MACON, Ga. — Voters in Bibb County’s District 7 have elected Bill Howell to represent them in the Macon-Bibb County commission.
Howell received 2,904 votes, or 62.12% of the overall total.
His opponent, Bonnie Thompson, received 1,771 votes or 37.88% of the overall total.
He will now succeed commissioner Scotty Shepherd, who decided not to run for reelection.
Howell says District 7 needs some love and he's ready to get to work.
"District 7 has been neglected for the last several years and there are some drainage issues, there are a couple of red lights. Like everyone else, we need some roads patched," he said.
On the campaign trail, Howell identified his top priority as making the county safer and working on understaffing at the sheriff’s office.
He said more deputies wasn’t the only solution to lowering crime, but that education and making sure people have essential ‘life skills’ is also part of it.
"You know, we have to look at these young adults that maybe didn't get the proper training or education or whatever the thing is, we can't just throw those away because they bring up the next generation behind them, so we have to start with them and work our way back," Howell said.
As for the county budget, Howell says the county needs to cut wasteful spending.
"We got to look at the basic functions of our government and things that we're doing that are not basic functions of our government, we have to cut out or curtail," Howell said.
He also wanted to focus his attention on fixing south Bibb’s drainage and flooding problems.
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