considered an ethics breach, and said he had loaned Brewer $1 to buy a soft drink in the hallway at a meeting.

Brewer said after the meeting he had repaid the $1 to Conner, and said, "I wish the best for Mr. Ransom."

Ransom left the termination with $17,777 in severance and vacation time pay, officials said.

Ransom said he had no idea the termination was coming until the meeting agenda was sent out by email, but said he had notified commissioners at 1 p.m. that he planned to report the county attorney and county administrator for a possible ethics violation. He declined to comment on the nature of that complaint prior to the meeting.

Commissioner Tucker Dorsey had been a vocal critic of Ransom since last summer when Dorsey repeatedly caught landfill and collections workers slacking on the job. Later, inspectors from the Alabama Department of Corrections found contraband items like cold beer, cell phones, pornography, televisions and street clothes in inmate barracks at the landfill. Dorsey gave Ransom a scathing review for not notifying commissioners about the incident, and soon after Ransom took a voluntary cut in pay.

Commission Chairman Bob James drafted a letter to landfill employees earlier this month outlining an investigation that found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing but cited potential ethics violations in the operation. Workers attended a class this week to review the state’s ethics law that prohibits gifts or cash for public employees.

Investigators said there was no evidence of recent criminal actions at the landfill, but referred further investigation to the Alabama Ethics Commission.

The emergency meeting announcement came just hours after a regularly scheduled meeting of department heads. Thursday's vote included commissioners Dorsey, James and Frank Burt approving the termination and Commissioner Charles "Skip" Gruber opposing the action.