Little leaves Walton and heads to Barrow County on Jan. 1

After 20 years as Walton County Board of Commissioners chairman, Kevin Little will be leaving his position on Dec. 31, 2020. But he won’t be going far. As he puts it, he will be just “across the Apalachee River.”

Little announced at the end of his final State of the County update at the Walton County Chamber luncheon Wednesday that he has accepted the position of interim county manager of neighboring Barrow County. He begins his new position on Jan. 1, 2021 and will be able to apply to make it permanent.

Little said he sent his resume to Barrow, Oconee and Newton County to see if there were any vacancies around the first of the year.

“They (Barrow County) called me last night and offered me the position of interim county manager for Barrow County,” Little said, adding he is very excited about the prospect. He will be taking over from Barrow County Manager Mike Renshaw who tendered his resignation to the Barrow County Board of Commissioners Tuesday night. The BOC went on to approve Little’s acceptance of the position of interim county manager.

Little takes with him his 27 years of experience, 20 of them as chairman of the BOC Board of Commissioners. Before that, he worked with the Georgia Department of Transportation after earning two bachelor degrees, one in public administration and another in political science. He went on to work as highway safety coordinator for Walton County in 1993 before running for chairman of the BOC in 2000, taking up office on Jan. 1, 2001.

According to a “Farewell to Chairman Little” write up in the 2020 Annual Report, it was noted that Little leaves Walton County as a certified commissioner, an advanced commissioner and a graduate of the ACCG Leadership Academy, of Leadership Walton and of Leadership Georgia. He also served as the President of the Association of County Commissioners fo Georgia and continues to serve on the Board of Managers of the Association. He also is a past chairman of the Northeast Georgia Regional Commission.

Little chose not to run for re-election in 2020 and incoming Chairman David Thompson will take up the chairmanship of the Walton County Board of Commissioners on Jan. 1, 2021 after being elected unopposed.