Decatur’s Mayor Jim Baskett determined when last elected in 2011 that this would be his final term. On Monday, he announced he wouldn’t run for re-election, and thus will complete his second year as mayor in December, and his 20th year overall on the city commission. Only Bill Floyd, Baskett’s mayoral predecessor, served longer (21 years) in recent memory.
“I’m 67, and I’m retired from my business,” he said. “It’s time to spend more time on our lake house at Lake Blue Ridge, to take more trips and do more fishing.”
Baskett believes Floyd gave the Decatur mayor’s job more of a metrowide and even statewide profile. But he also believes city business has become more complex during his commission tenure.
“I think all of us on the commission believe there’s a lot more going on, and that some things take a lot longer to deal with,” he said. “We’ve always had contentious issues. But you take this [412-page Unified Development Ordinance— approved last November]. It took over year to get done. Nothing ever took a whole year before.”
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