CONYERS- The race for the Rockdale County chairman seat will soon add another contestant.
Post 1 County Commissioner Oz Nesbitt will officially declare his intention to run for chairman of the county Tuesday, July 14. The event will be held at the Assembly Hall, 901 Main Street, Conyers, at 11:30 a.m., which will be just after the Rockdale County Board of Commissioners (BOC) voting session that begins at 10 a.m.
Current Rockdale Chairman and CEO Richard Oden declared his intention to run for re-election at an event in March. No other candidates have emerged as of yet for the county chair seat in the 2016 election year.
Nesbitt has long been an advocate of changing the leadership of Rockdale. Earlier this year, he went on an 18-tweet rant where voiced his displeasure with how Oden has been running the county since he took office in 2009 and how the community shouldn’t vote him back to office.
"Its too late. You've had nearly 8 years to get-it-together," Nesbitt tweeted. "No on will continue to follow a ‘DUMB THANG'!"
Broken promises and FALSE HOPE!" Nesbitt says in another tweet. "Bully and intimidate the employees, talk down to the citizens....What do YOU THINK they're gonna do? REALLY?"
Playing with the words in the county's mission statement, Nesbitt calls for the removal of Oden as chairman of Rockdale.
"Rockdale County is PERFECTLY POSITIONED 2 escort you O.U.T.!," he tweeted.
"STOP the hemmerging,STOP the bleeding," tweeted Nesbitt during the rant in March. "People have moved out,businesses have closed and we still have the highest unemployment. U gotta go!"
It didn’t stop there. Last month, Nesbitt called out Oden on Twitter again.
“Moving ROCKDALE FORWARD means leaving abusive, self-centered and egotistical powers behind,” he tweeted.
“We continue to lose valuable employees under this poor administration and lack of leadership. This is totally out of order,” Nesbitt tweeted.
Nesbitt was first elected to the county commission in 2009. With him opting to run for chairman, his current seat on the board will be vacated and will have to be filled by another candidate.