East Lansing Mayor resigns as city attorney is fired

East Lansing, Mich. (WLNS) — East Lansing City Mayor Ruth Beier has resigned tonight as well as the former mayor, Mark Meadows, a short time after the city’s council’s vote to fire the city’s longtime attorney Tom Yeadon at tonight’s city council meeting.

Beier said she was resigning because the city council members voted to fire Yeadon without incident.  Beier and Meadows voted against the firing. The other three members: Aaron Stephens, Lisa Babcock and Jessy Gregg voted in favor.

Yeadon was the assistant city attorney from 1985 to 2012 and the city’s attorney since 2012. In June 2019, Yeadon received a new contract with a 25 percent raise in a 3-2 vote, according to East Lansing Info.

Beier was elected as Mayor in November 2019. She previously served on the East Lansing City Council in 2013, served as Mayor Pro Tem, 2015-17 and was re-elected to city council in November 2017.

On July 2, Beier announced she would not be seeking re-election next year stating she will be heading back to school this Fall. She will pursue teaching.

“What is it that I will regret if I don’t do something about it and the biggest one was not fulfilling my dream of becoming a teacher,” said Mayor Ruth Beier in an interview with 6 News.

Beier’s position as Mayor was part-time and leaving the position for teaching would allow her more time to commit to being a second-grade teacher later this fall, Beier said.

In April this year, the City of East Lansing laid off 125 employees, mostly seasonal employees, including lifeguards, crossing guards and some library employees due to the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

“We’re going to be staying home for a longer time than we thought, we issued these lay offs and they’re almost all summer related or part time people,” Beier said back in April.

Mark Meadows served as East Lansing’s Mayor from 1997-2005. He then served on the city council for nine years between 1995 and 2006. He was re-elected to the city council November 2015 and served as Mayor again from 2015-2019. He returned to the city council in November 2019.