The Gary City Council president is leaving office a few months early. William Godwin announced his resignation from the District 1 council seat, during Tuesday's meeting. He lost in his bid for an at-large seat, in May's primary.
"While I'm not yet permitted to disclose specific details of my plans, I can share that I have accepted a professional opportunity that will broaden my work in public service," Godwin read from a prepared statement. "This opportunity begins very soon and doesn't allow me to hold elected office at the same time."
Godwin listed a number of council accomplishments during his six-minute farewell speech. like navigating through the COVID-19 pandemic and appropriating millions of dollars of the federal American Rescue Plan money that followed.
"For those who say we haven't gotten things done that were within our legislative powers, I strongly beg to differ," Godwin added.
But before leaving office, Godwin effectively shut down measures that would have allowed the city to proceed with various energy-saving improvements, by declining to assign them to committees. "There needs to be a conversation with the transition team on both of these matters," Godwin said. "This is a significant amount of debt obligation that the next administration will have to bear."
Council member Ron Brewer said the work would've involved streetlights and traffic lights, along with improvements to City Hall. "We're trying to correct the major problems in this community here and it's a safety issue, and to say that we're going to put this off into next year, I think we're doing a disservice to this community," Brewer said.
Godwin's resignation takes effect Sunday.
