Cass County will soon have a new prosecutor for the first time in 23 years. Victor Fitz is calling it quits.
Fitz, first elected in 2003, on Monday announced that he’s resigning effective May 20. Michigan law requires the county’s circuit court judge, Mark Herman, to appoint someone to finish out his term that runs through 2028.
Fitz did not give a reason for quitting in his letter to the judge, and he did not immediately reply to WVPE’s interview request.
But he steps down less than a month after tensions flared at the April 9 county commissioners meeting, where the commission rejected his request to increase pay for his deputy prosecuting attorneys.
Fitz voiced his frustration at that meeting.
“Cass County is at very real risk of losing more attorneys in the prosecutor’s office, and this is not an idle threat or comment or a prosecutor calling 'wolf,'" Fitz told commissioners. "It is a very real thing and sadly a likely guarantee. My hands are tied. I cannot give raises. Only you can do that.”
