As the newly selected mayor pro tempore for the city of Jefferson, Councilman Roy Plott doesn’t expect to have too many new responsibilities.

"The main responsibility of the mayor pro tem is to fill in at City Council meetings when the mayor can’t attend, but he only missed one meeting last year, so I don’t expect that I’ll have to fill in at too many for him," Plott said. "But he may ask me to go to other meetings outside of the council in his place."

Although Plott may not be any busier with his general City Council responsibilities, he has other ways to keep busy.

"I’m also on the board of Jefferson Better Hometown. My wife Debra and I are both very involved in that," said Plott.

Plott, a native of DeKalb County, retired from Georgia Power Co. in 2007, around the same time that he decided to get involved with City Council.

"My wife and I had been volunteering in the community for quite some time and some folks approached me about running for City Council," he said. "I thought it would be a good thing to give back to the community that I love during my retirement, so I decided to run."

In addition to politics and family, Plott has another passion.

"Both Debra and I are master gardeners, and we help out with projects all over Jackson, Barrow and Walton counties," he said.

"My dad got me into gardening; I’ve always had a vegetable garden. My wife and I always like to do nice things out in the yard, so I just sort of gravitate towards (gardening)."

In the time that he has been on City Council, the group has accomplished many things, but Plott says there is one that makes him especially proud.

"I am most proud of the council for putting the city in a good financial situation," he said. "We hired a great finance director and went about putting up a nest egg for the community. Right now, we are in really good shape financially, which is especially important as we go into this recession."