APEX - On the sidelines of the Apex High School football field, look for the 57-year-old man with smiling blue eyes working the chain crew on the visitors' side of the stadium.

It's no other than longtime councilman Mike Jones.

During home games, Jones works the sidelines at the school where he once played. He remembers an era when the team was small enough that everyone played offense and defense. Jones himself even played special teams as a punter.

For more than 17 years, Jones has moved the chains for his alma mater and with his wife's seal of approval.

"I tell her I have to go watch the games," he joked. "They need me there."

But now the Apex-bred councilman is prepping to say goodbye to his hometown.

Jones, who was elected to the Apex Town Council in 1989, is leaving town for a job as the campus vice president at Central Hospital in Lillington, which is under construction. His official resignation on the council becomes effective today. The council is still deciding how best to fill the two years of his unexpired term.

Jones has spent more than 20 years juggling his day job as an administrator for hospitals such as WakeMed and Harnett Health Systems and his role on the town's governing board.

He has kept busy doing everything from playing softball for the Jaycees to volunteering to shave his head to raise money for breast cancer research.

A fond farewell

At his last council meeting earlier this month, Jones struggled through an emotional farewell to his fellow council members and the town.

His voice caught several times during his speech, but he managed to avoid tears by clearing his throat a few times and drinking sips of water.

In true Jones fashion, he couldn't help but crack a joke.

"Thank you all," he said. "I wish my wife was here, but she didn't want to break her record and come to a meeting."

The rest of his speech was both serious and lighthearted.

"I've been blessed in a lot of ways to be born in a small town," he said. "I'm proud, I'm humbled. (Former Apex Mayor) Larry Jordan talked me into being on the board of adjustment in 1988. I figured the only way to get off of that was to run for council."

Jordan chuckled at the memory.

"He told people they could blame me," said Jordan, who first met his friend when Jones was a Little League baseball player.

He said he's never regretted encouraging Jones to run for the council.

"What you see is what you get with Mike," he said. "I don't know anybody who has loved the community better than he has all these years."

Jones said he never anticipated lasting two decades on the council.

"The thing that makes this town great is the caliber of people we have here; we're awful lucky to have them," he said pausing briefly.

He thanked the volunteers and people who served on town boards for little to no compensation. His last words were both self-deprecating and humble.

"I know my timing is awkward," he said. "My apologies to the people of Apex for leaving in the middle of a shift."

His remarks were met with a standing ovation from the audience.

Rock steady

Those who work with Jones call him a steady presence.

"Mike was always the voice of reason on council," said Apex Chamber of Commerce President Brenda Steen. "I could always count on Mike to vote on what he though was best for Apex, even if it wasn't popular."

In the past few months, Jones has had to make difficult decisions. Despite friendships with Apex EMS workers, Jones - who serves as the council's finance committee chairman - recommended ceding the department to Wake County to save money.

He was outvoted 3 to 2.

Jones was the lone dissenter on recent changes to the town's laws allowing children to play in cul-de-sacs or dead-end streets. He contended the laws were impractical and a liability.

"I don't think the town should endorse an unsafe practice of children playing in right-of-ways," he said, after the vote.

It's his ability to stick to his beliefs and speak only when he has something to say that has impressed Steen.

"I can remember so many times he would oppose the popular vote and I would be sitting in the back saying 'yes' because it was so obvious," she said. "He is what I think an elected official should be."

Steen remembered working with Jones, who was the council's liaison for the chamber of commerce for more than eight years.

"He would hit all the hot-topic items in three minutes or less," she said. "And he would add a sense of humor to it. He would pick (on the council) that it took them an hour and half to make a decision."

Park advocate

Most award plaques are short and to the point. But the one Angela Reincke presented and read aloud to Jones at the council meeting honoring Aug. 16 for his service to Apex's parks and recreation board took more than a minute to read.

Jones has served on the town's parks advisory commission since being elected.

Even so, Reincke wasn't satisfied that the plaque truly depicted his service.

"It simply doesn't say enough," she said about Jones' contributions. "His commitment to the town and residents is evident."

As a part of her presentation, she shared some of the highlights during his tenure, including the construction of nine town parks and community centers, the addition of 10 miles of greenways, a fundraising campaign to renovate the Halle Cultural Arts Center and more than $6 million in bonds for parks.

"Thanks to Mike some of our newest and oldest residents have found a place to play," she said.