Republican Irwin Bagwell (left) is congratulated on keeping his position as post 3 county commissioner by Republican David Cox, incumbent winner of the Board of Education for District 2, as Charles Bagwell looks on at the Irwin Bagwell/Garry Fricks election party at Harvest Moon Cafe, November 6, 2012. (Brittany Hannah/RN-T)
Republican Garry Fricks (right), who held his seat as post 2 county commissioner, watches the national election results on TV with Garrett Anderson (left) and Kelsey Fricks at the Garry Fricks/Irwin Bagwell election party at Harvest Moon Cafe, November 6, 2012. (Brittany Hannah/RN-T)
Ashley Fricks (from left), Lyndall Burk and Cecil Burk react as they track incoming election results at the Irwin Bagwell/Garry Fricks election party at Harvest Moon Cafe, November 6, 2012. (Brittany Hannah/RN-T)
Fricks, a Republican who first took office in 1999, held his Post 2 seat against Democrat Gary Harrell, winning 20,130 to 10,653.
“I’m excited about that,” Fricks said. “I’m glad to know I have that much support.”
Bagwell, the current board chairman and a Republican, is finishing his first term in Post 3. Democrat Rick Garrett was trying to oust him but pulled in 10,324 votes to Bagwell’s 20,350.
Harrell and Garrett both won two out of the county’s 25 precincts, coming in ahead of the incumbents in North Rome and South Rome.
The margin of victory, Bagwell said, tells him voters approve of the conservative fiscal management of county funds — a policy he intends to continue.
“My goal is to give county residents the best possible service for the least possible price,” he said. “We do it with the support of the county employees. They’re the backbone of the county and I appreciate them every day.”
Fricks said the board has to conserve as much as it can in these difficult economic times, but he’s also looking for ways to make improvements.
“Hopefully we’ll see the economy turn around and we’ll have an opportunity to be a little more progressive in the future,” he said.
Fricks and Bagwell pressed for a zero-based budgeting process, which will go into effect with the 2013 spending plan.
The board is starting with the budgets for police, public works and animal control this year — going over them line by line for savings and revenue opportunities before the document is adopted in January.
A Rome native, Fricks is a salesman for Business Vendor Solutions, a 15-state enterprise that produces customized regulatory compliance forms, documents and policy templates.
Before he took office he was active in numerous community organizations, including the Festivals Council and the Jaycees, and was a charter member of the Heritage Riverways Foundation.
Bagwell, a former Rome-Floyd County Planning Commission member, is a fifth-generation Floyd Countian who operates Bagwell Farm in Vanns Valley with his brother Charles Bagwell.
His wife, Susan Bagwell, is a kindergarten teacher at McHenry Primary. They have two sons who attend Pepperell schools: John, a senior, and Will, who is in eighth grade.
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