After serving Langley as its mayor and a council member for over eight years, Lloyd Furman announced Wednesday he does not plan on seeking another term.

Two months before the filing period for the November election, Furman said eight years has been enough.

“I just need a life of my own,” Furman said laughing during a Thursday interview.

Furman served as a council member from 1995 to 1996, and as mayor from 1996 to 2004. In a letter of intent to the city, delivered at Wednesday’s council meeting, Furman thanked “a great staff and a dedicated and hard-working council.”

“… the city is in much better financial condition than eight years or two terms ago,” Furman wrote. “By working together a lot has been accomplished in improvements in the city.”

Also up for re-election this year are three council member positions, currently held by Neil Colburn, Jim Recupero and Ray Honerlah.

In a phone interview Thursday, Colburn, who is also mayor pro-tem, said he is planning to run for mayor.

“I would like to be mayor,” he said. “I think it’s time.”

Colburn said if a better qualified opponent runs for the position, he would step back and run again for his council seat.

Colburn, who owns Neil’s Clover Patch in Bayview and once ran for the state Legislature, said, however, that doing the mayor’s job would be tough. Technically a part-time position that pays about $14,000 a year, the job can easily become a full-time occupation. That would be a tough schedule for Colburn, who both cooks at and operates his business daily.

“I would rather stay on the council because I’m not retired,” he said.

Colburn said Thursday that having been a council member under three different mayors, he has been pleased with what Furman has done for Langley.

“Overall he’s done just a terrific job,” he said.

He said if he was elected to the mayor’s position, he would like to improve the communication between the Langley City Council and the mayor.

“Lloyd just gets spread so thin,” he said.

The office of the mayor promises to run somewhat differently in the future. In the hopes of bringing more consistency to the administration of the city, Furman hired former city attorney Eric Lucas as city administrator in 2000. After Lucas resigned from the position to take a judgeship, Furman hired Langley lawyer Lynn Hicks for the city attorney and administrator position.

Furman has stated before the council in the past that he envisions the city administrator doing more of the day-to-day work the mayor has done since the city was incorporated in 1913.

The vision for Langley’s form of government is unclear in the future, according to Colburn.

“Lloyd has been a strong mayor,” he said.

Colburn said he believes having a strong mayor is part of Langley’s tradition, and that the current council members are not a weak party when they feel strongly about an issue.

He said the future will tell what sort of mayor will be elected this coming November, and who remains on the council.

With Furman’s departure comes the end of a family tradition. Furman’s grandfather, Frank E. Furman, was the city’s first mayor, elected to the post in 1913.

The deadline to file to be on the November ballot for Langley’s council and mayor positions is July 28 through Aug. 1.