MANKATO — Mankato’s City Council will vote Monday on whether to condemn the drunken driving charge of its mayor, though the resolution calling for John Brady’s resignation is nonbinding and cannot force him to step down.

There may be enough votes to pass the resolution, written by Councilman Vance Stuehrenberg, as four council members have said Brady ought to resign.

In the resolution, Stuehrenberg wrote “the actions and arrest of Mayor John Brady brought ridicule, and shame to the City of Mankato, and has damaged the credibility of the City of Mankato in its efforts to control alcohol abuse.”

It concludes that the City Council “does hereby publicly condemn and censure the described actions of said John Brady as Mayor of Mankato” and calls for him to resign immediately.

Brady declined comment Friday, as he typically does when asked to discuss pending items before the council, and said he’d talk more after the meeting.

Resolutions are typically signed by the mayor, but this resolution includes a line for Council President Mike Laven to sign. The council president assumes the mayor’s duties when he or she isn’t at a meeting.

Laven, though, is loath to vote for the resolution.

In a posting on the social networking site Facebook, he wrote, “This is about four men who really, really want to have power and prefer to appear holy, pure and of such high morals and ethics.”

In a phone interview, Laven said the issue of Brady’s suitability as mayor is “up to the voters and only the voters.”

Brady has said he won’t resign.

Two council members, Stuehrenberg and Jack Considine, said they were dismayed to hear Brady say he’d drank alcohol while on his recent, city-sponsored trip to China. (Brady has acknowledged drinking in China, but said it was only a ceremonial toast with Chinese dignitaries.)

Councilman Charlie Hurd said, “I think John needs to resign because he really can’t do a good job of representing our values and pushing our programs because of his own behavior.”

When asked if the vote could make it harder for the council to work with the mayor, Hurd said, “I guess I can’t imagine how the relationship could be worse than he’s already made it. I didn’t do anything to create this situation.”

Councilman Mark Frost has said Brady should resign, and Councilwoman Tamra Rovney has not returned phone calls on the topic.

Calvin Johnson, Brady’s attorney, wrote a letter to The Free Press in response to an editorial calling for the mayor to resign.

“I have never met a man or woman who went out and planned to get a DWI,” he wrote. ...”We let cops get DWI’s and keep their jobs. The same goes for teachers, lawyers, doctors, and judges.”

“Now, apparently, the Free Press wants to legislate mayors into that category; specifically, Mayor Brady. I will repeat what I told the press the other day: don’t judge. If you do judge, realize that you will be judged by how you judge.”

Stuehrenberg said that driving, and with an open bottle of alcohol, are “the choices that someone makes.” They are responsible for these choices, he said, even if they are alcoholics.

 The resolution itself appears to have no consequences for the mayor, though City Charter stipulates the City Council “shall be the judge of the election and qualifications of its members and of the grounds for forfeiture of their office ...”

The section, 2.08, is vague in that it does not explain what those qualifications are, but it does say that the council can “subpoena witnesses, administer oaths and require the production of evidence.”

Monday’s council meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the Intergovernmental Center, and the resolution about Brady is near the end of the agenda.