ELLENSBURG — Ellensburg City Councilmember Janie Niner announced she will be stepping down from her position by the end of the month. She plans to travel to Ecuador to teach English as a second language through World Teach.

Niner has been taking Spanish classes at Central Washington University and hopes to become bilingual by the end of her stay.

“I’m going to be so overwhelmed there,” Niner said. “Its going to be so much information.”

Niner will be one of 40 volunteers traveling to Ecuador. She leaves Aug. 27 to Miami, for a one-day training prior to flying to Quito, Ecuador for a one-month intensive training session.

During the training session, Niner will be taking two hours of Spanish and six hours of educational classes each day.

“They will get us to do evaluations of where we are and where our skills match up,” Niner said. “I will most likely be teaching adults.”

Niner has her eyes set on the town of Loja, located in the mountainous regions of Ecuador.

“It’s a smaller community, but it’s large enough to have two universities,” Niner said.

Loja has a population of around 118,000 people.

Niner will be living with a host family while in Ecuador. A Spokane native, Niner said this will be the furthest she will have ever lived away from home.

Niner said at this point she has no plans to try and rejoin the council upon her return after her 16 months out of the country.

“I wouldn’t be opposed to it, but I just don’t see it at this time,” Niner said. “Being bilingual, I think I’ll have other ways to be beneficial to society.”

Niner as been on the council since 2005, serving about 30 months as a council member and mayor pro-tem.

“I think it’s a very exciting opportunity for her and it’s a loss for the council and the community,” Mayor Nancy Lillquist said. “I think that council member Niner has really grown into the position.”

Lillquist said City Manager Ted Barkley will bring the policy of what steps to take to fill Niner’s position at the next council meeting.

Lillquist said it was her understanding that the council will look for people interested in the community, call out for applications and establish a deadline from there.