Sumner’s Leroy Goff will not run for city council reelection after 26 years as a public servant

Leroy Goff, a man who has been a fixture in public office in Sumner for nearly 30 years, will not run for re-election to his City Council seat. Goff confirmed Monday he had made an 11th hour decision not to file.

By Daniel Nash • June 14, 2011 4:06 pm
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Leroy Goff will not seek reelection to Sumner's city council after 26 years in public office. He is seen here at the opening of the city visitors center.
Leroy Goff will not seek reelection to Sumner's city council after 26 years in public office. He is seen here at the opening of the city visitors center.

Leroy Goff, a man who has been a fixture in public office in Sumner for nearly 30 years, will not run for re-election to his City Council seat. Goff confirmed Monday he had made an 11th hour decision not to file.

“It was a pretty hard decision to make,” he said. “I’ve served for a long time. But I decided shortly before the (June 3) deadline that it was time to leave because there are so many good candidates out there; people who I think will make good decisions on the issues for the city.”

Goff had intended to file for the election last week, he said,  but made the decision not to run 20 minutes before the 4 p.m. deadline.

“Even though it was a hoot in a way, it was hard to get the right decision on some of the things that came to a vote,” he said. “It could be a burden at times. Sometimes I would go home and ask why the heck the council voted the way it did, why I had taken the position I did. I would wonder if I had made the right decision in my position.”

Goff first ran for city council in 1984 and began his first term in 1985. From 1992 to 1994, he served as sitting mayor, but otherwise served on the council uninterrupted until the end of his current term.

Goff first came to Sumner in 1937 with his aunt and uncle, two bakers looking to escape a harsh market in their native Nebraska.

During World War II, he served with the Navy in the Pacific theater, on the Omaha-class cruiser USS Concord. After the war he joined the Merchant Marine.

In 1958 he was appointed to the city’s Civil Defense Chair by the Veterans of Foreign Wars. He remained in non-elected positions until members of VFW encouraged his 1984 council bid.

He has been heavily involved in the American Cancer Society since losing his wife to the disease in 1998. He has also been involved in the Cub Scouts, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Sumner Downtown Association, Red Cross and the board of the Lions 4 Kids House.

With his time freeing up at the end of this year, he will likely continue to volunteer, and maybe make time for fishing, he said.

The candidates running for Goff’s seat, Council Position 7, are Joseph Gerace and Mike LeMaster. Other city council candidates are Nancy Dumas, Richard Lawson and Jon Swanson for Council Position 4, Cynthia Hochstatter for Council Position 5, and Melony Kirkish and Curt Brown for Council Position 6.

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