Ed Phelps Won’t Seek 2nd Term on City Council

City Councilman Ed Phelps, a neighborhood activist who gained office in 1988 after a bitter campaign against the city’s traditional power elite, announced last week that he will not seek a second term.

Phelps, an attorney, declined to explain his decision, but other city officials speculated that the council seat took too much time away from his family and his busy law practice.

Two of the five council positions will be on the April 14 ballot.

Councilman Chris Valente, 48, who was elected in the same acrimonious contest and whose term also expires this year, said he has not yet made up his mind whether he will run again.

Because Phelps is not seeking reelection, the filing period, which opened Thursday, will be extended a week, to Feb. 11. No one had filed for candidacy as of Wednesday afternoon.

Phelps, along with Valente, defeated two incumbents after a campaign in which they criticized the council for being unresponsive to the city residents, fiscally wasteful and pro-growth.

Once on the council, Phelps, 41, carved out a niche for himself as a maverick, and cast the lone dissenting vote on many issues. He was the only council member to oppose the $25-million Sports Chalet shopping village project, saying the project was too big.

Mayor Pro Tem Joan Feehan said Phelps did not tell her why he is not running, but she believes that he wanted more time to spend with his two young sons.

When he initially took office, Feehan said, Phelps attended many extra meetings in addition to the regular council meetings. But she said that during the later part of his term, Phelps seemed “torn between his children and his obligation to the city.”

Shortly after Phelps announced that he would not seek reelection, Feehan said she turned to him in the middle of a council meeting, still going strong close to midnight.

“I asked him, ‘Gee, are you doing to miss this next year,’ ” she said. “He just smiled.”

Valente, the most outspoken member of the council, said he will decide by the end of next week whether to run again.