The Gary Common Council will retain attorney Rinzer Williams III as its legal counsel, despite opposition.
Council President Ronald Brewer said he has the legal authority to name Williams to the post without seeking outside approval – a claim that Councilwoman Ragen Hatcher, D-At large, challenged. But he said Tuesday that by bringing the issue up for a vote before the full council, he was giving the council members a say in the issue.
The council voted 6-3 in favor of retaining Williams. Hatcher was joined by Councilwomen LaVetta Sparks-Wade, D-6th, and Rebecca Wyatt, D-1st, in voting against Williams’ retention.
Wyatt said she was opposed to Williams’ appointment because no one provided her prior to Tuesday’s vote with a copy of his contract.
Brewer said the contract for 2018 is identical to the one under which Williams worked during 2017 – paying him a flat rate of $46,000 for his legal services with no insurance benefits for the post. “There’s no change, he remains the same,” Brewer said.
Wyatt and Hatcher said their requests a year ago to see a contract for Williams’ services were never granted. Brewer said he would make sure the two got copies of the new Williams contract in coming days.
For Sparks-Wade, her opposition to Williams is long-standing. She has complained in the past that Williams actually lives in Merrillville – albeit only about one block from the Gary/Merrillville border. She also has said she believes his legal advice is intended to reinforce what the council majority wants, and that he often issues rulings that go against what she believes is proper.
Sparks-Wade on Monday tried using the council’s restructuring meeting as a chance to reject Williams’ reappointment, only to have Brewer say at that time he would address the issue when the council meets again Jan. 16.
Instead, Brewer had the issue called up for a vote on Tuesday, which is also when the Common Council voted 8-1 to reappoint Virgil Moore as their adviser on financial matters.
Wyatt was the lone opposition to Moore, saying she also would have liked to have had time to review Moore’s contract with the city before being asked to vote.
In other business, the Common Council gave approval to a list of appointments made by Brewer to the council’s various committees.
One last-minute change was made – Wyatt would have been made the lone member of the Air Pollution Central Advisory Committee, but she asked to be removed after admitting she has no idea what such a committee would actually do.
Sparks-Wade and Hatcher voted against the appointments, with Councilwoman Carolyn Rogers, D-4th, abstaining. Sparks-Wade, who was named a member of the Art, Culture & History, Disaster & Recovery, Ambulance committees and Merrillville Town Council ad hoc committee, said she felt the committee assignments favored council members inclined to be supportive of Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson.
“It’s like they’re punishing members of the council who speak out,” Sparks-Wade said.
Gregory Tejeda is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
