November is a long way off, but the race for the two Princeton Council seats that will become available is already underway. Bernie Miller and Jo Butler have announced they will not run again. Leticia Fraga recently declared her candidacy, and architect David Cohen sent out a press release Monday saying he is joining the race.

For Ms. Butler, who has served on the consolidated Council since 2013 and was previously a member of Borough Council, the decision to vacate her seat was “a kind of a confluence of a number of things, both personal and professional,” she said Monday. “For one thing, we will be through the fifth year of consolidation. People recognize that as a kind of deadline, if you will. That’s the point that all of the ordinances were to have been harmonized.”

While the process of creating new ordinances might not be 100 percent complete by November, the five-year mark makes a logical point for her to stop, Ms. Butler said. She has high hopes that the renovation of Mary Moss Park in the Witherspoon-Jackson neighborhood will be completed this summer. As the Council’s representative to the Recreation department, the Mary Moss and other related projects have been among her priorities.

“In terms of the Rec department, we need to look at a major renovation of Community Park South, and perhaps before that it would be better for somebody else to be in my seat as the liaison,” she said.

Council announced recently that it would add some morning meetings to its schedule of gatherings, which have traditionally been held in the evenings. “As someone who has a day job, it’s hard,” said Ms. Butler, who works for Wickenden Associates, an educational consulting firm that looks for senior leadership for independent schools. “It’s a little worrisome because we need people on Council with certain skills — lawyers, architects, planners — and to the extent we have so many daytime obligations, it will be difficult to attract them if they have full-time jobs.”

Ms. Butler can be persistent on issues that concern her. “People are now calling me independent, whereas two years ago they were calling me obstructionist,” she said, referring to a contentious battle for re-election that she won over former Township committee member Sue Nemeth. “I have tried to ask the tough questions and be vocal when I had concerns. It’s a challenge, particularly with a premium put on getting along. I guess I just have a different view. I don’t think questions or concerns should be viewed negatively. It helps you to get a better result. So I hope, going forward, that that is not the case. But it will be hard for people without experience in government to know what questions to ask.”

With Mr. Miller and herself leaving Council and former member Patrick Simon gone as of last month, Ms. Butler said she worries that finance will no longer be well-represented. “I know there will be qualified Democrats who will step in to run. I know them to be very good people. But it is a concern,” she said.

Mr. Cohen has been active in the Princeton Community Democratic Organization since 2004, when he joined the executive board. He has been its president and treasurer, among other roles, according to the release he sent out this week.

“I have worked on developing the art of careful listening and working with lay committees to build consensus, both in my professional and political careers,” he said. “My philosophy of government is that change is inevitable — if we don’t plan for change, we get change we don’t want. Better to think about the future we aspire to for our community, and put in place policies that will help bring that future into being.”

A member of the Planning Board for three years, Mr. Cohen has also served on the town’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee for nearly a decade. His concerns include zoning upgrades to preserve neighborhood character, affordable housing, the bicycle master plan, and saving and repurposing the Valley Road School building. If elected, his priorities would be working to expand the supply of both subsidized affordable and mid-range housing options in town, continuing to promote alternative modes of transportation, and advocating for policies to reverse the trend and alleviate effects of growing economic inequality.

“Having participated in the Women’s March on Washington and watched the subsequent distressing week in national politics unfold, I have become convinced that local politics offers one of the best opportunities to resist the Trump agenda and rebuild the strength of the Democratic party,” he said.