Dr. Sarah E. Lewis

Sarah Lewis, a Fayetteville City Council member representing Ward 4, will not seek a second term during the November 2012 election.

Lewis told the Flyer in January she planned to run for re-election this year, but said today she feels that as a result of recent events in her personal and professional life, she would not be able to properly continue serving on the council.

“Ward 4 is a very important part of Fayetteville, and the people in the ward are the reason I ran, the reason I work hard in my role as council member, and the reason I find it very difficult to make this decision,” said Lewis. “Without a doubt the people of Ward 4 will select a thoughtful, hard working, forward thinker, who listens to the citizens and takes into account all necessary perspectives before making decisions on behalf of Ward 4 and all of Fayetteville.”

With 65 percent of the votes, Lewis defeated Craig Honchell and Bernard Sulliban in the 2008 election, and has attended 80 of the 86 council meetings held since January 2009.

She has lived in Arkansas since the summer of 1997 and moved to Fayetteville in 2000.

Aside from currently serving on the council, Lewis is Working Group Manager for the Food, Beverage and Agriculture Sector for The Sustainability Consortium at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, where she holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Dynamics and a Master of Arts in French. She received her Bachelor of Science in Biology and French Secondary Education from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. Lewis said her work with consortium focuses on managing research projects and member relationships within the food, beverage, and agricultural industry in order to develop the Sustainability Measurement and Reporting System. An award-winning educator, she is President of EcoExplique, a consultancy focused on educating communities about the importance of protecting watershed resources, as well as an Adjunct Professor of Environmental Sociology at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

In a news release issued Saturday afternoon, Lewis thanked residents for the opportunity to serve. “I look forward to continuing to serve through the end of this term and continuing to serve Fayetteville in other capacities in the coming years,” she said.

As far as we know, Ward 2 Alderman Matthew Petty still plans to seek re-election in November. Council members Brenda Boudreaux (Ward 1) and Bobby Ferrell (Ward 3) have each said they will not seek another term.

Sarah Marsh is the only resident we know of who plans to run for City Council this year. She is seeking Boudreaux’s open Ward 1, Position 2 seat.