The fourth longest-serving TV reporter in Charlotte history has decided to take the Tegna buyout, before he was pushed out.

The Charlotte Observer writes that WCNC Reporter Glen Counts who covered police and courts in Charlotte 28 years before taking a buyout Friday offered to senior staffers at the NBC affiliate, says it sounded like a good idea at the time.

WCNC and 45 other Tegna stations, made buyout offers recently to staffers over 55 with at least 15 years of service. Counts was one of a handful of workers at Channel 36 and the only on-air personality who took the offer.

Counts says it will give him some quality time with his 94-year-old mother, whom he takes care of.

“How often do you get a chance to sit back and figure out what you want to do with the rest of your life?” he says.

At age 59, Counts says he’s too young to retire and eventually will look for something else to do.