FAIRMONT — Tom Hawkins, Fairmont councilman at-large, read a lengthy prepared statement at the end of the City Council meeting Monday.

He addressed the happenings of the past few months of the council, saying citizens were owed an explanation.

Hawkins said he drew on his experience running a business, working with other communities and taking “only the credible feedback” from constituents in making decisions.

He admitted to having a personal agenda, one focused on code enforcement, eliminating excessive efforts to comply with state building codes and convincing a vocal minority that the council is doing what is best for the long-term health of the city.

“And finally, my personal agenda is that I want to get over the 40-year roadblock of not having a YMCA-run community center,” he said.

He called accusations that he had a personal vendetta against two city employees “strange.”

He listed the many boards and commissions on which he served or is serving, and mentioned the years he has relied on citizens while operating a business in Fairmont.

“Does it really make sense for me to make these type of personnel decisions as a city councilman without a strong justification and community support? I don’t think so,” he said. “The most discouraging thing to me is how ugly this all got.”

He said he and Councilman Randy Lubenow were slandered at the city’s work session in April for being unethical and acting without council authorization when the two notified then in-house City Attorney Elizabeth Bloomquist they planned to switch to contracted legal services.

“The Fairmont Sentinel dutifully reported the slander as if on command. The slander was repeated on the local radio station a couple of days later,” Hawkins said. “Not once before the work session was I approached for further explanation. It was just a planned attack.”

He accused the Sentinel editorial board of running a series of planned attacks spanning several weeks and also said a councilman created a false narrative during a meeting that was reported as fact.

“Classic definition of fake news,” Hawkins said.

“Even the Chamber of Commerce took a position against me, my business being one of its own members,” he said.

However, the most disappointing part was the “apparent recruitment” of state Rep. Bob Gunther to “publicly attack my personal integrity and my business,” Hawkins said.

“The purpose of sharing this is to say that it’s understandable how some in this community now have the opinion that they do about three council members who are trying to do what is right for the citizens of Fairmont,” he said. “There’s been a series of orchestrated and coordinated attacks against us in a very personal way. It’s very easy to jump on the bandwagon when you don’t know the truth.”

He said his motives have been aligned with what’s best for the city.

“I’m backing off my desire to seek to leadership for the city. It has caused too much division on the council, and since there’s now a targeted boycott of my business, I cannot afford to move forward,” he said.

“I’m not resigning, contrary to rumors,” Hawkins said, but he will place a bigger focus on his business. “I will not be advancing any more issues that will cause division in the council.”