JAMES WOOD
Staff Writer
During the County Commissioner meeting on Dec. 9, during the closing announcements Ronda Clanton, Bedford County’s Property Assessor, announced that she will be retiring after serving for 29 years in her role. Initially being elected in 1996, Clanton has accrued extensive experience as an assessor not only in the public sector but in the private as well.
After serving for nearly three decades and being an active part of the Bedford County community and a consistent fixture of our local officials, she has decided to turn a new chapter in her life. Through a long period of discernment through various events and changes in her personal life, she felt as if it was time to gear things down in her career.
“I decided to go ahead and put my name in the hat, and I campaigned hard,” Clanton said about her candidacy in 1996, “I hit just about every street and every road in the county […] I understood the small community and being involved with your neighbors and that has continued through my 29.5 years.”
Among the reasons for her retirement before the expiration of her four-year term, her husband Randy retired from his job at Shelbyville Water and Power last year along with her grandchildren getting older have motivated her to prioritize her family. Clanton stated that, “When it comes to realizing my time here and what I’ve done, I’ve got 37 years in the retirement system.”
There have also been struggles in her family that have also incentivized Clanton to take a step back. Clanton lost a son to cancer along with other family health struggles. “My family has taken the back seat for many years. They’re going to move to the front seat.”
The County Commission will soon be nominating an interim Property Assessor to fill the vacancy with a new special election happening in the general elections in 2026 to finish the remaining two years in the four year term that Clanton was elected to in 2024. According to the Bedford County Election Commission, the qualifying deadline for candidates who will be running for the office in 2026 is on Mar. 11 of next year.
As for what Clanton plans to do once she leaves her office, she said that she wants to prioritize spending time with her family and her husband as much as possible. “My husband and I love to fish, so we will be doing some fishing,” she said, “we will be doing some traveling, not anything huge out of the country, but just within the United States. We’ve got a lot of beautiful places and we want to visit some of those.”
The Bedford County Post thanks Clanton for her work in the community and a fulfilling life ahead of her and Randy as they along with their family spend time enjoying life and continue their vocations elsewhere