Lawsuit Against Albion City Council Shows how Dysfunctional they Have Become

Written by John Face
Editorial
September 27, 2023

Read Ed Haas’ lawsuit against the Albion City Council and the Economic Development Corporation (EDC). It will only take a few minutes. CLICK HERE TO READ LAWSUIT DETAILS, and you may genuinely feel that four council members have gone off the deep end by willingly defying the rule of law. Not only refusing to listen to their own City Attorney, they had a second opinion from the EDC lawyer, both telling them they were about to violate the city charter and possibly laws.

Of course, the only real losers in all this are the taxpayers of Albion because we have to foot the bill to pay for their defense. Albion’s Council members, at least these four who broke the law, need to be held accountable; as I stated in another story, that is unlikely to happen. People watch how our Mayor struggles to pull these four council members along during meetings, which turns them into hours-long sessions because they appear never to do any “homework,” (AKA reading material prior to meetings) which would enable meetings to go quicker, making the Mayors meeting go quick and efficient.

These long meetings are reminiscent of when Garrett Brown was Mayor. Even though it was a simple issue, his reputation of having to overtalk every question to the council always brought moans from those in attendance. I often sat there thinking, yes, Garrett, you think you are smart, and thanks to your mindless chatter, you may be proving the opposite. His poorly run meetings were long and tedious for council members and the audience.

Hell, it got to the point I stopped attending meetings and watched online. I played a beer-drinking game by sipping my favorite beer every time he spoke over someone or explained what another council member just said. Thankfully, I was toasted mid-way through the meeting and could rely on the recording the next day. I digressed, sorry.

Our current council comprises four people with close ties to Garrett Brown and former disgraced Albion College President Mathew Johnson. It should come as no surprise they are willing to risk being sued because they most likely were told you can do whatever you want as council. Brown told me that in the past, “His council answers only to itself.” He’s right, and until voters recall them or vote them out, everything stays the same in Albion. The sad truth is that Mayor Snyder, Council members Davis, and French are lumped in with this group of four.

Now, Judge Sarah Soules Lincoln of our 37th Circuit will decide whether this council completely disregarded the rule of law. We hope she holds them accountable for what they did.

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