Mayor Hardy will not seek re-election

Hardy, 69, first ran for office in 1989 out of frustration with the administration of the late J. Mac Barber.

“I just wanted to see the city manager system of government work,” he recalled. “The administration before I ran just shunned the city manager and didn’t let him do his job. We’d preached the city manager government all those years and I didn’t want to see it falter.”

The first two or three years and the last two or three were the toughest, and for the same reason.

“It’s a heck of a lot easier when you have money,” Hardy observed.

Asked about the highlights of his tenure, Hardy pointed to the Commerce 85 Industrial Park.

“And it will pay dividends one day,” he said, referring to the 962,000-square-foot building that’s stood empty for three years.

In fact, the mayor said, two distribution companies and a manufacturer that looked at the park are still considered prospects.

The genesis of the park came after Bridgestone opted to locate a mega-facility in another site. The city and the Jackson County Industrial Development Authority had purchased some land and had options on more.

“When the county refused to go along with us (in acquiring the land for an industrial park), and I said because they flat told us they would not be any part of it, then we just had to get a commitment out of somebody,” Hardy explained. “It turned out there were five folks very interested in buying it and Rooker (John W. Rooker & Associates) was the leading candidate.”

Another highlight, said Hardy, is the partnerships the city developed with the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (MEAG) and the Municipal Gas Authority of Georgia (MGAG) through which Commerce has purchased electric generation capacity and natural gas capacity. For example, MEAG — including Commerce — is a partner in the construction of the two new nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle.

“Now we are drilling our own wells in MGAG,” Hardy said. “It’s big business.”

Asked if he’d miss the two Monday night meetings every month, Hardy laughed.

“It’s kind of like the fire calls,” the retired Commerce firefighter said. “You might miss the first one, but you won’t miss them after that.”