Hunter
07/20/20
The City of Coralville has announced that City Councilor Tom Gill has resigned from his post effective Friday July 17th.
In a release from the city, Mayor John Lundell stated, “I am grateful for Tom Gill’s contributions during the past 29 years, a time of significant growth and development in Coralville. I wish him the very best.”
Gill came under fire after he made inflammatory remarks about the Black Lives Matter movement during a Council meeting on July 14th. At the end of the meeting, Gill decried the vandalism that took place during protests in June, and called BLM “a bunch of criminals, and I have no tolerance for criminals.” He also said that the unfair treatment of people of color by law enforcement “was a big-city problem, not a Coralville problem.”
On Friday, Mayor Lundell put out a statement condemning Gill’s comments. In the statement, he added, “I have heard from many community members who also found Mr. Gill’s comments very troubling and not reflective of the feelings of the majority of the Coralville community.”
According to the Press-Citizen, Gill’s nieces and nephews, Doug Grubb, Mary Garner, Rachel Gill, Dan Gill, Kelly Mellecker, Chloe Butler and Lisa Mellecker, sent a letter to the newspaper saying they “fiercely disavow” their uncle’s statements. The group said they consider Black Lives Matter an “important social movement”.
Gill wrote in a Monday afternoon email to the city, “If you didn’t get the memo I QUIT. See you down the road. Could you shut off my city email address.”
Gill had 29 years of service on the City Council.
Lundell said that the staff will research the alternatives for selecting a new member, which the City Council will discuss at a future meeting. They include appointing a new member or holding a special election. Iowa law prevents the election being included in the November general election ballot. And even if the Coralville council appoints a new member, a Coralville resident could collect enough signatures to force a special election.