In a letter sent to his fellow Lewiston city councilors Thursday morning, Ward 5 Councilor Iman Osman said he will step down from his seat just days after being sworn in.
“For the betterment of our community and in the best interest of our city, I believe it is time for me to step aside,” he wrote.
The decision comes after Osman was indicted and arraigned on theft charges and the council voted to investigate his residency qualifications which has caused concern for some residents he represents.
The executive director of the Lewiston Auburn Youth Network, Osman served on the city's public school committee last year. He won the race for Ward 5 city councilor in November. Osman was the first Black man and Somali American elected to the council.
"When I choose to run for city council last year, it was driven by a desire to uplift our community — a place that has been my home since I was a teenager," Osman wrote. "It's where I pursued my education, started a family and built a business and professional career."
Residency Concerns
During his successful campaign, Osman listed his home address at 210 Blake Street, a building that has been condemned since October of last year. Osman expressed his intent to return to the building but there was never a timeline on when renovations would allow him to return.
Speaking through his lawyer, Kiernan Majerus-Collins, Osman refused to share his temporary address out of fear of harassment.
Speaking to the Lewiston Sun-Journal, the City Clerk’s office said that 210 Blake St. meets residency requirements under state law because Osman plans to return.
A motion to investigate the address was voted down in the School Committee's Nov. 24 meeting after a lengthy public comment section. At its first meeting of 2026, the city council voted to investigate if the 210 Blake St. address qualifies him to represent residents of Ward 5.
"I think the best way to resolve this unwanted distraction is to have an independent, third-party investigator present to the council facts, not inuendo, not suggestion, not conjuncture but facts," Ward 6 Councilor David Chittim said after the vote.
Many of Osman's supporters voiced opposition to the resolution saying the question over his residency had become a "racial, political and hostile story" targeting Lewiston's only Black councilor.
Theft Charges
In December, court records obtained by the Lewiston Sun-Journal showed Osman had been indicted on charges that stem from the alleged theft of two firearms sometime between Nov. 15, 2023, and Oct. 11, 2024.
He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in Lewiston District Court Tuesday.
The indictment prompted Lewiston Mayor Carl Sheline to call for Osman to resign saying it was in the “best interest of our city."
Majerus-Collins is not representing Osman for the theft charges but said he came to the decision to step down around the time of his arraignment.
"He felt like... that it was in the best interest of the people who are closest to him, his family, his loved ones, and in the best interest of the community in the city as a whole," Majerus-Collins said.
The city council will hold a special meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday night to discuss filling the vacant Ward 5 seat. Sheline said efforts to investigate Osman's residence will likely dissolve since he is no longer officially on the council.
"The questions regarding Iman's residency and then his recent indictment were proving to be too much of a distraction, and I look forward to focusing on city business," Sheline said.
