FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) — As Jan. 1 approaches, departing members of Fort Wayne City Council only have a few weeks left to serve the people of Fort Wayne.
Between the three members leaving — Tom Didier, Glynn Hines and Jason Arp — there are over 50 years of City Council experience.
Councilman Arp started serving in 2016, and his term is now coming to an end after attempting to challenge Tom Didier to be the Republican mayoral candidate.
Between the other two departing members, there are nearly 40 years of City Council experience.
Councilman Hines is stepping down after initially taking over for the deceased Cletus Edmonds.
His start of political interest, however, was in his youth when John Nuckols became the city’s first black city councilman.
“He (Nuckols) was also a barber, so my father would take all the boys to the barber on Saturday and it was an all-day Saturday event,” Hines said. “So we heard John Nuckols and the communities plan to run for office and get elected.”
Hines served in the 6th District before switching over to an at-large roll, making room for Sharon Tucker to take over the southeast district of Fort Wayne.
Councilman Didier had a slightly different introduction to politics when he first registered to vote.
“I registered as a Democrat,” Didier said while laughing.
After finding his political feet, Didier was urged to run.
“Sam Talarico, who was on council goes, ‘Tom, I’d really like to see you run for council,’” Didier said.
That was in 2003, and Didier has served ever since, only stepping down after 2023 due to a loss in the race to be Fort Wayne’s next mayor.
Didier and Hines served 20 years together and forged a friendship through years of bipartisan efforts and voting.
“[Didier is] an ideas guy that takes the issues at hand and votes accordingly, kind of like I do,” Hines said. “That’s why we became kind of friends … we just looked at ideas and voted accordingly and moved on.”
“We’ve been a great team for the 20 years I’ve been on council,” Didier said. “He’s an amazing person and I’m going to miss working with him.”
When Didier first campaigned, Hines didn’t think he stood a chance against the incumbent — now Fort Wayne Mayor Tom Henry.
“Tom ran against Tom Henry who had been on council for 20 years,” Hines said. “I thought he had not a ghost of a chance.”
But when he got there, Hines stood up for him even recalling a time that another councilmember cut Didier off.
“I said ‘look, this is a councilmember just like you, you have got to respect his opinion and allow him to see what he has to say,’” Hines said.
From those first interactions, Hines and Didier voted together on several important projects.
“We worked on the local option income tax… we did what we needed to do to make the city come back to life,” Didier said. “We did a really nice job working as a team.”
Glynn and Didier both noted backing Fort Wayne’s partnership with Greater Fort Wayne, Electric Works, and Parkview Field as some of their biggest collaborative votes.
“We were all saying we need this project,” Hines said. “[Electric Works] was one of the times I disagreed with the mayor.”
Didier himself said he would love to get back into politics in four years, but you might not see Hines in the public eye for some time.
“I told everybody for 2024 don’t ask me to serve on any commissions, committees or anything,” Hines said. “I’m ready to travel, I got a bucket list of gold courses [and] I want to go visit my grandchildren.”
Hines wanted to encourage anyone thinking about pursuing a goal to go for it, whether that phrase applies to a political office or any other goal.
“Your greatness will only come out if you challenge yourself,” Hines said.
