MOUNT MORRIS – Mayor Joel Mike says that his name will not appear on the ballot come the spring election.

In a letter to the community, Mike said that family and professional responsibilities take him too far away from his office of Mayor to devote his full time to the Village. No one has entered their name as candidate in the March 21 race so far.

To My fellow citizens:

I will not be a candidate for re-election to a second term as Mayor of the Village of Mount Morris in the spring 2017 Village election.
I have been blessed and honored by your support for the last 18 years to serve you and our community in many capacities since Erica and I made Mount Morris our home in 1994: Town Board, Planning Board, Republican Committee, Village Board, Deputy Mayor, and, for the last 4 years, as your Mayor.

I believed that I could balance Mayor, a career, and my family responsibilities as a husband and father. Our Village has a lot of moving parts, requires supervision, and that requires a full time commitment as Mayor.

My professional and family responsibilities require all of my efforts at this time, and to attempt to continue on as your Mayor will not do the position, our organization, or our citizens and taxpayers justice.

I have been fortunate and am grateful to have had the privilege to serve you and to work with many elected and appointed members of our great community over the last 18 years, and while not always agreeing on all topics, we all have been enriched and benefited by their wisdom and mutual commitment to what benefits us most.

No matter who we choose as our elected representatives, please give them your support. We need to encourage, not discourage people to get involved and do the work of the people. We all are, at the end of the day, still one family.

Respectfully,
Joel Mike
Mayor