Billy Beckett

says hi, and he's doing fine.

"It's

a challenge every day," said Fayette's former county administrator

of his new position as city manager just up the road in Riverdale. "But

I have some good people to work with, and they seem to be proactive and

want to do things to move forward."

Beckett, who

was Fayette's top executive officer for 15 years, and the current Fayette

County Commission had philosophical differences and parted company a little

over a year ago. Beckett settled into the Riverdale job recently, having

made no secret of the fact he wanted to find work close to Fayette so

he could continue to live here.

Riverdale is

"a different animal," Beckett told The Citizen in an interview

last week.

"The community

is different, and of course the problems are different and the challenges

are different," he said.

Whereas Fayette

is still a young county and growing, Riverdale is a fully developed, mature

community, he said. "The key to Riverdale's future is in the area

of redevelopment and annexation of vacant property," he said.

Land use patterns

are "pretty well set," he said, adding city leaders want to

work some redevelopment plans into the city's comprehensive plan.

That might

be good news to Fayette commuters who drive through the city on Ga. Highway

85, often complaining of the uninterrupted strip of commercial development.

Currently,

residents of Fayette and other counties often use Riverdale as an example

of how they don't want development to take place, but Beckett said that

may change.

"If we

follow through with the visioning process like I feel we will, people

will one day say, 'Wow, what happened to Riverdale?' We're having some

really good dialogue about redevelopment," he said.

Now that he

is on the outside looking in at Fayette's political situation, Beckett

admitted the current squabbling among city and county leaders bothers

him. "I'm sorry to see all the acrimony ... it's a little disconcerting,"

he said, but added, "It's easy to second-guess when you're on the

outside. I think they're doing what they think is right in every case."

Life in general

is looking up for him, Beckett said. His second career as a college sports

official with the Atlantic Coast Conference is coming along well, he said.

He recently received publicity back home as he helped officiate the Rose

Bowl this year.

"Tell

everybody hi for me," he said.