Bingen Mayor Brian Prigel has decided he won't seek re-election to another four-year term as mayor.
On Monday, Prigel -- who has served as the city's mayor since January 1998 -- said it was time to step aside.
"Twelve years is enough," Prigel said. "This is the last year of my third term. Time flies. I'm not going to do this again."
Prigel's term of office expires on Dec. 31, 2009.
After serving as mayor for three four-year terms, Prigel said it's time to focus on his business and on the rest of his life.
"Between being mayor and building my business, there has been very little free time," Prigel said. "It's time to get back into life and have more time for playing."
Prigel founded Prigel Machine & Fabrication in Odell, Ore., in December 2002, and the successful business is demanding more of his time.
When he started the business, he was the only employee. Now, he has four full-time employees and two part-time workers.
"The business has been growing at about 75 percent-80 percent a year," Prigel said.
Prigel's company helps fabricate parts for Bingen-based Insitu, and his connection with the unmanned aircraft builder has led to strong growth for his shop.
Prigel said he considers the progress the city has made in rebuilding and revitalization since he took office as his main accomplishment as mayor.
"The downtown revitalization and infrastructure improvements -- the new sidewalks, the new playground equipment for Daubenspeck Park, and the new fire hall and City Hall building. Those are the main ones," he explained.
He added that he has no regrets about his time in office.
"I think we did all we could do with the resources we had," Prigel said.
Prigel started in local politics when he was elected to the Bingen City Council in 1993. He served two years, then was defeated in his council re-election bid in 1995.
"After that, I took two years off," Prigel said.
In 1997, Prigel decided to make a bid for the mayor's seat. He took on the long-time incumbent, Mayor Charles Long -- Long had served for 15 years -- and won the race by a 64 percent-35 percent margin.
Prigel admitted he was a bit surprised at the strength of his victory. Still, when he ran in 1997, Prigel did not have a long-range plan to serve as the city's mayor.
"I was hoping for one, maybe two terms -- but not three," Prigel explained.
He admitted he didn't really intend to run for a third term in 2005.
"I wanted out four years ago," he said. "But no one else stepped up [to run for the office], and people talked me into running again. But this time, there's no way."
The general election to fill the office will be in November.
Prigel said he had not heard of any potential candidates for the mayor's position.
"We have a couple of council members who would be good at it, but no one has expressed a desire to run at this point at least," Prigel said.
"I've enjoyed the time, and wish more people would volunteer to serve," he said. "Let somebody else have some fun."
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