Four candidates will challenge incumbent Mike Middleton for the office of mayor of the City of Georgiana.

Jerome Antone, Donald Colley Jr., Larry Creech, and Lynn Harold Watson will run against Middleton in the August municipal election.

Middleton has held the position for one term and hopes to make it a second.

“When I went into the mayor’s office, the economy went down and there wasn’t any money to get out,” Middleton said. “There is still a lot I want to do and if the people will re-elect me, we will work to get all of that done.”

Several candidates, including Watson, a former mayor of Georgiana who has served the last four years on the Butler County Commission, have said economic development will be their focus.

“I am running for mayor in hopes that I might help the economic development of Georgiana,” Watson said. “I have had a lot of experience in the past as far as economic development, and I feel like that I might have a plus there.”

Colley also feels that attracting new businesses and industry to the city of the key issue facing Georgiana.

“I want Georgiana to prosper,” Colley said. “I want us to be a community where there are more jobs for the people in Georgiana.”

Candidates have also pledged to work to improve the city’s infrastructure.

“I have talked a lot to the citizens of our great town,” Creech said. “I don’t think they like the way Georgiana is heading. I think we can make Georgiana a better and cleaner place.”

Colley said: “I want to find avenues to better our roads and clean up the city.”

Antone believes the key to transforming Georgiana into a thriving community is developing the city’s young people.

“I’m running because I have a passion for the community and I also a have passion for the kids,” Antone said. “I’ve been an educator for 26 years and been in the public school for 26 years. I feel that I have a whole lot to offer to the community, especially the young folks.”

The municipal election will be held Aug. 28.