Tallassee Mayor Responds to His Removal as City’s Superintendent of Utilities

FILE – Tallassee Mayor John “Johnny” Hammock – Alabama News Network

Tallassee Mayor Johnny Hammock has issued a statement following his removal as the city’s superintendent of utilities. The Tallassee City Council voted to remove him from that role at a meeting Tuesday night.

In his statement, Hammock says,”This action occurred without public discussion, without public opinion, and in the secrecy of executive session, which prevents any real knowledge of the reasons for the action; but the reason is clear: 

“Since the COVID-19 pandemic started, I’ve been working to bring to light numerous fraudulent, illegal, and outright disgusting abuses of the federal Paycheck Protection Program by those who attempted to live above the law– in some cases those folks were community leaders. These individuals know who they are, as does the FBI and local law enforcement. When they found out I was exposing their corruption, this effort to smear me began.” Hammock said. 

“I’m not going to sit by and watch my city and community get ripped off and abused by the same people who are supposed to be helping our city grow. Corruption is corruption– and I’m not going to tolerate it. They can take my job away, they can run me through the dirt and sling mud all they want, but I’m not going to stop fighting for what I believe and what the people of Tallassee deserve.” 

Alabama News Network was at the city council meeting Tuesday night. City officials told us Hammock has been under investigation for the past month but would not share details of the investigation.

In June, Alabama News Network reported that Mayor Hammock said there were 92 businesses in the city that had received federal Paycheck Protection Program money even though they were unlicensed, which he said was fraud. He said that was unfair to licensed businesses which could have used the same money.

Hammock is running as a Republican for the Alabama Public Service Commission Place #1 seat in the 2022 elections. That seat is currently held by Jeremy Oden, who was appointed in 2012.