Macon City Councilman Henry Ficklin announced Tuesday afternoon that he will seek the District 2 seat on the new Macon-Bibb County consolidated commission.

In doing so, he will face fellow Councilman Larry Schlesinger and perhaps Councilman Rick Hutto.

Schlesinger has announced his candidacy, but Hutto hasn’t yet revealed his intentions.

Ficklin was Ward 3, Post 2 councilman from 1979 to 2007, when he ran unsuccessfully for mayor. He returned to council in a 2010 special election.

In a news release, Ficklin touted his years of experience, and said when the new government forms in January 2014, it will face the same issues as the current ones.

“I have lived in Macon all of my life and I don’t know of anyone who would be better qualified than me,” he said in the release.

Ficklin is a retired social studies teacher at Southwest High School and is pastor of Mount Vernon Baptist Church.

He pledged in his announcement to “keep taxes down,” and look after the interests of the new government’s employees. Ficklin touted an anti-crime commitment, including cosponsoring an ordinance with Councilman Ed DeFore to require security cameras in convenience stores.

In his recent campaigns for City Council, Ficklin has said he’s concerned about substandard housing, and that redevelopment of neighborhoods needs to be pushed harder.

District 2 runs east of Interstate 75, south to Guy Paine Road, crossing the Ocmulgee River to include the beginnings of Emery and Gray highways. It includes about 17,400 residents, with 13,000 of voting age. About 66 percent of residents are black, and 31 percent white, according to a Telegraph analysis. Twenty-four percent are Republicans and 73 percent Democrats.

Information from Telegraph archives was used in this report. To contact writer Jim Gaines call 744-4489.