As thedead1140 noted, it's never too late to take interest in the community or it's governance. You can be of great aid to Council without being on it by participating in the meetings and in helping with the work to be done.

We've had several members that had never served on Council, but became active with those on at the time, and later took up the roll of helping the community by running for Council. I am among them. We've had some that started out doing small but important and time consuming tasks, like making banners or logos for events, creating/updating wiki pages for Council, or creating small apps to help with various tasks. While those may seem small to some, it's more time Council has to spend on more pressing issues, as many of them also have other duties they've taken on for the community as well.

So do keep an eye open for upcoming meetings, drop by, speak up, and lend a hand when you can. Not only will it help the community, but it will put you in a better position of understanding when the next election happens in 6 months. (By which point you will hopefully still want to be in Council.)