I like your direction @Mokley. Perhaps the town had been having financial troubles for some time, and the new mayor got elected based on grandiose promises to fix the city up. After a landslide election night victory, the mayor made sweeping changes designed to turn the town into a bunch of McMansions inside gated communities, and replacing the mom and pop stores along the historic main street with high end boutiques that only the new McMansioners and tourists could afford to shop at. A few months ago the mayor called in the last of their favors in order to build a fancy private golf course in the gully where everyone used to play, which prompted a huge backlash from most long-time residents who suddenly preferred to keep their beloved pot-hole ridden streets instead of selling out to big business. And then the paranormal rumors happened, and many of the McMansion real estate developers and boutiques backed out. The mayor is now facing re-election with nothing to show except a lot of pissed off residents. Cleaning up the town's image and getting these businesses to recommit to their plans is now the mayor's top priority. The influx of paranormal investigators isn't anywhere near as profitable as acres upon acres of million dollar homes, so the mayor doesn't care about squashing that booming industry along the way.