Tonight, reports out of City Hall tell us Belize City Deputy Mayor Mica Goodin is staring down a tough ultimatum: either step down as Deputy Mayor or face a vote to replace him in that post in two weeks.
Reliable reports tell 7News that the council met in caucus today where Councillor Albert Vaughan tabled a resolution to compel Goodin to step down as Deputy Mayor before the end of business today, or wait two weeks and face a vote by resolution of the caucus to replace him.
We're told Goodin left the caucus meeting as the resolution was tabled. But, our sources tell us it was carried, which means Goodin now faces those two grim choices.
We reached out to him for comment again today but got no answer.
Actually, it's official: A release sent out just a few minutes before newstime says, quote,
"The gun-related incident and other matters that have now come to the forefront, all of which involve dis-honourable behaviour by Deputy Mayor Goodin, prompted the members to deliberate whether the Deputy should continue to serve in this capacity. Regrettably, the Deputy opted not to remain in the Council Meeting when this was raised on adjournment; however, at the conclusion of this discussion, all nine of the elected officials who were present agreed to afford him the opportunity to resign as the Deputy Mayor or be served with notice that a motion will be brought in 14 days to remove him from this capacity."
It continues, quote, "we cannot divulge the details that prompted this decision, nonetheless, we assure residents that Deputy Mayor Goodin engaged in a series of actions that do not align with our core values."
Councillor Albert Vaughan has made no secret of his difficulty with Goodin's conduct after he was caught in the middle of an early morning shootout on May 14th. Last week he told us it was conduct unbecoming:
Albert Vaughan - Councillor
"You know I felt bad when I hear that our deputy mayor was involved in a shooting on the wee hours of the morning, I felt very terrible, because that's not what we are about. We should be very responsible people when we go out there. Yes, I know that we have to enjoy ourselves, but that comes with responsibility. That comes with a high cost of responsibility, as a matter of fact. As elected leaders, we have to do far better than that. We have to be very responsible going out there. When we go out there, we must know we are entering into a real world. Belize is part of that world and as I say, as a councillor and as a leader, we have to condemn these types of actions."
And that is the same position Councillor Vaughan reportedly took into today's caucus meeting. Now we will have to wait and see what Councillor Goodin does - but up to newstime there was no indication that he had accepted today's invitation to resign as Deputy.
