Joe Barton has announced he is seeking election to a second term on the Covington County Commission. Barton represents District 2.

Barton said he believes the current administration has taken a number of steps to make county government operate more efficiently.

“We established a pay plan, which the county has never had before,” Barton said. “We also have done the addition to the jail, and hired a new county administrator. This term has been a learning experience, and I know what we’ve learned will help us do a better job in the next four years.”

A resident of the Heath community, Barton was born and reared in Covington County on his family farm where he still resides.

A 1969 graduate of the Andalusia High School and a 1972 graduate of Troy University, Barton holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a minor in marketing.

He began his career with Ford Motor Credit in Mobile and continued with Williams and Associates Automobile Insurance, Moore Group of Atlanta Automobile Insurance, and Brown and Root Construction, working various jobs throughout the southeast United States as rigging foreman/crane operator/ truck driver.

After working for U-J Chevrolet and Bay Chevrolet in Mobile from 1986-1991 as an automobile salesman, Barton moved back to Andalusia to assist with the care of his father, an Alzheimer’s patient.

He continued his employment in the automobile industry as sales manager with Courtesy Chevrolet (formerly Radcliff Chevrolet), Tommy Thomas, and Massey Automotive until 1998.

Barton began a new venture in land development and excavation in 1998. He also is employed part-time at Hilltop Seafood Restaurant.

Barton has volunteered as captain of the Covington County Sheriff’s Posse since 1993. He said he was first associated with the posse as a teen.

“Albert Cravey’s daddy started it back in 1964, when Cliff Meredith was the sheriff,” Barton said. “My daddy was in it. I was about 13 years old. They would let some of us boys go with them, and help and do things.

“When I came back here in ’91, I joined them,” he said, adding that the group of volunteers does great work, especially with its tracking dogs.

“I’d put them up against any group around,” he said.

He is the son of Rebecca Seymour Barton and the late A.E. “Gene” Barton.

Barton is subject to the Republican primary, set for Tues., March 1, 2016.