Salt Lake City Council Chairman Dale Lambert, who represents Salt Lake City's Sugar House neighborhood, has decided not to seek reelection.

Lambert's District 7 term expires at year's end along with three other colleagues on the seven-member council. With his announcement Wednesday, Lambert becomes the only incumbent council member not to seek reelection this year.

In a statement outlining his decision Lambert expressed dismay that there seemed to be few qualified candidates who were willing to run for the council in Sugar House. He also urged candidates to avoid drawing Mormon/non-Mormon or political lines during the campaign. "I hope that good candidates will step forward," Lambert said. The coming election should not be "about political partisanship, nor is it about whether one agrees or disagrees with the mayor (I have done both). It also should not be an election about religious affiliation — those who wish to make that an issue exacerbate divisions in our community."