Controversial Scottville commissioner resigns.

Hahn – photo from Facebook.

By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief. 

SCOTTVILLE — City Commissioner Ed Hahn has announced he is resigning from the commission. Hahn has been an outspoken opponent of how the city is being administered since he was elected to office in November 2014. Since that time, he has made innuendos that the city’s water and sewer funds have been mismanaged, he has attempted to shut down the city’s police department and most lately proposed eliminating refuse service. He has also been an advocate for the city to hire a treasurer, a job duty that is currently being shared by the city manager.

Hahn made the announcement on his Facebook page stating: “As of 3:45 p.m. Fri. Jan 11, 2016 I will no longer be a Ward 1 Commissioner. I have resigned. Ed Hahn.”

City Manager Amy Williams confirmed she received an email from Hahn at 3:45 p.m. today, Monday, Jan. 11, 2016. However, Williams said she was confused because the 11th is today, a Monday, not a Friday, therefore she was seeking clarification on the date of resignation.

Posting from Facebook.

Williams said if Hahn’s intention is to resign this week then the commission will be asked to accept his resignation during its next regular meeting, scheduled for Monday, Jan. 18 at 5:30 p.m.

Last summer Hahn supported a motion to eliminate the city’s police department, which he claimed would have saved the city about $150,000 a year. The motion, which was voted down, would have essentially eliminated the city’s police department the next business day, putting two full time employees and seven part-time employees out of work. He claimed later that 99.9% of the emergencies in the city limits were handled by other law enforcement agencies, which was not a factual statement. During a fall meeting he went into a long dissertation on how “drug free school zone” signs should not be allowed near the school since a student had been arrested for possession of marijuana.

Hahn has been an advocate that the city hire a treasurer. Currently the city manager is also performing the treasurer duties, a task that Hahn and other commissioners claim reduces checks and balances. Hahn had proposed that the city rehire David Halberg, who served as treasurer in the 1980s and 1990s before being fired after making several accusations of financial wrong-doing against city administrators. Halberg’s claims were investigated by the state attorney general, who found no wrong-doing.

In December, he distributed a letter to select Ward 1 residents (households west of State Street) discussing his plan to eliminate almost $300,000 from the city’s budget. During the Dec. 21, 2015 meeting he revealed his plan included eliminating the police department and eliminating the refuse millage and also taking it upon himself to negotiate with State Representative Ray Franz to eliminate the city’s financial obligation to pay back the state of Michigan for the environmental “capping” of the old county landfill located on the city’s southwest side. In that same letter, he falsely accused the city of making a profit on water and sewer funds.

UPDATE: Williams stated that she later received confirmation that Hahn’s intention was for his resignation to take effect today, Monday, Jan. 11, 2016.