VANDALIA, Mich. -- The embattled Vandalia village president tells ABC 57 news Wednesday he is not resigning.
Evan Hickman is vowing to stay on the job, even after a wild meeting Monday where allegations of nepotism, and infighting spurred one village board member to resign on the spot.
When we spoke to Hickman, his perspective of what's been happening in this village of just more than 300 people is drastically different than what people around the village are saying.
After the crazy monthly meeting Monday night, Vandalia village president Evan Hickman agreed to speak with ABC57 and respond to allegations he fired village employees to hire his own family members, and more.
"They're accusing me of misuse of village funds, I can tell you one fact that may show you that that is not the truth, as I have stated before, the moment that we came in, we got in contact with Michigan state police after we noticed we didn't have a full picture of the finances and they have since been doing an investigation of upwards of a year," said Vandalia village president Evan Hickman.
Hickman tells us there's also a firm doing a forensic audit of the village finances.
In response to the accusations that he let go several members from the previous administration, Hickman says two people resigned after he was sworn in, and any family members he brought on were in non-voting positions.
"The crazy thing is, the only staff I actually fired, and I won't say actually fired because the other lady would agree with this, one of my office assistants, she was due to resign, I just let her go early," said Hickman.
Hickman claims shortly after taking office about a year ago, his administration discovered missing records, wiped computers, and financial discrepancies.
ABC57 tried to contact state police, the attorney general's office, and the financial firm allegedly conducting an audit.
The only agency to comment was state police.
They confirmed they are conducting an investigation into possible misuse of funds by a former village of Vandalia president.
Meanwhile, Hickman says he's not backing down.
"I will not resign, I will not give up on this village of Vandalia, the residents have been looking to me to support them and be there for them and that's actually what I want to do, that's what I've been doing, that's what I'll continue to do. Nobody's going to scare me, or deter me from remaining on a mission," said Hickman.
As for state police, if evidence of fraudulent activity is found, they will submit their case to the prosecutor's office.