DECATUR, Ala. (WHNT) — Decatur Mayor Tab Bowling announced during a city council work session on Monday that he will not be seeking re-election in 2025.

“I will not seek another term for the office of mayor,” Bowling said near the end of the session.

According to Bowling, he made the decision a few weeks ago when speaking with a resident who expressed interest in serving the city.

“During the course of this visit, he shared that he had sold his business…” Bowling said. “And he has a desire to serve the city as Mayor. And spending time with the individual, knowing him like I do, watching him serve the city in a variety of roles – he has done that in a way that a public servant, that I think everybody would be pleased with, would serve and he has a heart for public service. However, he’s got to earn that ability, and there might be other candidates to come up that would be excellent in that role as well, I’m sure there’ll be a bunch of candidates to come up.”

Bowling, 63, was elected mayor in 2016, becoming the first mayor to win re-election in Decatur since 1994. The next election for mayor will be in 2025.