Toni Momberger, Staff Writer
Posted: 07/06/2012 03:30:07 PM PDT

REDLANDS – Councilman Jerry Bean said Friday he will not run for re-election in November.

He has served one term. He won election to a four-year City Council term in 2007. His term was extended by one year when the council moved the November city elections from odd-numbered to even-numbered years.

“I’ve done my `Citizen Bean’ role for the past few years,” he said. “I sort of believe in people stepping forward to serve their nation, state or city, and then going back to the farm…. In the early days, that’s the way government ran.

“There are a lot of other good people in town that will do a fine job, and I’m sure that some of them will step forward.”

He has not selected a successor to support.

“I know of some candidates, but I’m going to wait (to see the whole field,)” he said, but he specified in a news release the kind of candidate he prefers: “I personally hope that strong candidates with conservative business credentials come forward. Those voices are needed on the council.”

Specifically, he’s concerned about “fiscal restraint.”

“Over the last two or three decades, more and more money has been spent on salaries and benefits, and less and less on maintaining the city properly,” he said. “It’s essential for new city council members to make progress on employee compensation issues, specifically benefits, to free up money for the things that make Redlands special.”

The unions are negotiating benefits now, and Bean will continue to participate in the negotiations until the end of his term in December.

Bean, 69, said he made the decision when he did because several potential candidates were waiting to see if he would run again, and he wanted to give them time to come forward before filing for council positions opens on July 16.

The filing period will end on Aug. 15.

“I decided for sure this week. I’ve been vacillating back and forth,” he said. “People have been asking me for a long time.”

Bean disabused the rumor that he and his wife, Brenda, were planning to move from Redlands.

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