BRUNSWICK | Stephen A. Swan, the embattled director of the Brunswick -Glynn County Joint Water and Sewer Commission, was fired Tuesday as he remained jailed on a felony charge of domestic battery.

Swan, 53, was arrested Saturday night and charged with battery in a case of domestic violence after one of the Swans' neighbors on St. Simons Island called police to report someone yelling on a front porch. After Mary Katherine Swan was admitted to the hospital with five cracked teeth and a collapsed lung, the charge against Stephen Swan was upgraded Sunday to felony aggravated battery.

The Joint Water and Sewer Board fired Swan at the conclusion of a brief emergency meeting at its headquarters in downtown Brunswick.

An affidavit supporting the warrant for his arrest says Swan struck his wife in the face and kicked her in the abdomen at their home in the 300 block of South Harrington Drive causing one of her lungs to collapse. He was being held in the Glynn County Detention Center without bond and is scheduled to appear in Glynn County Magistrate Court on Friday.

"We could see that she suffered tremendously," Commissioner Don Elliott said after the meeting. "We're upset at what happened, but it's your duty as a public official to do your job, and that's what we're doing."

Johnny Cason, a Brunswick city commissioner serving on the board, made the motion to terminate Swan "for cause" after the Joint Water and Sewer panel met in closed, executive session.

Since he was fired for cause, Swan is not eligible for any kind of contractual buyout or severance pay, Elliott said.

Swan was hired as executive director in February 2014 and had been an effective manager, Elliott said.

"There was tremendous progress made while he was in charge," he said. "The workforce enjoyed working for him, but he can't be a leader any longer."

Swan's record was not without blemishes. He was suspended for a month last year after a profane email exchange with a disgruntled customer. Despite a vote of no confidence by the Glynn County Commission, the Joint Water and Sewer Commission chose to keep him on and gave him a raise and extended his contract at the end of the year.

"We're comfortable with the decision we made to keep him and we're comfortable with the decision we made today," Elliott said.

Tom Boland, the chairman of the commission, said he will serve as acting executive director "until we see where we're going in the future.:

"We will meet Thursday and discuss where we're going to proceed to from here," he said.