MONROE COUNTY, Ga. — After Tuesday's runoffs, Monroe County will have some new faces serving the county. There were two runoff races and the incumbents in both were unseated.
People in Monroe County went to the polls to vote for commission chairman and county coroner.
Alan Gibbs and incumbent Greg Tapley were the final options for chairman. Voters ultimately entrusted Gibbs with the position, receiving 67% of the vote to Tapley's 33%.
Tapley was elected chairman in 2016. Gibbs said he's looking forward to the opportunity to serve his community.
"I'm also excited to give us a new start so you know we're coming up. I've already been in contact with the incumbent and county workers now. So we're working on making this a easy transition for something that, when January comes around, we'll be able to walk right into and not skip a beat," Gibbs said.
Gibbs said there's a big problem with traffic that he wants to address.
"It's not an easy thing to fix here. It's not an easy thing to fix but we have to put one foot in front of the other to get moving forward. Water for our county is another thing we've got to work on. We've got to start somewhere with that," Gibbs said.
In the race for coroner, Mark Goolsby is back serving the public. He retired from the county after being a building inspector for 18 years.
Goolsby won with 62% of the votes. He replaces incumbent Joey Proctor who served for the last 28 years.
"It's going to be a challenge. There's a lot of things that we need to do to upgrade our coroner's office here in Monroe County, and I feel like that's one reason I was elected," Goolsby said.
Goolsby said he wants to provide a better office location and more coolers for victims.
"If we had a mass causality storms, tornadoes, anything that would cause a mass casualty, we need the capacity to have a place for the victims," Goolsby said.
Monroe County voters will have a local race on the ballot come November.
There will be a special election for the district four commission seat after George Emami announced his retirement in May.
Emami is serving his seventh year with the county. He said being a commissioner was part-time for him and his other projects require more of his attention.
"I'm just at a point where my businesses need me. You know, they need me more than I think more than the county needs me. And so for me, it's a choice about what I'm going and not what I'm leaving," Emami said.
Emami said he's proud of what he's done in the position including never voting for a tax increase, and getting people access to high-speed internet.
"Was a part of it on a state and even national level on terms of lobbying and working towards solutions with that. So at this point I would say probably 90-95% of the county has high speed internet now so I'm proud of that," Emami said.
Gibbs and Goolsby do not have any democrat opponents so they will take office in January barring a successful write-in campaign.
The special election for district four will take place during the general election in November. Qualifying for the vacant seat will start July 22 through July 24.