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After 12 years, Casey leaves City Council By JIM DAVIS After more than a decade, Linda Casey will give up her seat on the Medford City Council this week. She will attend one more function -- a meeting with a Korean delegation -- then retire from the council. "I put in over 12 years and that's a lot of time and a lot of meetings," Casey said. "I think we need to have other people step forward." Casey started on the City Council in 1986 when her two sons were in grade school and junior high. Now one son is going to college and another has already graduated from college. "It'll be nice to spend a little bit more time with the family," Casey said. Before she started on the council, Casey volunteered in the community. But she said she had never thought about running for an elected position until she got a phone call from a civic activist asking if she would. "After a great deal of consultation, thought and prayer, I decided I would," Casey said. In her first election, she ran successfully against an opponent for an open, four-year term in Ward 2. She's run unopposed in the past two elections. Although elected at the same time, Casey actually has a month's seniority over Mayor Jerry Lausmann, the city's longest-serving mayor. Casey said that because the seat she won was vacant, the council appointed her to the position a month before the normal swearing-in ceremony. One of the unexpected bonuses of public life was making friends on the council and throughout Medford City Hall, Casey said. "I made a lot of friends from the basement to the third floor," Casey said. She said she's happiest about being on the council that started the Medford Urban Renewal Agency. She's also happy about working to expand the city's park system -- including building the play structure at Bear Creek Park. In her post-council era, Casey said, she will continue to do volunteer work. She's already lined up to volunteer with the city's visitor and convention bureau. Looking back, she said she is happy with the work she did on the council. "You always try to make an informed decision," Casey said. "You try not to second-guess yourself." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA