Lori Latham, left, and David Fossett
Democratic Precinct caucus elects 2 to fill vacancies on the Gary city council
Contributed By: The 411 News
Fossett is new 2nd District councilman and Latham is new councilwoman at-large
In the words of Jim Wieser, "... nobody, nobody in the many dozens of caucuses that I've done in my 7 years as chairman ever turns out like you folks. And that is so gratifying. It makes my heart feel good."
Wednesday night's selection process brought 48 of the 49 Gary precinct committeemen to the Diamond Center to fill the 2nd District council seat that will be vacated at the end of the year by Cozey Weatherspoon and a councilman at-large seat that will be vacated at year's end by Atty. Clorius Lay.
The 2nd District Council seat would be empty in 2023 and also the councilman at-large seat because Weatherspoon and Lay won races in November’s General Election for county positions and will take office January 1, 2023.
Replacements were needed to fill the remaining one year left in the 4-year terms of each of those positions.
The 2nd District's 9 committeepersons gave David Fossett (5 votes) the nod, followed by Bernice Clark (3 votes) and Dwayne Haliburton (1 vote).
In the councilman-at large selection where all 48 committepersons participated, Lori Latham (26 votes) bested Ron Matlock (21 votes) and "no" (1 vote).
The new councilpersons were sworn in by Lake County Board of Elections and Registration Director Michelle R. Fajman for their terms starting in 2023.
Fossett and Latham will have to run and win in the 2023 Primary and General Election if they want to keep the council seats for the next 4 year terms starting in 2024.
The precinct caucus was originally scheduled for December 22, but last week's winter weather pushed it to December 28.
Gary's precinct committeepersons vote in Wednesday night's caucus
Story Posted:12/29/2022
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