Oxford council member Jerry Roseberry has announced he will be run for mayor of Oxford in November.

Oxford's present mayor, Bill Murdy, had previously announced he would not seek to be re-elected when his term expires at the end of the year.

Roseberry has served on the Oxford City Council for two years, half of the four-year term he was originally elected to. He will resign from the council on Monday in order to qualify for a run for mayor in accordance with Georgia state law.

Murdy, the retired dean of Oxford College of Emory University, said that at 78-years-old he felt it was time to step down and let the younger generation handles the running of the city.

"We need young people to come in with new ideas," Murdy said. "I think it's up to the younger people, it's their turn."

Murdy has served as Oxford's mayor for two years, after previously serving two years on the Oxford City Council. He became mayor in May, 2005, after the previous mayor of Oxford, Don Ballard, resigned from office.

 Roseberry said he decided to run for the position after several members of the community asked him to think about it.

Roseberry is best known for his efforts in organizing the city of Oxford's opposition to a proposal by Lafarge Aggregates to build a second asphalt plant near the border of Oxford earlier this year and for his role as project manager for the construction of a maintenance facility for Oxford which opened late last year .

"I guess people have gotten to know me," said Roseberry who has lived in Oxford for the past 10 years with his wife, Pat. "And being in business I just know a lot of people."

Roseberry is the president of Monroe Power Equipment Company of Covington. He earned his Master of Business Administration from Georgia State University.

A member of the Covington Rotary Club, Roseberry said that he and his wife are very active in their church, Allen Memorial United Methodist Church, where he serves as chairman of the church's finance committee.

Roseberry said he has not yet put together a campaign platform, but that if elected to the position of mayor, he would work to bring more tax revenue to the city of Oxford to fund necessary infrastructure projects.

"Just to replace and repair our water system would be over $41 million," Roseberry said. "We've got to find money and find a better way of doing things. I think I can help."

Roseberry and his wife Pat have a son, a daughter-in-law and two college-aged grandchildren.

Qualification for Newton County municipal elections begins at 8:30 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 27, and ends at 4:30 p.m., Friday, Aug. 31.