In a surprising and emotional announcement made at Tuesday's City Council meeting, Mayor Steve Christie announced that he will not be running for office in this fall’s municipal election.

The announcement was made near the end of the meeting during the reports.

Usually, Mayor Christie reads his report first, but this time he elected to go last so he could close the meeting with his announcement.

Christie says he is proud of his accomplishments during his time in office, but it's time for his family to be repaid for all the support and sacrifices they have given him.

"It's something that my family has given up 13 years of support, and a lot of things that this job took me to, so it's their turn to enjoy me...Getting that arena renovation done, back in the council days, one of my highlights was the LMC, getting the LMC completed in 2007 was a huge huge thing. We're working together right now on getting the west area services, and that's something that has been on the books for, I’m going to say, probably honestly about 20 years, getting services out there, and we are further along than we ever, ever have been. So if I can get that completed prior to the end of this term it's a huge win."

He also pointed to the strong regional partnerships he was a part of, with one major project currently underway.

"Been working for almost 6 years, 5 and 1/2 years on the wastewater line.  I drove along it and actually reminisced of the many meetings with different Ministers and different governments, federal and provincial and convincing them to work together on a project such as this, and allowing us to stack grants and it came to fruition".

Christie also pointed to the regional BOLT Transit system as another great example.

In terms of what the future holds, Christie plans to go back to being another everyday contributing resident.

"Go be just Steve and get a job and contribute to my family hopefully as much and as in as important of a manner as they contributed to my tenure here as Mayor and on Council".

Mayor Christie has been a Lacombe resident for more than 20 years, and has volunteered for the Rotary, Youth Advisory, and as a volunteer firefighter.

He served as Councillor for 6 years before being elected Mayor back in 2010.