Marengo County commissioner Ken Tucker has decided 12 is enough.

In next year’s election cycle, the senior commissioner and Dean of the University of West Alabama Business College has decided not to seek re-election.

“When my term expires next year, I will have completed three full terms and 12 years of service,” Tucker said. “I have enjoyed it and would like to think that I have made a meaningful contribution, but it is time for someone else to take up the charge and continue to move the county forward in a positive and progressive way.”

Tucker’s leadership role with UWA has also made serving in both capacities somewhat difficult.

“ My travel schedule has picked up significantly with my UWA position, and it is growing much more difficult to devote the necessary time to the MCC job that it requires and deserves,” Tucker said.

Looking back over the past nearly dozen years, Tucker said he was pleased with his time in office and the way he and his counterparts have tried to push the county forward.

“One of the most improved areas is in how the commission conducts its business,” he said. “We still have strong differences of opinion, and rightfully so, but we don’t have the dysfunction which sometimes existed in the past which inhibits people working together to accomplish the greater good. We also have been fiscally responsible, providing as many services as possible while always operating within our budget.”

Among the things accomplished during Tucker’s time on the commission is the fact that, with the completion of the Hugo, Saltwell and Jefferson water projects, more than 99 percent of all county citizens have access to clean, safe, drinking water.

He also helped contribute to the creation of the Marengo County Economic Development Authority which has brought in close to $3 million in infrastructure improvements and several new businesses, as well as the County Park and Recreation Board which has funded numerous activities and endeavors countywide; assisted Linden Lumber Company, saving its business and hundreds of jobs, a $30 million impact on the local economy and $300,000 in local tax revenue; facilitated Bryan W. Whitfield Memorial Hospital’s salvaging its labor and delivery unit; and a host of road, bridge and infrastructure improvements, renovation and construction projects, and grants with various service organizations.

“(I would like to thank) all the good, hard working folks who give selflessly of their time and talents to try and make our community a better place to live and work,” Tucker said.

“It has indeed been an honor and privilege to work with such fine people who sincerely care about serving the public and trying to improve, in whatever way we can, the place we all love and call home. I have learned a lot in this position and just hope that most people view my time as a commissioner positively, that I have conducted myself in a manner that has represented them well, and that my contributions have made a meaningful impact, in some small way.”

Tucker’s term will end November 2012.