MONTE VISTA— Following what has been a contentious few months with the old versus the new, Monte Vista City Councilor Joe Schlabach has resigned, effective immediately.

On Sunday, Schlabach submitted his letter of resignation to Mayor Dale Becker and the other council members, citing his responsibility in causing disruption in council chambers and his apologies to the entire council.

Schlabach commented, "I would have loved to continue to fight for the change that [Mayor] Debbie Garcia and the rest of the 'old council' ushered in. We have had decades of negative growth in our community; Debbie Garcia and the rest of council had managed to bring a positive growth back in only four years. I had hoped to continue that positive trend. It appears the Monte Movement has chosen to go in a different direction from what we had been moving and as such, being only one vote, I feel as if I can better effect change at the county level and am resigning to focus on the county race. I would like to thank all of the City employees for their hard work and dedication to our community. It has been an honor to work with all of you and I will greatly miss the challenges and problem solving we had been doing. Wish the mayor and the entire council the best as they move our community in the direction they see fit."