Farha says he’s ‘worn out’ after serving 26 years on City Council as he announces resignation

QUINCY — Mike Farha said Friday he’s “had enough and I’m worn out” in explaining his decision to step down as an alderman in Quincy’s 4^th Ward.

Farha, 69, hinted in an Aug. 19, 2024, interview with Muddy River News Publisher Bob Gough that he wasn’t sure if he would run again for alderman in 2027 or finish his current term. However, an item on Monday’s agenda made public on Friday afternoon lists Farha’s resignation.

Nearing the end of his 26^th year on the Quincy City Council, Farha, a Republican, recently has dealt with health issues and rising medical bills that have led to financial difficulties. He has missed 33 of the 69 City Council meetings since Sept. 5, 2023.

“I had a period of about 15 months when I had a lot of difficulties,” he said. “I had to have my prostate removed. I didn’t have cancer, thank goodness. Then very shortly after that, I got COVID. I want to tell you, I had a hard case of COVID. I woke up and thought I saw people in my vents. That was another thing that I had to recover from. The final straw, which kind of threw it all into place, was I had an accident.

“It’s time. And let me tell you, I feel happier. Somebody was talking about a situation that happened to them, and they felt like they were closer to God, because God had saved them. That’s exactly what I went through.”

Farha said he has attended his last City Council meeting. “I don’t want any recognition,” he said.

Farha also recently moved from his home in the 4^th Ward into a cottage at Good Samaritan Home, which is not in the 4^th Ward.

Quincy Mayor Mike Troup said Farha’s resignation became effective at midnight Friday. He said he has contacted Jon McCoy, chairman of the Republican Party in Adams County, for assistance in finding someone to replace Farha on the City Council.

Troup also confirmed someone will be appointed to complete the two remaining years of Farha’s term, even though a general election is scheduled for April 1. He believes the position will be filled in two weeks, even though he has 60 days by statute.

“(McCoy will be) talking to the precinct committee people of the ward, and, I’ll suggest some names as people will call me,” Troup said. “I don’t think many people know about (Farha’s resignation) yet, so the next several days we’ll see people reaching out, showing some interest or having some questions.

“When you these aldermen decide to retire, there’s a lot of institutional knowledge that goes out with them.”

Farha, who was defeated by Chuck Scholz in the race for mayor in 2001, had his issues with Troup. He voted with the majority in a 7-6-1 decision by aldermen to voice a vote of no confidence in Troup in July 2023. He called Troup “tyrannical,” said he believed the public was “fed up” and that the “best thing for our community” was for him to resign immediately in an April 2023 interview. In that same interview, he said he regretted voting for Troup in the April 2021 general election.

However, he said on Friday, “I don’t have anything against the guy. He’s got the same background as I do. I’m an MBA. I’m a pragmatist. He is, I think, a typical Republican, which is more of the Rockefeller wing of the Republican Party. There’s going to be some tension, because I’m not a member of the Rockefeller wing. I’m best described as a pragmatic people person. I do have some conservative tilt, but I have some liberal tilt, too.”

He called the 12 years when Scholz was mayor as the city’s “golden age,” and when John Spring succeeded him for two terms, “it was a very golden age.” 

“Chuck and John showed you what professional type characters in the mayor’s job can be,” Farha said.

He said he believes the current City Council “doesn’t have the ability to stand on its own.”

“We continue to spend money, and we live in a consumption society,” Farha said. “The more you consume, you don’t have the ability to have savings. They’re not saving. People don’t save. As a result of that, it makes everything difficult, and we consume everything. Governments, local governments, state governments and federal governments, they’re no different. I don’t like that. I don’t like butting into people’s lives.”

Farha expressed his frustration with accounting software that the city has paid for but isn’t using, as well as the Quincy’s Calling marketing campaign. It was designed to help fill open jobs by recruiting alumni back to Quincy and recruit skilled workers within an hour’s drive to Quincy. The City of Quincy was providing up to $5,000 for people who moved to Adams County to fill an open job. 

The Quincy’s Calling program has been discontinued.

“We had established programs to pay people to come to Quincy,” he said. “Well, wait a minute. If we’re going to pay people to come to Quincy, are we going to pay people to stay in Quincy? Why would we want to discourage the kid that’s 21, 22 years old from staying in Quincy by paying people to come to Quincy to take the job? None of what we’ve done makes total sense.”

Farha also wants the city to focus on encouraging high-quality education instead of bringing more retail opportunities to town.

“I hear all this fluff people are saying. ‘I’ve never seen it better than this?’ Well, you must be blind,” he said. “You must have not been alive in 1960, 1970, 1975. We had more people. We had more industry. Now we’ve mostly lost it all. Why can’t we invest in the people? You know, it doesn’t matter, because it’s very difficult to watch in Quincy. There’s a lot of pain and a lot of suffering.”

Farha was the owner of Farha Uniform Center in Quincy when he first ran for alderman in 1999. He previously worked for Caterpillar as an economic forecaster in the foreign exchange division, and he also was a financial planner. He defeated Democrat Peggy Crim to earn his first term and replace Ron Frillman, who elected not to run again.

Farha said he enjoyed helping people as an alderman.

“You’re never going to help everybody, because some people are going to ask for the impossible, and then they’re gonna be mad at you when they don’t get it,” he said. “Some people will call and they’ll want to talk, and just acknowledging them leads them to believe that you’re helping them. I love these people (in the 4^th Ward). I tried everything.”

Asked what advice he would give to his successor, Farha said, “Be compassionate, be fiscally mindful that there’s a limited amount of resources available. and don’t spend crazy. That’s it. Pretty simple.”