Last week, Carrboro Mayor Damon Seils surprised residents by announcing he will not be running for reelection this November, instead stepping down after a single term as mayor. He made that announcement on Wednesday, saying after ten years in elected office, he wanted to refocus on his “personal and professional lives.”

“I’m feeling good about [the decision],” Seils told 97.9 The Hill on Friday. “I spent some weeks with the decision on my mind, just wanted to make sure I was confident about it and feeling good about it — and I am.”

Listen to Seils’ conversation with 97.9 The Hill’s Andrew Stuckey.

Seils is stepping down after just two years as mayor – but he’s been an elected official much longer.

“I just recently celebrated my tenth anniversary on the Town Council, so for me it feels like a good time for that transition to happen,” he said. “I also just recently turned 50, so I’ve spent my entire forties on the Town Council, and all of that coming together makes it feel like a good time to make that shift.”

He said that “shift” wasn’t too far removed from his original plan when he first ran for office a decade ago.

“I was reminiscing with a good friend of mine… about a conversation he and I had back in 2012 [or] 2013,” he said. “I was joking with him then: ‘You know, I’m not going to do this forever, I’ve got a good decade or 12 years in me.'”

Seils’ two years as mayor have been eventful ones — with the COVID pandemic still ongoing, the 203 Project getting underway downtown, the hiring of a new town manager, and a great deal of work to begin implementing a new 20-year comprehensive plan.

And while he’s looking forward to the future, Seils says he still has more than half a year left as mayor — and he’s expecting that time to be productive too.

“I’m ready to spend the next several months working hard for the people of Carrboro, as I’ve tried to do over the past ten years,” he says. “And I’m excited.”

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