South Fulton's

new representative on the Fulton County Commission is local businessman

Bill Edwards.|

Edwards was

sworn in Wednesday after tallying 4,426 votes in Tuesday's special election

runoff to take the 7th District commission seat easily. His opponent,

Khadijah Abdur-Rahman polled 1,547 votes.

Edwards,

50, owner of Edwards Allstate Agency, has pushed for cooperation between

the commission and the county Board of Education to improve the quality

of education for local students. He also will work for business recruitment

and job creation in the county, he has said.

The special

election was called to fill the unexpired term of Commissioner Michael

Hightower, who resigned while under investigation on bribery charges.

He later pleaded guilty to charges that he accepted $25,000 in exchange

for favorable votes on county contracts.

Thirteen

candidates ran for the open seat, and Edwards and Abdur-Rahman qualified

for the runoff in the General Election Nov. 7.