Mayoral candidate Harold Fowler stopped by the Richmond Hill Exchange Club’s meeting on Wednesday to discuss his platform and answer questions.

Fowler, who served as a Richmond Hill city councilman from 1995 to 2005, will face off against current councilman Floyd Hilliard on Nov. 3. The winner will succeed Mayor Richard Davis, who has decided to step down after holding the position for over two decades.

Fowler, a U.S. Army veteran, said he has lived in the city for 22 years and is an active member of several local civic groups, such as the American Legion and the Lions Club. After 24 years of working for the U.S. Department of Labor, he plans to retire by the end of the year. He said this will enable him to focus all his efforts on mayoral duties, if elected.

Fowler said some changes need to be made in city government. Among those changes are adding a planned public comment period onto every city council agenda, establishing a two-term limit for mayor, combining some city and county services and establishing an architectural review board for commercial properties.

Fowler criticized the current administration for not being open and responsive enough to residents and cited the $600,000 amphitheater project as something that should have been voted on by the public as to whether or not they wanted it.

"Somewhere along the way, the present administration became more interested in working their own agenda than genuinely serving the citizens of Richmond Hill," he said. "They stopped listening … Rather than attracting people to the city with conventions and concerts, we should concentrate on attracting our own residents with public and private facilities for every day use … The citizens voted for an aquatic center and got an amphitheater instead."

-Read more in the Bryan County News.