Williston Council President Justin Head reads from a resolution calling for the vacant position on the council to be advertised and filled by council appointment.

By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

                Williston City Council members Friday voted to advertise for candidates interested in occupying the seat vacated by Councilman Charles Goodman four days earlier, but Goodman has yet to file a written resignation.

            He announced verbally at an Oct. 20 council meeting he was from resigning his elected position.

            The deadline to apply for the vacant council position is Nov. 10. The candidates must be 18 years old and have lived in Williston for a year. They must fill out an application explaining why they want the position.

            Council members said they would make a decision on Goodman’s replacement at the Nov. 17 council meeting. The council intends to appoint Goodman’s replacement.

            The new council member must run in the March 2021 city election to retain his or her seat on the board.

            Goodman resigned citing conflicts with Mayor Jerry Robinson that he said made his service on the council intolerable.

            Council President Justin Head and Robinson were unaware Goodman hadn’t submitted a written resignation when they were asked for comment after Friday’s meeting.

            City Clerk Latricia Wright and City Manager Jackie Gorman confirmed the city has yet to receive a written resignation from Goodman.

            Robinson wasn’t certain whether a written resignation would be necessary given the fact that he said Goodman clearly stated he was resigning during the Oct. 20 council meeting.

            “It has to be a written resignation doesn’t it?” asked a reporter.

            “I don’t think so. That would be a legal question you would have to ask the attorney; I mean because he made it right here and he said he would turn in one before he left, so I don’t know. I have no idea,” Robinson said.

            A similar situation arose when Bronson Councilman Berlon Weeks indicated he was resigning after being verbally attacked by Councilman Aaron Edmondson in a council meeting, but early the next day Weeks said he wasn’t resigning. Mayor Beatrice Roberts, however, accepted his verbal resignation the same day Weeks said he wanted to stay on the council.

            Williston City Attorney Fred Koberlein attended Friday’s council meeting virtually rather than in person, but no one on the council asked him if Goodman needed to submit a written resignation to be valid.

            Weeks said state law requires a resignation to be in writing so that there can be absolutely no doubt an elected official’s intent is to leave office. Weeks never submitted a written resignation.

            Goodman told a Spotlight reporter Tuesday morning in the parking lot of the Levy County Annex, the county’s office building, he planned to resign once he figured how to express his condemnation of Robinson.

            He resigned the same night.

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City of Williston Special Meeting October 23, 2020; Posted October 23, 2020