LEWISTON – Ward 7 City Councilor Normand Rousseau won’t seek another council term this fall.

“We’ve done what I wanted us to do, as a council,” Rousseau said. “We’ve helped clean up the city’s image and the gateways. Now it’s time for someone else.”

Rousseau is the third member of the City Council to announce plans to step down at the end of their terms. Both Ward 2 Councilor Renee Bernier and Ward 5’s Paul Samson said in May they would step down when their terms end.

But, while Bernier cited conflicts with a new mayor and Samson claimed health issues, Rousseau said it was simply time.

“When you are the on City Council, you have to devote 100 percent of your time to it,” he said. “Other things get neglected. Well, I have a wife and I have family and I have a business. I need to pay some attention to them.”

Rousseau was first elected to the City Council in 2001. He ran for the mayor’s chair last winter, hoping to succeed Lionel Guay after his November resignation. He lost to Larry Gilbert in a special January election.

The run-up to Nov. 6 municipal election officially begins in three weeks. All 16 elected city seats are up for election.

Candidates for city office – mayor, council and school committee – can take out nominating petitions at 8 a.m. July 9. They have until Sept. 7 to gather signatures and submit them to the City Clerk’s office.

Candidates for the mayor’s office must collect signatures from at least 100 qualified Lewiston voters by the Sept. 7 deadline. Candidates for the City Council and seven School Board seats must collect signatures from 50 registered voters from their ward. Candidates for the school panel’s at-large position need signatures from 50 registered voters from anywhere in Lewiston.