Former Euharlee City Councilman David Stout resigned his post last month because of what he claims are "illegal and immoral" activities carried out by City Manager Trish Sullivan and Mayor Kathy Foulk.

Stout's resignation letter, obtained by the Rockmart Journal, states:

"Due to the recent illegal and immoral actions recently taken by the Mayor and City Manager, I, David Stout, no longer wish to be associated with the Euharlee City Government.

"Therefore I herby turn in my resignation effective immediately. I feel I need to do so in order to follow up on the legal matters involved."

Stout, contacted by telephone, said he couldn’t comment on the specific activities he refers to in his letter. However, Stout said he has given all his information to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) and the State Ethics Commission (SEC) and will comment once the investigations are over.

"There's just so much wrong-doing going on. We asked our police department to look into it and they never would," Stout said.

Regarding speculations about his resignation, Stout said he did take a temporary job out of town. However, that would not have interfered with his council attendance and duties and did not affect his decision to resign.

"I had made arrangements to come to the meetings. The job isn't anything permanent and would only last a few months," he said.

Stout said all allegations of ethical misconduct filed against him by a Euharlee resident were dismissed, so those actions or threats of more to come also had nothing to do with his resignation.

Fred Werner, an active member of the Euharlee Coalition for Effective Government (ECEG), filed at least three SEC complaints against Stout, the former councilman said.

ECEG is a local group of citizens aimed at supporting certain candidates for elections.

Stout said there was one hearing where the claim was dismissed. The other two were dismissed without a hearing, he said.

"I think they were doing it to keep the focus on me and not on Trish Sullivan," Stout said.