When Vice Mayor Andy Weissman steps down from the City Council in April – because of term limits after serving two terms – some denizens of City Hall say it will seem like a father leaving home.

City Hall without Mr. Weissman, the patriarch, the wise man of the City Council who, in his mid-60s, is at the peak of his intellectual powers?

One city staffer said it will seem like a house without a roof or without walls.

Since the middle 1980s, he has been a fixture on various commissions or special appointee.

Hardly any of Mr. Weissman’s Council predecessors have tried to come back after sitting on the sidelines for the required two years.

It is generally agreed that no one has mounted a successful third term.

Mr. Weissman has not said yes or no to a comeback.

Recent predecessors such as Gary Silbiger, Alan Corlin and Steve Rose thoroughly invested their lives in what were then every-Monday meetings.

Just as cleanly, when the three of them left, they vowed they were done. No one doubted their pledges.

But Mr. Weissman’s case is slightly different because he has a considerably longer relationship with City Hall than the aforementioned three.

Somehow, the air feels different when a former Council member attempts a comeback.

The thought has visited Mr. Weissman’s nimble mind. “It remains to be seen,” he says, “what type of elected you would be if you came back.”

Stepping out a little farther, he ventures that “anything is possible. But in my case, eight years may be fine.”

Tantalizingly, Mr. Weissman adds, “I have a lot of time to think about it.”

He couldn’t resist serving a rhetorical dessert: “A lot of time for the community to think about it.”