Councilmember Jeff Sanderson, who was elected in 2015 to serve a two-year term, announced that he will be leaving the Mercer Island City Council after July 17.

“It has been my pleasure serving the citizens of Mercer Island on the City Council the past 19 months,” Sanderson wrote in an email to the Reporter. “In that time, we undertook large issues: Town Center and residential code rewrites, hiring a new city manager, Sound Transit negotiations and the closure of the I-90 center lanes. I believe these topics require ongoing and acute attention with a fresh set of eyes.”

Sanderson was one of the three council members selected to serve on the subcommittee that negotiated the tentative $10.1 million settlement with Sound Transit. He has also served on the Public Safety subcommittee and Mercer Island PTA Advocacy Committee, and was the liaison to the Arts Council and Library Board.

“With the completion of the residential code update and the tentative terms with Sound Transit being formalized, it is the right time for me to step out of my council role to focus on important personal and business priorities. The July 17 Council session will be my last,” he wrote. “The Council will determine who serves the rest of my term.”

He said he made the decision for “personal and business reasons.”

Sanderson ran essentially unopposed in the last general election on a platform of enhancing Town Center vitality, and improving communication and input between the council, city staff and citizens. He announced in May that he would not run for re-election to his position, No. 4, this fall.

Over the past four years, position No. 4 on the council has been filled by Tana Senn, Joel Wachs, Terry Pottmeyer and Sanderson. City Clerk Ali Spietz said that city staff will present options for filling the vacancy to the council on July 17.

In an email to the community, Sanderson suggested that the council appoint Salim Nice, who is running unopposed for council position No. 2 this fall.

Sanderson is a former Microsoft manager, teacher and owner of Stopsky’s Delicatessen with his wife, Lara, who served on the Design Commission and the Town Center Liaison Group.

He also served for six years on the board and Executive Committee of the Seattle Symphony and the board of the Overlake Hospital Foundation.

Sanderson graduated from Princeton, worked at Bain & Company in Boston and attended Harvard Business School before relocating to Seattle in 1984. He and Lara moved to Mercer Island in 2011.

In the email, which was also circulated on social media, Sanderson said he felt he could have more of an impact off the council on the issues about which he is most passionate.

He said he respected the passion and advocacy of the citizens, and looked forward to joining them “on the ‘other side of the dais’ as we all work together to make Mercer Island an even better place to live.”