MANKATO — Mayor John Brady was told to resign, told to let the voters decide his political fate, told his service outweighs a mistake, told drunken driving is intolerable for a city with alcohol problems, told he’s the victim of a disease, told he’s responsible for his actions.

Brady sat through the judgment of his constituents and peers Monday during a public hearing on a resolution asking him to resign.

The City Council voted 3 to 2 in favor of the censure stemming from his Aug. 21 arrest for drunken driving in Golden Valley. Police said he had an open bottle of vodka and a blood-alcohol concentration of more than three times the legal limit to drive. The arrest came several hours after Brady missed a flight to China to promote an aviation partnership that would train Chinese pilots at Minnesota State University.

Developer Curt Fisher, who accompanied Brady on the trip to China, said there was disappointment in the mayor for the first day but that changed when he arrived.

He said Chinese officials still put great respect in Brady as an elected official.

The resolution had a majority in favor, but it failed to pass because resolutions need four votes. The measure had no force regardless; there is no clear process by which the council can force one of its own to resign.

After hearing from the public, most of whom were supporters, Brady himself took the podium.

“No one feels worse about this than I do,” he said.

Brady said he is again facing down his alcoholism, including a Wednesday meeting to determine the course of his treatment.

“Normal people don’t understand addiction,” he said.

Issues of control and responsibility were central to the discussion: If John Brady got behind the wheel drunk Aug. 21 as police allege, was he the victim of a disease or a dangerous criminal responsible for his own actions?

Councilman Mark Frost had little sympathy for the notion that addiction is an explanation for drunk driving. He said some alcoholics — like the one who gravely injured his wife about 30 years ago — only care about their own recovery and not their victims.

 “It’s just so typical of alcoholics to do stuff like this,” he said.

Jerry Crest, chief administrative officer at Immanuel St. Joseph’s Hospital, said employees at the hospital would not be fired for a DWI if they address their problem.

“It’s inappropriate to ask someone to be terminated when they have a disease,” he said.

Councilman Vance Stuehrenberg, who authored the resolution, said even alcoholics have a choice on whether to get behind the wheel drunk.

“Getting behind a 2-ton missile is the wrong choice,” he said.

Councilman Jack Considine began his remarks by quoting the Athenian oath, about the service of public officials and the high standards they owe the public.

He said he was “disappointed and disgusted” with Brady’s actions. But, in the end, he abstained from the vote because Brady hasn’t been convicted of a crime.

Considine did pause to address the “asinine assertions” that council members who say Brady should resign are doing so for political gain, as Council President Mike Laven has said.

Laven was brief, saying that the “voters have the power.”

Councilwoman Tamra Rovney, who until Monday had not commented publicly on the mayor, read from prepared remarks.

She said the council was not elected with the power to be judge and jury nor to condemn fellow council members.

The consequences of Brady’s arrest and charges, she said, are “not for this council to decide.”

Councilman Charlie Hurd voted for the resolution, saying he was “taking a stand for those who follow the law every day.”

Hurd, Frost and Stuehrenberg voted for the resolution; Rovney and Laven against. Considine and Brady abstained.

Most of the 10 or so people who testified supported the mayor.

Mankatoan Mike Lagerquist said everyone makes mistakes.

“Let he among you without indiscretion cast the first vote,” he said.

After the meeting, Brady said he planned to “put this behind us.”

“Now, we go back to work.”

As for the issue of addiction and choices, Brady said alcoholism is “not an understandable behavior.”

“I can’t understand it. It’s a mystery.”