St. Paul School Board Member Tom Conlon -- a rare elected official in St. Paul and Minneapolis who is a Republican -- said today that he will resign his post in July when he moves to North Carolina to run an historic inn.

Conlon was first elected to the school board in 1991 and has been re-elected four times.

"I am excited for this opportunity to become a managing partner and innkeeper of the Cedar Crest Inn in Asheville, North Carolina," Conlon said. "This has been a goal I have looked at for some time, and an opportunity arose that made this possible.

"At the same time, I am sad to leave the school board and my birth city of St. Paul," he said. "I’ve had a wonderful 18 years of service, and I loved nearly every minute of it. I am grateful for the confidence the citizens of St. Paul placed in me all these years. I will miss serving St. Paul’s families with their constituent needs, the policy discussions, my colleagues and our district staff, and my city."

He said he'll keep his home in St. Paul and come back occasionally for his photography business and for personal engagements.

As a lone Republican in a DFL-dominated city and school board, Conlon was often a lonely voice on social and fiscal issues, voting against tax levy increases and referendums, and advocating for less spending. He worked to get JROTC programs in St. Paul and to require weekly Pledge of Allegiance recitations in the schools.

After graduating from Highland Park Senior High School in 1978, Conlon served in the Marines and then earned a B.A. in journalism and political science and an M.A. in public administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1984 and 1986. It's those ties to North Carolina and the Asheville area in the Blue Ridge Mountains  that led to the new job.

He'll be innkeeper at the The Cedar Crest Inn, built in 1891. It is a Queen Anne Victorian style 15-room inn in Asheville.