Dr. Willie W. Herenton, the longest serving mayor in the history of the City of Memphis, is stepping down effective July 10.

Dr. Willie W. Herenton

Reactions to Mayor Herenton’s resignation

Excerpts from Mayor Willie W. Herenton’s resignation speech

Herenton, who has filed to run for the Ninth District Congressional seat, announced his resignation at a press conference at City Hall this morning.

City Council Chairman Myron Lowery will serve as mayor pro tem after Herenton leaves office. Lowery said he will talk to the Shelby County Election Commission to see when will be a good time to establish a special election. Whoever wins that special election will serve out the remainder of the mayor’s term until the end of 2011.

Lowery, citing his lengthy record of service as an elected official, said he would be a candidate to serve out the remainder of the term.

The announced field to replace Herenton already includes Shelby County Mayor A C Wharton and former Councilman Carol Chumney with the names of several others mentioned as likely or leaning.

Dr. Herenton's announcement was not exactly a surprise. Rumors have abounded about his imminent departure since he decided to take on Rep. Steve Cohen in the District 9 contest.

In the Hall of Mayors, where no elected African-American mayor had stood before him, Dr. Herenton made it official.

“Let me first reference the book of Ecclesiastes the third chapter.’To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.’ There is a season and there is a time," said the mayor.

“It is now a season and a time for me as a mayor of the great City of Memphis  to announce to you today that effective July 10, 2009, I will resign my tenure as mayor of the city of Memphis."

Calling his tenure as mayor “one of the highlights of my professional career," Dr. Herenton said he had  immensely enjoyed serving the citizens of Memphis as mayor  for the last 18 years.

“I am most proud of the fact that during my tenure as mayor the city of Memphis has grown and prospered for all of its citizens," he said. "And I will leave behind a much better and stronger city government than I inherited."

Dr. Herenton won his first term as mayor on Oct. 17, 1991, defeating incumbent Dick Hackett by 142 votes.

His retirement from city government does not mean retirement from private endeavors or from public service, said Dr. Herenton, detailing his plans to join his son, Rodney, at Herenton Capital Management, a Memphis-based holding company, which focuses on institutional investments and management business.

Dr. Herenton reiterated his plan to seek the seat of the Ninth Congressional District and said over the next several months he intends to devote a great deal of time and energy meeting and listening to the citizens of the district.

“One of the things that I am acutely aware of is the fact that pursuing one public office while holding another creates the appearance of a conflict of interest. I have always been opposed to such behavior by public officials and if I follow the same course of conduct  that I have criticized in the past, it would subject me to the same criticisms that I have publicly stated about others,” Dr. Herenton said.

Colleagues, friends and constituents have tried to persuade him to remain as mayor while running for Congress, Dr. Herenton said.

“But I am convinced that serving as mayor while pursuing a seat in Congress is really not a good idea and would become a distraction.”