Floyd County Manager Blaine Williams will start work Jan. 7 as an assistant manager in the Athens-Clarke County government. Athens-Clarke Manager Alan Reddish announced the hiring in an email to commissioners and other officials this morning:

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Blaine Williams as the new ACCUG Assistant Manager for Transportation and Community Development. Blaine is currently serving as the Floyd County manager. He has previously served as the Assistant Manager for Floyd County, Senior Project Manager for a consulting and program management firm, Director of Public Administration for the Middle Georgia Regional Commission, and Downtown/River Development Director for the City of Rome, Ga. Blaine earned a Masters of Public Administration from UGA and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science/English from Presbyterian College. He successfully completed the Credentialed Manager program with the International City/County Management Association (ICMA),  is active with the Georgia City/County Management Association, and previously served as President of the Georgia Main Street Association. I look forward to Blaine coming to be a part of our management team on January 7th.

Williams to replace retired Deputy Manager Bob Snipes. He'll oversee the county Transportation and Public Works, Human and Economic Development, Building Inspection, Solid Waste and Public Utilities departments and Athens-Ben Epps Airport. The other assistant manager is Richard White.

He's resigning from his position in Floyd County Dec. 31, the Rome News-Tribune reported.

"Williams played an important role in projects ranging from the Lowe’s Regional Development Center project to the 800 mhZ Public Safety Communications System to developing an employee leadership program that earned Floyd County a National Association of Counties award," the newspaper says.