This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The Salt Lake City Council will have at least two new members in 2018, with District 7 representative Lisa Adams announcing Monday that she won't run for a second four-year term.
The news comes a month after Council Chairman Stan Penfold, who represents District 3, announced that he, likewise, would not seek re-election.
"Sometimes people get in elected office and they get married to it and they aren't willing to move on," Adams said. "I'd much rather walk away while it's still a little hard to walk away, rather than feel like someone's pushing me out the door."
Adams said in an earlier statement that "as trite as it is to say," she hopes to spend more time with her family, which includes four grown children and four grandchildren — with a fifth due in August.
She faced a likely challenge from Ben Haynes, a 25-year-old first-time candidate who last year worked for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, but "I'm pretty confident I could get re-elected if that's what I wanted to do," she said.
Adams added that she had set herself a May 1 deadline so that other interested residents would have time to contemplate a race without her. The deadline to file is June 7.
Adams drew the ire of some constituents last fall after the council and mayor's office announced plans to build a 150-bed homeless shelter at a commercial property adjacent to a neighborhood of single-family homes in her district.
She went door to door in the affected neighborhood and eventually took the side of the residents there. The plans for a shelter were scrapped, and the city backed out of a deal to buy the property. Still, the outcry took a toll on Adams.
"I made the decision [not to run again] without that being a huge part of it," she said, "but there's no question that how I was treated and how that shook out really gave me pause, because last fall I was all-in, and I was certainly ready to run again, but then I felt like that was kind of a tsunami."
Adams said her husband, John, urged her to wait until her experience had improved to make a decision about her future. She received clarity, she said, during two weeks she spent out of the country in March.
"I don't think she took it lightly," Penfold said. "I think she gave it a lot of very serious thought."
Councilwoman Erin Mendenhall, who joined Adams in opposing the proposed homeless shelter, said the job has become more difficult since Mayor Jackie Biskupski took office in 2016 because of the dismissal of several department heads and what she perceives as the administration's reluctance to share information.
Adams, who held one of two senior positions on the council as the head of the Redevelopment Agency board, agreed those factors made the job more time-consuming but said it wasn't the driving factor in her decision.
Penfold had faced criticism from two former subordinates that city business was detracting from his day job as executive director of the Utah AIDS Foundation.
Though Penfold has said their assertions didn't dissuade him from running again, he said Monday that "I can safely say that I spent more time with council work this last year than I have in previous years."
Penfold said he will remember Adams for her thoughtfulness and ability to connect with people of varying viewpoints.
Mendenhall said Adams could be counted upon to ask tough questions at council meetings.
"Lisa has the strongest character and integrity that the council has seen in a long time," Mendenhall said.
Adams said she hopes by year's end to have taken steps to address homelessness, a shortage of affordable housing and what she views as the "deplorable" condition of Salt Lake City's streets.
Twitter: @matthew_piper