East Lansing launches investigation into anonymous letter accusing mayor, city officials of overreach

By Mikayla Temple

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    EAST LANSING, Michigan (WSYM) — The city of East Lansing is opening an investigation into an anonymous complaint regarding alleged unethical behavior and City Charter violations by Mayor Ron Bacon, members of the City Council and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Director Elaine Hardy.

City Council released a statement regarding the letter saying they believe the anonymous tip came from a city employee.

“We have received an anonymous letter, purported to have been written by a city employee, which makes accusations of alleged misbehavior by city employees and asserts that the City Charter may have been violated by members of the City Council,” the statement said. “Unfortunately, because of the anonymity of the submitted complaint and lack of accompanying evidence, we are limited in our ability to come to a judgement on these accusations.”

The letter was signed “Anonymous Public Servant” and was delivered to the human resources director and interim city clerk.

The letter alleges that the poor and unethical leadership from City Council, clear overreach of the mayor and the actions of Elaine Hardy have contributed to the recent high turnover rate in the city.

The city has had over 10 resignations, retirements or firings since late 2022, including the long-serving City Manager George Lahanas, who was fired with severence pay in January, and City Attorney Tom Yeardon, who was also fired. The letter uses both of these examples as “poor management.”

The letter goes on to attribute internal personnel conflict to Elaine Hardy and her connections with City Council.

“Elaine and Mayor Bacon, as well as other members of Council, appear to have long standing friendships, which is fine in principle,” the letter said. “However, the impression for city staff is those friendships are being used as a false pretext for the mayor to ignore the Charter and go around the city manager to try to influence personnel decisions in the city.”

The letter writer says Hardy would tell others about her regular communications with the mayor in meetings or in one-on-one conversations. The writer also said they witnessed Hardy texting the mayor in senior staff meetings when “sensitive items were being discussed with the former city manager and other high-level employees.”

The writer goes on to accuse Hardy of things like “usurping functions of the Human Resources Department” and a “veiled threat in the guise of career advice” via Microsoft Teams to an unnamed department director.

The letter also accuses Mayor Bacon of “clear overreach” in his actions made possible by “complicit acceptance and support by council members Watson and Gregg.”

The writer concludes the letter asking for an investigation.

In a statement, City Council says they have no reason to believe the allegations are accurate, but they want to investigate further with a “transparent, outside, third-party review of these allegation in a confidential manner for current and former employees.”

Council wrote that City Attorney Anthony Chubb will oversee the investigation by a third party.

According to the meeting agenda, that third party is J. Randall Secontine at a rate of $295 per hour not to exceed $30,000.

The statement says this is a taxpayer-funded effort. The investigation could take up to 90 days, and at that point, City Council will ask for the final report and reevaluate if more time is needed.

When the final report is finished, the findings will be presented to the public.

“It is our sincere goal that this review gets to the bottom of any legitimately significant issues that have been raised, once and for all. This way, we can clear the air and reaffirm our residents’ confidence in their city government,” the statement said.

City Council says they will not be issuing any further public comment until the investigation is completed.

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