EDC Board Members & President Fleece City Coffers 

Written by John Face

Opinion 

November 3, 2023

The Albion Economic Development Corporation (EDC) Board met Thursday morning and proceeded to rehire fired EDC President Virgie Ammerman. With a 3-1 vote with Jerome Harvey, Vicky Clark, and Ben Wallace voting to rehire Ammerman after being fired in August with a super-majority board vote to release her. The lone no vote to rehire was Albion Mayor Victoria Snyder. In the weeks following her firing, the Michigan State Police opened an investigation into Ammerman’s illegal actions of copying and stealing private EDC records via email after she had been fired. Click here to read the City Watch article regarding that.

Why do They Care, It is Not Their Money

During the Thursday morning EDC meeting, they discussed approving the rehire of Virgie Ammerman; even after Mayor Snyder asked them to table that decision, a vote was taken, and as already stated, poof, Ammerman is back in.

Ammerman was fired on August 10 of this year, with her severance equaling six months of pay. As reported by City Watch, click here to read the article; on October 11, 2023, the City of Albion paid Virgie Ammerman $47,891.50 for her contractual severance pay. That means Ammerman was paid essentially; well, let’s count: September 1 month, October 2 months, November 3 months, December 4 months, January 5 months, and February 6 months, six months beyond her firing. It’s a pretty good deal for someone potentially committing a felony by possibly stealing documents from the EDC. But wait, there’s more.  

Wallace, Harvey, and Clark Need to be Investigated

Ben Wallace, Jerome Harvey, and Vicky Clark also voted to give Virgie Ammerman back pay. To the tune of $23,825. So, let’s figure this out:

Severance pay $47,891.50 paid in September

Back Pay $23,825 Paid out now

Equals $71,716.50 since August 10 of this year.

On top of this, she started to get paid a wage at the rate of $105,000 per year, but since there was no copy of the contract she was supposed to sign in the paperwork for the meeting yesterday, it’s anyone’s guess what, and how much she is being paid.   

Well, according to sources, there is nothing wrong with giving her back pay for not working for the EDC and collecting her severance. This is why people hate lawyers. She is collecting almost $72,000, and I am almost certain most voters out there will say giving her this amount of money is disturbing; at least this writer does. Ammerman goes merrily along, grinning because she hit the cash bonanza with the EDC. Hell, she is taking more money than our former convicted felon Cty Manager Rufus did. Thanks, Dave Atchison, for fixing that problem.

This Needs to Stop – Time for an Investigation by the County or State

Our Albion City Council has proven they will not stop the actions of the EDC. They are complicit with the three EDC Board members, and all are nothing short of helping with the fleecing of Albion. Wallace, Harvey, and Clark are giving away money that we can’t get back. I have had several people reach out to me today asking about this, many wanting to contact those involved. I have a couple of suggestions.  

Start today by calling your council member every day demanding the reinstatement of the four fired EDC Board members. Demand they call for an investigation into the EDC and the money that appears to be misappropriated. Second, Email the three EDC Board members who have no problem pissing away good money on a President who almost everyone says is incapable of doing the job they hired her for.  

My concern is that Vicky Clark received a no-bid contract to clean at Albion College by Mathew Johnson in what appeared to be a favor for voting his way on council items. I’m pretty sure this is not the type of person Albion College should be doing business with. Ben Wallace is the principal of Marshall Public Schools Opportunity High School, located in Albion. Someone tell me he has no responsibility regarding spending money at the schools, please.

More to come soon. Here are the emails for Vicky Clark shephardcareservices@gmail.com

Ben Wallace bwallace@marshallpublicschools.org

Jerome Harvey jerome@glwal.com

Being the good stewards of the community, it’s time they answer to you, the voters.