Seat 2-B Bulloch County Commissioner Walter C. Gibson thinks that about 22 years of service on the Board of Commissioners is enough and will not seek re-election, he told the Statesboro Herald on Tuesday, March 8.

By some accounts he has served on the board longer than that, but he recalled that his first election was in 2000, and that is also the year given in his brief biography on the county website. Candidate qualifying is underway this week, daily until noon Friday, and Toby Conner had qualified for the seat Monday at the Bulloch County Republican Party headquarters. But Gibson, who is also a Republican, had not, and some people were still expecting him to do so.

“I want to spend more time on what you might call leisure activities, time with family, with grandchildren, maybe a little travel, a little volunteering,” said Gibson, who is in his mid-70s.

He said he wanted to get the word out so that any potential candidates will know there will not be an incumbent but he does not know Conner and had not known he planned to run.

Gibson, who holds a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from the University of Georgia, had a 32-year career as a vocational agriculture teacher, concluding at Statesboro High School, prior to his service as a county commissioner. After retiring as a full-time teacher, he continued as an active substitute teacher for another 10 years or so, overlapping his years on the county commission.

As of 5 p.m. Tuesday, Conner, 37, a farmer in the Stilson-Leefield area who previously worked for the Georgia Ports Authority, remained the only candidate to have qualified for Seat 2-B.

Other commissioners

Meanwhile, incumbent Commissioner Anthony Simmons, a Democrat, was the only candidate to have qualified for Seat 1-B, and incumbent Commissioner Timmy Rushing, a Republican, was the only candidate to have signed up and paid the fee for Seat 2-D.

Those three commission seats are the only partisan local offices up for election in Bulloch County this year. But on the nonpartisan portion of the May 24 ballot there will be a countywide race for judge of the Bulloch County State Court, and four Board of Education districts are slated to elect school board members.

Board of Education

One of those districts, BOE District 4, appears set to have at least a three-candidate race, after Kathy C. Sherrod and Donna Clifton both signed up Tuesday as challengers for incumbent BOE member April Newkirk, who had qualified Monday. In District 2, where Mike Sparks, who currently chairs the board, is not seeking re-election, the one candidate so far was Elizabeth Williams, who had qualified Monday.

BOE District 5 member Glennera Martin and District 6 member Jay Cook were so far the only qualifiers in their districts.

Incumbent Judge Joseph Cushner and attorney Michael Classens are both seeking the Bulloch County State Court judgeship, as previously reported.

Qualifying continues 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday and then 8 a.m. until noon, the statewide deadline, Friday.

The Bulloch County Board of Elections and Registration staff, at Suite 201 of the Bulloch County Annex, 113 North Main St., Statesboro, is handling qualifying for the local nonpartisan offices.

Any candidate wishing to run as a Democrat for one of the county commission seats needs to qualify with the Bulloch County Democratic Committee in a room across the lobby from the Board of Elections office inside the annex.

But any county commission candidate planning to run as a Republican must qualify at the Bulloch County Republican Party headquarters, 24 Joe Kennedy Boulevard, Unit 3, which is behind Ogeechee Technical College in the Lewis Color office complex.