Camas City Councilor Tim Hazen announced tonight that he is quitting the council to concentrate on the senior living centers he owns and operates.

“As I told the mayor … in the end, I’ve really enjoyed the experience,” Hazen said at the beginning of tonight’s 7 p.m. city council meeting. “And I will look for other opportunities to (serve) this community.”

Hazen was appointed to his Ward 1 council position, which covers downtown and southeast Camas, in January of 2011. He replaced former city councilwoman Helen Gerde, who resigned in 2011 after serving as a councilor for 15 years. Hazen, a Camas resident since 1994, was elected to serve his first full four-year term in November of 2011. He was re-elected in 2015 and is now halfway through his second term, which ends Dec. 31, 2019.

The city council will appoint someone to replace Hazen and serve through the end of 2018. If that person wants to serve through the end of Hazen’s actual term, he or she will have to win the public’s approval in November of 2018.

Camas Mayor Scott Higgins was not in attendance at tonight’s council meeting, but Hazen thanked the mayor, along with former city administrator Lloyd Halverson and city staff for their guidance during his early years on the council.

“It’s not easy,” Hazen said of being appointed to serve as a city councilor. “There was so much I didn’t understand.”

He credited Higgins, Halverson and others with helping him learn the ropes.

Other Camas city councilors wished Hazen well at tonight’s meeting, saying he had been the type of public official who challenged them and made them think more critically.

Mayor Pro-tem Steve Hogan said the council benefitted from Hazen’s breadth and depth of knowledge and wished the outgoing councilor the best of luck in the future.

Hazen, a popular figure during the annual summertime Camas Days celebrations, said he will still be an active member of the Camas community and promised that he will still coordinate the Camas Days Main Parade — something he’s done for the past 20 years.

Hazen currently acts as the council liaison for the following: Finance Committee, Parks and Recreation Commission and the Economic Development Strategy Committee for Economic Incentives. He also acts as alternate liaison to the city’s planning commission.

The council plans to discuss the procedure to appoint a new councilor at their next workshop, scheduled for 4:30 p.m., Monday, Nov. 6.