While no official announcement has been made by the Belize City Council, multiple outlets have reported that embattled Deputy Mayor Goodin has resigned.

BELIZE CITY, Wed. June 15, 2022

Today was the deadline for deputy mayor of Belize City and elected city councilor Micah Goodin to submit his resignation from the deputy mayor post to the Belize City Council in order to avoid being removed through a vote by his fellow councilors. Reports this week are that he sent a resignation letter to the Prime Minister, Hon. John Briceño, yesterday. Last week, the Belize City Council had granted Goodin an extension to the initial deadline in order to give him time to resign of his own volition and thus avoid a forced removal at the hands of the other members of the council—most of whom had expressed their desire for him to step down from the deputy mayor post.  

A release from CitCo had indicated that “at his request” the council decided to grant him until today, June 15, to tender his resignation. It was confirmed yesterday evening that his resignation has been tendered.

A press release issued today by the City Council indicated that the council had accepted Goodin’s resignation and that Councilor Allan Pollard will be occupying the deputy mayor post.

The release stated, “In a special council meeting held today, the elected officials of the Belize City Council officially accepted Deputy Mayor Micah Goodin’s resignation from the Deputy Mayor’s position. As a result, the officials in attendance unanimously voted to fill the vacant seat and elected Councillor Allan Pollard Jr. as the Deputy Mayor of Belize City for the 2022-2023 term.”

The calls for Goodin’s resignation were prompted by a shooting incident on May 14 of this year, during which shots were allegedly fired by Tarique James, one of the men in a group that was in Goodin’s car, which had been leaving a bar on Newtown Barracks at which members of the group had been involved in a disagreement, which Goodin had reportedly tried to quell. The shots fired from Goodin’s vehicle were allegedly reciprocated by shots from Kenyon Tillett which grazed Tae Medina, a young shadow councilor who had been in Goodin’s vehicle.

The members of the council would subsequently meet in a caucus, at which Councilor Vaughn tabled the motion at adjournment, and Goodin was first asked to resign from his post. The deputy mayor was not present, however. He reportedly stormed out before the motion could be tabled, a motion which received unanimous support from all councilors who were present, according to Mayor Bernard Wagner.

Mayor Wagner has indicated that the members of the council have noted a series of misjudgments in the actions of Deputy Mayor Goodin that are unbefitting of one holding office as an elected official.

“I just believe that when you have young people, liquor, guns, egos, that’s a recipe for disaster,” Mayor Wagner noted in a recent interview.

Since the incident, Goodin’s two licensed firearms were confiscated—the second of which was retrieved by police officers who went to his home. The Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams, has since requested a letter from Goodin and the alleged triggerman in the shooting incident, Tarique James, that would explain why their licenses should not be taken away. The letter would be taken into consideration as part of the department’s investigation to determine whether their firearm licenses will be revoked following the mid-May shooting.

COMPOL Williams told local reporters, “I know that police had gone to Micah’s house and removed another licensed firearm that he had, because he had two licensed firearms and he has since been written to, asking for him to show cause why his gun license should not be lifted. I checked with my legal office just a few minutes ago to ascertain if in fact he had received the letter asking to show cause. I have not received a legal response from the office, so I cannot say if we will remove it or no, but I cannot at this stage prematurely state that his license will be revoked. That would be tantamount to making a decision without having given him the opportunity to be heard, and so I will await for his response to the letter that was written to him, and based on his response then I will determine whether or not the license will be repealed.”