VALDOSTA — The chairman of the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners, Bill Slaughter, will run for a fourth term this year.

Slaughter has held the seat since 2013. During his last three terms, he said, he worked to improve Lowndes County by improving roadways, revitalizing public spaces for community use, and creating more local jobs.

If Slaughter is re-elected for a fourth term he plans to focus on the continuation of the Transportation Improvement Act. The TIA is a regional 1% sales tax that Slaughter said helps improve traffic flow around Lowndes County by paving dirt roads as well as widening roads in high traffic areas.

“With us being the economic hub of south Georgia, it just made sense to share this one penny tax through a regional concept so that the roads, the bridges, that infrastructure can be improved and be beneficial to Lowndes County and folks coming into our community,” said Slaughter.

Aside from his work on the TIA, Slaughter will continue to look at the current county ordinances.

Slaughter hopes to work with the county Board of Commissioners to make improvements on ordinances so they can better serve all the residents of Lowndes County. Some of the ordinances Slaughter wants to improve have not been updated for 20 years or more.

“It’s time to update a lot of those ordinances…We started working on that this past year, and certainly there will be a lot more ordinances to come that we will need to look at,” said Slaughter. “We have ordinances we want to improve in animal control, and some of our noise ordinances.”

Over the last three terms Slaughter said he has worked closely with the county government and the local municipality governments to create a positive work relationship so that they can all work together to improve the quality of life for residents.

Along with improving residents’ lives Slaughter hopes to bring in more industries that create jobs in the community.

“We want [current and incoming residents] to find a job here in our community…we want the brightest and the best to stay,” said Slaughter. “We have a level of responsibility as local government working with our Valdosta-Lowndes Development Authority to do everything we can to [create] jobs here.”

Slaughter also highlights the importance of supporting local businesses and industries as they grow and prosper. The continued growth of local business will also help create new jobs and opportunities for local residents.

Slaughter said that his organizational skills and his ability to work with the community’s residents are what make him a good fit as county chairman, and he is excited to continue serving the residents of Lowndes County.

“It has been my honor to serve the citizens of Lowndes County for the last 12 years. I humbly seek your support and vote as we continue the progress that Lowndes County Commission Board has had in making Lowndes County a better place for our citizens to live.”

Qualifying for the commission chairman’s seat will be March 4-8, the primary election will be held May 21 and the general election Nov. 5.