Limestone County Chairman Collin Daly sailed through this election cycle as he was able to clinch a second four-year term without opposition in either the primary or general elections. He remained engaged in the process and was present at the Courthouse Annex each election night as the votes were being tabulated.

He took time Tuesday night to speak with The News Courier about running unopposed and what he hopes to accomplish in his second term as Chairman.

“It’s always a blessing to run unopposed. One of the beauties of it was it gives you an opportunity to keep doing your job versus having to be out politicking all the time. It’s a great honor, and I am looking forward to serving four more years,” Daly said.

He added, “I can’t thank my family enough for always being behind me, and thanks to the citizens of Limestone County for the opportunity to serve as Chairman.”

Serving Limestone County could be in Daly’s DNA. He said, “I grew up in this world. My dad was a county chairman and he served two terms on the commission. When I was growing up, I said I would never grow up in those footsteps but now…”

Daly credits the “little things” for attracting him to county government, including speaking to a local Boy Scout troop Monday night. “It was amazing to see how interested some of the young people are in county government,” he said. “I am excited about the future.”

At the time, Daly did not know who would be elected as the new District 3 Commissioner but was excited to work with either candidate. Derrick Gatlin came out ahead after the votes were counted and will soon replace Jason Black. Daly’s focus is on the growth of Limestone County and working with the commission and other administrators to keep up with it.

“As the county grows, we have to change county government. We’ve hired a county and house attorney this year, and we are hiring another engineer right now. As we move forward, we have to have a group in place. When we leave out someday, whoever comes in will have people to help guide them through it. With all the growth we have, it’s a curse and a blessing in the same day. Dealing with it is hard, but on the other side, we will perish and dwindle if we don’t,” Daly said.

In the past four years, Daly has learned that county government can be a lot of “hurry up and wait.” He said, “You work on a project for months to make it happen then boom. When it does move, it moves fast.”

One of Daly’s goals for the next couple of years is to get the administrative staff in place.

“I think we have laid the groundwork for the future. I know hiring a new engineer this year, we are going to have an engineer for the traffic and road then we we have an engineer for the development side,” Daly said. “Hiring a county attorney will help keep us in check and help us keep up with current things like Amendment 2. We tried to educate the community that amendment needs to pass for us to be able to put the ARPA money toward broadband for education. Technology is going to be the future of a lot of county government.”