Floyd is new commissioner
Polk County Commission members vote for Hal Floyd to fill the District 3 seat.
Polk County commissioners gathered for a special called meeting for a brief executive session and then to decide on who will be serving as the next District 3 commissioner.
With a 5-0 vote, the board decided that Hal Floyd would be taking over the seat for the remainder of the term for the seat.
“It’s an honor to be on the board,” Floyd said. “There are several issues that we need to address currently, but the real focus is on the future and where we’re going and how we’re going to manage the future. I want to make sure the growth heading our way is done in the right way.”
Floyd said the challenges he wants to investigate further first are the situation at the Polk County Landfill on Grady Road and the issues over the Polk County Fire Department.
“I think I’d like to get all the information and facts that we can and see how we can move forward on those two issues,” Floyd said. “Other than that I think it’s the future, and I think I mentioned in the question and answer session that it’s like we have four families moving into Polk County each week.”
Additionally, Floyd said he wanted to work on improving public safety in Polk County to make all residents safer.
Floyd was chosen out of a group of three that included Larry Reynolds and Tim Yarbrough.
The trio went before the board during their night of meetings on Oct. 9 for a question and answer session.
He fill the seat left of by Stefanie Drake Burford, who resigned from office at the end of August.
The former Board of Education member for District 6, Floyd resigned his position back in August as well to allow his daughter to take on an administrative role in the Polk School District and avoid any issues of nepotism.
Floyd was an executive at Tip Top Poultry who was in charge of building and starting the Rockmart plant in the late 1980s, where he served until his retirement and settled down in Rockmart.
He said that previously he’d been asked by people to run for a county commission seat, but had no interest initially. Floyd finally decided to seek out a position after leaving the school board and still having a desire to serve the community.
County Manager Matt Denton said that Floyd’s swearing ceremony is still to be determined but the county is hopeful that it will take place before the November meeting.