I would like to take this opportunity to announce my candidacy for nomination of DeKalb County Mayor in the Democratic Primary on May 3, 2022.

I am the son of the late Richard and Alive Foster of Smithville. I attended and graduated from DeKalb County High School, as did my wife and children. Following high school, I earned a B.X. in Plant and Soil Science, with additional studies in Fish and Wildlife Management from Tennessee Technological University.

My wife, Wanna (Fin) Foster earned her B.S. and Master of Arts Degree from Tennessee Technological University and taught first grade in the DeKalb County School System for 30 years. Wanna and I have two children. Our daughter, Kelli earned her B.S. from MTSU and Masters Degree from Tennessee Tech. Our son, Lee, graduated from MTSU with a degree is Music Business with Mass Communications and Marketing minors.

I worked for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency as an Officer, Sergeant, Assistant Supervisor, and for 26 years as Area Supervisor for an eight county area. My duties there included preparing and managing a budget for the eight counties, Law Enforcement, supervisor and evaluating Wildlife and Boating Officers, inventory and maintenance of equipment, as well as many other things as the need arose.

Following my tenure with the TWRA, I served as DeKalb County Mayor until 2014. Duties there also included budget prep and management, maintenance of county property not assigned to other elected or appointed officials, grant application, working with all other officials to remodel or construct county buildings necessary for the benefit of our county. I am extremely proud of the accomplishments the county commission and I were able to achieve with the help and involvement of all other county officials. In the next weeks I would like to discuss these things with you, but most importantly your ideas for the future.

One of the best examples of decisive leadership, is the ability to bring people together. Our county mayor, county commissioners and all elected or appointed officials must work tighter and collectively be involved, informed and decisive when dealing with our county’s business or our citizens’ concern’s.

I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible, and discussing your ideas, views and visions. I also want to share with you my pragmatic views about the need for the county commission and officials to work together as a team to address issues and needs. I believe very strongly in the importance of proper maintenance of county buildings, equipment and vehicles.

I continuously see the need for openness for transparency in every decision we make as a team.