Gary Common Council president William Godwin resigns
Gary City Councilman William Godwin, D-1st, the body’s lame duck president, announced his resignation from the council during its Tuesday meeting. Godwin’s resignation will be effective on Sunday, Aug. 27.
“Serving as a member of the Gary Common Council over the past three years and 8 months has been the highest honor of my life,” Godwin wrote in a statement. “I have truly enjoyed serving with each of you, my colleagues, even when we disagreed, in our shared effort to provide strong legislative leadership, solid representation, a voice, for the people of Gary, Indiana.”
Godwin ran for at at-large council seat in the city’s Democratic primary elections in May, but lost his bid. Incumbent at-large councilmen Ron Brewer and Darren Washington are expected to be joined instead by Mark Spencer, a teacher and the director of the Gary Community School Corporation’s West Side Theatre Guild, when new council members are sworn in come January. The three Democrats are expected to handily defeat Republican challenger Ivan Ursery II in the November general election owing to the city’s overwhelmingly Democratic makeup.
Godwin wrote that though he had intended to serve the remainder of his term, he ultimately made the “bittersweet” decision to pursue a different professional opportunity in public service.
“This opportunity begins very soon and doesn’t allow me to hold elected office,” he wrote. “As soon as I’m authorized to share details about this new opportunity, I most certainly will do so.”
Godwin was elected to the council in 2019 and has been its president since 2021. During his time on the council he was a frequent and vocal critic of Mayor Jerome Prince, who was himself unseated by the Godwin-backed State Sen. Eddie Melton, D-Gary, in the mayoral primary.
Godwin also backed a 2020 referendum that boosted the funding of the city’s financially troubled school district by raising its property taxes and helped establish an official Gary Common Council radio show to keep residents informed on the body’s activities.
During Godwin’s tenure as president, the council was tasked with overseeing the allocation of over $80 million that the city received from the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act, approving funding for a mobile mental health unit, a new YMCA and wellness facility, and a down payment assistance program.
“For those who say we haven’t gotten things done that were within our legislative powers,” he wrote. “I strongly beg to differ.”
Councilwoman Lori Latham, the third at-large incumbent, successfully ran for the 1st District seat in the primary and will take over the role in January.
Godwin’s replacement, who will serve until the end of December, will be chosen through a caucus process involving all eligible Democratic committee members in the 1st District. Indiana law requires that the caucus take place within 30 days of Godwin’s resignation. The person selected to replace Godwin will be one of four council members chosen by caucus, alongside Latham, Washington, and 2nd District Councilman David Fossett.
