AUGUSTA — At-large City Councilor Corey Wilson is leaving the council because he is moving to Readfield, where his family is buying a home.

Wilson, whose three-year term on the council otherwise would end at the end of the year, submitted his resignation to the city Wednesday, to be effective July 31.

“I’m really sad to be leaving the council and more sad to be leaving Augusta,” said Wilson. “I’ve had such a great time here in this community, and I mean every bit of that.”

Wilson said he and his family are moving to Readfield, where they expect to close on a house in a couple of weeks. There they will be closer to the family of his wife, Sarah, including her grandmother, for whom she plans to help provide care.

They’ve sold their Eight Rod Road home in Augusta, with the closing set for the end of the month.

Mayor David Rollins said the city will not fill the position until the November election, when it would have been on the ballot anyway. He anticipates there will be a competitive race to fill the seat.

The city charter states that when council or school board positions become vacant for longer than six months, which the at-large spot would not be, city councilors should schedule an election to fill the spot as soon as is practical.

Rollins said Wilson will be missed on the council, but he understood that it was a family decision for him to leave Augusta, which meant he no longer could serve on the council.

“He’s very passionate and has been trying to help all of us to improve the city,” Rollins said of Wilson. “His personality and perspective will be missed.”

Wilson, who represented Augusta in the state House of Representatives from 2012 to 2014 as a Republican, said he was impressed with how his fellow councilors took a nonpartisan approach to their roles as councilors. He was elected to the City Council in 2016.

“In my three years on the council, I never once have seen an issue handled in a partisan way. That’s pretty awesome,” Wilson said. “My colleagues (on the council) are nothing short of exceptional, fair, balanced. We work so well together. Political parties were never considered. Everybody just took care of each other, like a family. I’m proud of the bipartisanship.”

The Marine veteran said he is also proud that during his time on the council, members worked well together to come up with fair budgets that kept administrative costs low, increased the percentage of funding going to education and, this year, passed a budget that did not require a property tax increase.

He said he has no regrets about his time on the council.

Wilson, an administrator with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, hopes also to open a business in Augusta, an all-terrain vehicle sales and repair shop he plans to call Wilson’s Recreation, at 2459 North Belfast Ave. The current zoning of the site, however, does not allow that use. A proposal has been submitted to ask the Planning Board to review whether the zoning of the parcel could be altered to allow that use at the site, and make a recommendation back to city councilors.

Wilson said “only time will tell” if he’ll make a return to politics.

He said it has always been a dream of his to return to politics, either at the state or federal level, but he hasn’t been able to do so while holding his VA job because federal law bars executive branch employees from running in partisan elections.

Wilson said starting his own business eventually might allow him to leave his job and thus also be able to run for state or federal office.

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