City Council member Shelia Finlayson will not seek reelection later this year in order to focus on her personal life.

“Well, it’s been 18 years, and it’s time. I have other responsibilities like caring for my father. That’s very important to me,” Finlayson said in a phone interview Tuesday. “While I have been bouncing back and forth for the last two years, I decided that I needed to kind of free up my time. That’s not to say that I’m not going to continue to do my very best as an alderman, but after my term ends, I’d like to [have] the freedom to care for him and to do other things.“

Finlayson publicly announced her retirement from a nearly 20-year political career in a YouTube video on March 14.

In the video, Finlayson is sitting at her desk at the City Council dais at City Hall. She begins by acknowledging her tenure as a senior member of the council, recounting her professional history leading the Teacher’s Association of Anne Arundel County before her first campaign for City Council. At the end, Finlayson announces that she will retire from a nearly two-decade-long political career representing Ward 4.

Finlayson, a Democrat, was elected in 2007 following a special election to replace her Democratic predecessor Wayne Taylor. Taylor stepped down to work for Anne Arundel County under former County Executive John Leopold.

Since then, she has served five consecutive terms as Ward 4’s council member chairing several committees including Finance, Public Safety and, currently, Rules and City Government. Finlayson joins outgoing Alderman Ross Arnett, a Democrat representing Ward 8, as one of the most senior council members. Arnett, elected the same year as Finlayson, announced he would not seek re-election at the beginning of the year.

Finlayson has sponsored or co-sponsored more than 154 pieces of legislation since 2014, according to Annapolis’ public legislative portal; however, her accomplishments date further back.

Under former Mayor Josh Cohen, who was elected in 2009 and served one term, she co-sponsored legislation that established the city manager form of government that remains in place today. The legislation changed the city charter and code to what Finlayson described as a form of government that “sits in the middle” where the mayor is still the chief executive officer, but the city manager supervises department directors and the day-to-day operations.

She has also made several attempts to bring more affordable “workforce” housing — defined as housing for teachers, police officers, nurses, and more — to Annapolis.

Though she acknowledged not meeting “much success” in this endeavor, Finlayson teased in her video that “there is a plan in [the] works.” Asked what she meant, Finlayson didn’t provide much detail.

“I think the city has an opportunity; we’ll see if we embrace the possibility of acquiring some land ourselves and developing it into workforce housing,” she said.

Alderman DaJuan Gay, a Democrat representing Ward 6, said he felt “shock” after learning of Finlayson’s retirement. Gay said he will miss the institutional knowledge that both Finlayson and Arnett brought to the council.

“That’s the one thing I do fear losing out on [with] both Ross and Shelia. There have been so many times where we’ve been on the council and we’re having these debates and they’re like, ‘Oh, wait, well, in 2006 and 2007 we had this debate, and this is what they said at the time, and you know, this was the best route to take it.’ I mean knowledge is an invaluable tool, and so it’s going to really, really hurt to lose them,” Gay said.

As of now, Janice Allsup-Johnson, a Democrat, is the only candidate for the Ward 4 seat in November.

“I’ve done an awful lot in my professional career in and around the city, and it was all a labor of love for me and now it’s just time for me to change my focus,” Finlayson said.

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