District 5 Commissioner Russell Smith will serve as the chairman of the Decatur County Board of Commissioners in 2013, and District 4 Commissioner Frank Loeffler will serve as the vice chairman.

During Tuesday’s regular board meeting, the agenda called for a vote between Loeffler and District 6 Commissioner Oliver Sellers, the two eligible candidates for the vice chairman position. However, Sellers removed his name from consideration, effectively making Loeffler the vice chairman.

The Board of Commissioners’ leadership roles are rotated each January, with the previous year’s vice chairman becoming the new chairman. The commissioner who has served the longest, without ever previously serving as chairman, then becomes the next vice chairman. Smith was the board’s vice chairman in 2012.

Smith, who faced challengers in both the primary and general elections in 2012, will serve as the chairman of a board that will have at least two new members in 2013. Dennis Brinson is replacing Dr. Charles T. Stafford as the commissioner from District 3, and District 1 Commissioner Dr. Earl Perry is retiring at the end of 2012. His replacement will be appointed by the remaining members of the board, sometime in the coming weeks.

In other business, the board:

• Unanimously approved a payment of $12,280 to Ring Power Corporation, of Jacksonville, Fla., to repair an undercarriage on a John Deere 950 bulldozer at the county’s landfill.

• Unanimously approved switching the county employees’ cell phone provider to Verizon, at an approximate savings of $455 per month, according to County Administrator Gary Breedlove. Breedlove noted that there is no required length of time on government contracts, and the county can change at any time.

• Unanimously rejected a $312 claim from a citizen, who wrote a letter arguing that a pothole on Faceville-Attapulgus Highway caused damage to her tire and rim.

• Unanimously approved a mutual aid agreement between Bainbridge College and Decatur County. Under the agreement, the county’s Sheriff’s Office will send additional law enforcement assistance if it is ever needed in an emergency situation at BC.

• Held an hour-and-a-half executive meeting to discuss litigation. At the conclusion of the meeting, Board Chairman Charles T. Stafford announced that attorney Tony Rowell, of Hall Booth Smith, P.C., of Tifton, Ga., will serve as additional legal counsel for the county during its LOST (Local Option Sales Tax) negotiations and potential court action with the City of Bainbridge and other municipalities.

• Canceled its scheduled meeting for Dec. 25.