Mason City Mayor Bill Schickel will not seek re-election (VIDEO)

MASON CITY – Mason City’s Mayor Bill Schickel announced today that he will not be seeking election in the fall.

Schickel is Mason City’s longest serving mayor, currently in his fifth four-year term. He also served three terms in the Iowa House of Representatives.

“It is certainly not an easy decision because I love this job and I’m more optimistic about the future of Mason City than I have been in my lifetime,” Schickel said in a social media post. “My initial thought was to run for reelection. But upon further reflection I came to realize that our very talented and deep bench makes it an ideal time for transition. We have great leaders on our city council, with our city staff and among our community partners.”

“As many of you know I’ve been at this for a while. The Psalm says there’s a season for everything, a time for every purpose. And so at the end of this year this season will come to a close for me,” he said.

In the meantime, Schickel said there’s a lot of work to be done to make Mason City the best city of its size in the Midwest. “As I said during my State of the City Address in January, the best thing each of us can do to make that happen is to look in the mirror and ask ourselves ‘what can I do every day in every way to make this city we love better and better and better.’”

Schickel’s current term as mayor ends December 31.