Current Mayor of Sammamish and foundation council member Don Gerend has announced he will run for re-election to the Sammamish City Council.

Three-time mayor Gerend told The Reporter on Monday he would be filing the necessary paperwork this week during the brief window for King County elections candidate filing.

Gerend said that the decision to run again was not a difficult one, and came down to considering whether or not there were other things to which he should be committing his time.

“This does consume most of my time,” Gerend said. “But I had a talk with my wife, and we concluded that I still really enjoy being a councilor. I feel that I still contribute to the council and the city, and as long as I feel that way, I will stay involved.”

Into the future, Gerend said he was looking forward to seeing real progress on the Town Center plan, an issue that will no doubt be a focal point of candidate debate in the coming months as well as a matter of great significance to the future of the city.

“I would also love to see us be able to provide a community center for the city, however we could make this happen,” he said. “Maybe we could start with the base of a teen center, and build up from there.”

Should he be successful in regaining council position No. 5, Gerend would enter into a fourth term, after serving a first term of two-and-a-half years as part of the interim council in 1999.

Gerend ran unopposed in his previous two elections in 2005 and 2001.