Time may be “on my side,” as the Rolling Stones sang in their 1960s-era hit of the same name but such is not the case for new Palmetto Mayor J. Clark Boddie.

As the city’s chief executive, a position he knows all to well having served in the seat for seven consecutive terms prior to leaving office in 2007, only to be elected again last November, Boddie sees the time he spends on city issues as the primary focus of his work day, but he wouldn’t want it any other way.

With his decisive win over incumbent John Miller where he took 70 percent of the vote, Boddie believes the election proved one thing.

“It convinced me that Palmetto residents wanted change and, having made their choice at the polls, gave me a mandate to do just that,” he said.

“I believe they compared the job I had done for 21 years prior to 2007 and compared it with the four years of my opponent’s administration and, in doing so, made their choice.”

Boddie, who was Palmetto‘s chief of police in the late 1970s and had a law enforcement career which spanned 34 years before his retirement in 2007, said the time it is taking him now to review all city departments, especially the city’s police department, has consumed much of his time. That review has resulted in Palmetto hiring a new police chief.

“I am concentrating on the police department being more focused on neighborhood policing and thereby deterring thefts and burglaries, rather than writing citations to provide revenue for the city,” Boddie said.

An Alabama native who moved to the Atlanta metro area in 1968, Boddie said he is putting in as much work for Palmetto now as mayor as he did as Fulton County’s chief deputy prior to his retirement.

“Being the mayor of Palmetto is a 24-7 job because you are handling the city’s business, which means you are handling the business of those who call Palmetto home, its residents and businesses,” he said.

“Having served seven consecutive terms, I believe the residents know me and the passion I have to serve them.”

Although he is at his office now usually around 8 a.m., he seldom gets home early, especially with council and other meetings he attends.

“The people elected me to do a job and being this city’s chief executive does change one’s work schedule quite a bit, but it is certainly a schedule with which I am accustomed to and prepared to spend,” Boddie said.