Carlsbad

Carlsbad Mayor Mary Casler, who has served on the City Council since 1975, has announced that she will not seek reelection in November.

Casler, 66, said she wants to spend more time with her husband, Jack, who is retiring from his job as a professor of mechanical engineering at UC San Diego.

A former schoolteacher from Pasadena, Casler was elected mayor in 1982 by a 2-to-1 margin. A diligent student of Carlsbad issues, she has become known for her strict adherence to parliamentary procedures and no-nonsense conduct of council meetings.

During Casler’s tenure, Carlsbad ended a long feud with the state Coastal Commission, finally winning passage of its local coastal program late last year, and approved construction of a graduate university and think tank in the southwestern corner of the city.

In the last few years, her power on the council has been eclipsed somewhat by the election of slow-growth advocate Mark Pettine and the emergence of a vocal citizens movement to slow the pace of development in the community.